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Video Activity: The Aotearoa Wars

Understanding the Conflicts that Shaped New Zealand

📹 Video Learning: The New Zealand Wars — East Coast

📋 Before You Watch

  • Locate the East Coast conflicts on a class map of Aotearoa.
  • Review key terms: raupatu (confiscation), mana motuhake (self-determination), and kīngitanga.
  • Set an intention to notice how Māori leaders strategised to defend their whenua.

🖊️ Write on the Whiteboard

While watching, students consider:

  1. Who were the main Māori leaders resisting colonisation on the East Coast?
  2. What strategies did iwi use to defend their whenua and people?
  3. How does James Belich’s narration differ from what you have previously learned?

💭 After Watching

Class Discussion Prompt: Why do you think this history was not widely taught in New Zealand schools until recently? Use evidence from the documentary to support your reasoning.

Think-Pair-Share: 2 minutes individual notes → 3 minutes kōrero with a partner → 5 minutes whole-class debrief.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. James Belich frames the East Coast campaigns as part of one interconnected war for Aotearoa. How does that framing shift the way we perceive the scale and purpose of these conflicts?

2. Identify one cause of the East Coast fighting that the documentary emphasises. Explain why it was decisive for iwi and for the Crown, using evidence from the episode.

3. (Extension) Belich is a New Zealand historian revisiting the wars with new scholarship. Compare his perspective with how the New Zealand Wars have been presented in older textbooks or international media. What voices are amplified or missing?