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RIP Old Zealand

British Parliament: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

as a student in NZ, i knew hardly anything to do with any of this. they dont teach us the important stuff, just that there was a “mistranslation that may or may not have been deliberate” and personally im fed up with only being taught the bare minimum of our own country’s history

as someone of ngāpuhi and someone who grew up in tai tokerau where all these events took place and their effects are still felt today, i appreciate a light being shined on the flagstaff war - it's a super important chapter in the history of ngāpuhi and tino rangatiratanga that often gets forgotten - but there's some pretty glaring omissions and mistakes in this video that need addressing: Te Tiriti and The Treaty of Waitangi: This is a debate that's still very hot in NZ politics today, so I'll give the cliff notes here and try not to inject my own opinion. There are two "versions" of Te Tiriti - the English document and the Reo Māori document. The reo Māori document promised "-ki ngā tāngata katoa o Nu Tirani te tino rangatiratanga o ō rātou whenua, ō rātou kainga me o rātou taonga katoa", which roughly translates as promising "to all the people of Nu Tirani (New Zealand, specifically Māori as outlined by He Whakaputanga) tino rangatiratanga (highest authority or soverignty) of their lands, their homes, and all their taonga (important treasures such as language, cultural practice, religions, etc.), and to the Queen of England "te Kawanatanga katoa o ō rātou whenua"; "All governership of [the rangatira's] lands". The english document, however, states "The Chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand [...] cede to Her Majesty the Queen of England absolutely and without reservation all the rights and powers of Sovereignty". I won't get further into the nitty gritty of this - whether the treaty was deliberately mistranslated or not, whether the rangatira who signed it were aware of the British interpretation, etc. - it's a complex issue that's currently in the spotlight of NZ politics, but it's important to note this difference, and also important to note that Te Tiriti - the reo Māori document - was the one most rangatira Māori signed; only 39 rangatira of about 500 signatories put their signature to the english document. Maketū's execution being the cause of the war: While it's a good framing device for a story, reducing the causes of the flagstaff war purely to Maketū's execution by the British is a bit reductive. Whilst important to Māori as a sign that they no longer held the power to practice tīkanga and that their mana was waning, it's more the straw that broke the camel's back than the main cause of war. Issues between the crown and Māori existed long before this incident - the capital being moved from Kororāreka and the Wairau affray are good examples of this. Unlawful selling of land was a major factor in strained Crown-Māori relationships - one that Te Tiriti was said to address, but ultimately would be exacerbated in the English version. Te Ruki Kawiti: While he gets only one mention in this video, Kawiti - a rangatira of Ngāpuhi - is just as important to the story of the flagstaff war as Hone Heke. One of the original dissenters of Te Tiriti at Waitangi - partly due to his dislike for Heke and partly due to fears of British deception due to his own land being unlawfully taken from him by a Paihia missionary - was one of the main engineers behind the modernisation of the pā (also known as "gunfighter pā") that would allow the anti-crown Māori to come out of the flagstaff war without a single military loss against the British. Kāwiti was a seasoned commander from the musket wars, and he'd seen firsthand the benefits and drawbacks of modernised warfare during his campaigns. There are some historians who even attribute Kawiti's design to contributing to the invention of trench warfare - veterans and military historians allegedly drew inspiration from the designs of Kawiti's pā in the latter half of the 19th century into the 20th century. The purpose of Ruapekapeka: Though I'm not sure if this is the video's intention, it feels like Ruapekapeka is wrongly implied as having strategic importance to anti-crown Māori.This isn't really true; Ruapekapeka was a purely military construction, aimed to bait Governor Grey into sending troops into unfavourable siege conditions to damage British morale and numbers, to then be abandoned when it had served its purpose. This was part of the design of the pā at Ōhaeawai, and there's even a short song written by British troops about this sort of strategy: "Sing a song of sixpence a tale about the war, Four and twenty n****rs cooped up in a pā, When the pā was opened not a n****r there was seen, Is not that a jolly tale to tell before the Queen?" Kūpapa: Though Kūpapa has now become a derogatory term within Te Ao Māori, Kūpapa - crown-allied Māori - played an important part in the flagstaff war as military advisors and soliders. Though their advice was often ignored, such as Governor Fitzroy insisting on charging the pā at Ōhaeawai against the warnings of Tāmiti Wāka Nene, their military role was important in the more forgotten about battles in the war, such as the battle of Te Ahuahu (which I'll touch on later). This also ties in to an idea that isn't in this video: Māori are not one whole unit, and neither is Ngāpuhi (and neither is any group of people, really). Tāmiti Wāka Nene joined forces with the British crown as he saw anti-crown Māori's rejection of British rule as an insult to his mana - he was a staunch advocate for the signing of Te Tiriti, and his considerable mana was a factor in getting a lot of rangatira to sign. The rejection of British governance was seen as an insult to this, and so he took up arms. Te Ahuahu: Due to the battle at Te Ahuahu being a purely Ngāpuhi vs. Ngāpuhi conflict, there's not a lot of written history about it, and I urge those watching to seek out info about it if they're interested, but it's a very important battle in the Flagstaff War, as it was the only one that was a clear defeat for anti-crown Māori, putting Hone Heke out of action with injuries for months on end, and forcing Kawiti to rethink his approach to the war, hence the battle at Ruapekapeka. The Flagstaff war being a Māori last chance: This is a pretty flawed interpretation of the history of tino rangatiratanga. The flagstaff war was the first of many crown-Māori wars in Aotearoa, with many other campaigns such as the Hutt Valley and Whanganui campaigns, the two Taranaki wars, the invasion of the Waikato, and Te Kooti's war (and that's not even a comprehensive list). Reducing the fate of Māori to the uncertain outcome of the Flagstaff war and the fate of Ngāpuhi is reductive both historically and culturally, and its important that people understand that the Flagstaff War is a chapter of the history of Te Tiriti, and not the whole story itself. Of course, none of this is to imply that this video was made with ill intentions. It's good to have discussions about these events so that people can be educated on the history of tino rangatiratanga and an introduction to the long-term causes of racial inequality in NZ. Thanks for making it, and I hope everyone watching and reading has learned something new about the ground under their feet and its whakapapa.

Took a pause from work as soon as I saw the notification. We got to lift this channel up, the quality behind these videos (graphics, research, narration) is up there with the best of them.

im a kiwi and every new zealander should watch this. really puts things into perspective

The whole time I was watching I assumed this was a super large channel with millions of subs. I did not expect this to only have 8.5k views. This is quality content! You deserve 1000x that!

Hey! Resident of Aotearoa New Zealand here with a handy pronunciation guide for Te Reo Māori: A = cAr E = Egg I = frEE O = OAr U = trUE NG = thiNG WH = gaFF (this one is confusing, I understand) If you see an accent over a vowel, or a double vowel (ie Kākā or Kooti) simply elongate the sound. Te Reo Māori is really easy to learn once you know these basic rules, as it's one of the only languages in the world that's 100% phonetically consistent, meaning once you know how to pronounce all the letters, you can confidently pronounce every word in the Māori dictionary! I hope you enjoyed my fun little lesson about our beautiful corner of the world. Ka pai, kia kaha!

Hey Spectacles! Just wanted to let you know that as a Kiwi it means the world for anyone to acknowledge our country! And a high quality video on a part of our history I've never heard about is even better!

This is such a great video! Te Tiriti o Waitangi is covered a lot here in New Zealand, but not the events following it. The Māori pronunciations are quite painful, but this is really well researched and shows a great respect for the culture. You've gained a subscriber!

Have to switch from the phone to the big screen when the spectacles comes on

You should give a retelling of chunuk bair in WW1 which showed the distinctive differences that were present of how NZ and Austrailia weren't considered an extension of the British empire but simply a part of it.

Te Reo Māori is in my opinion the easiest language of an English-colonised people for an English speaker to pronounce, though the vowels are a bit harder for most Americans. It just takes a little care, e.g. your pronunciation of Aotearoa is excellent. One thing many people even in NZ screw up is stress placement, which is with the first long vowel/diphthong and otherwise on the first syllable

Insane how good this channel is. Better than anything Netflix makes

The quality of your videos is incredible. Can't wait until you get the gold button too!

1:56 There is one biiiig thing Spectacle got wrong about the Treaty of Waitangi (Source, I live in New Zealand, doesn't mean I'm more knowledgeable but the treaty is a unavoidable topic in NZ history and is still considered a founding document) The treaty of Waitangi, I'll call it "TOW", was a document that was written in two languages; English and Maori. The intention of it was the English side of the treaty, which goal's Spectacle got spot on, however the translation into Maori was perfectly awful. As in, it was translated well enough to read but translated into something else entirely. The english side of TOW said in a TDLR fashion "The crown would have the land" The Maori side of TOW said in a TDLR fashion "The tribes would have the land" because the Maori language had no concept of what the crown was, so rather than use use the english word they translated to it. And you might think "Oh, but that's your TDLR summery of the whole cluster fuck, surely the whole document wasn't like that"... the whole document was like that. Instead of using the plain english words, the treaty used words which the Maori would conceptually understand, which rewrote their side of TOW into giving the maori all the land. Effectively, TWO promised in two different ways that both the british and the Maori would own all the land, not that they'd have their own separate areas as Spectacle suggested. Tbh, I'm still on the fence if it was a genuine mistake or the british being dicks again, but when explaining it to others I try to make it out as a mistake, because often where there seems to be malice is usually just idiocy.

the waitangi treaty is perhaps one of the most well known events in NZ history, a perfect example of how peaceful doesn't always mean kind.

The promo transition was smooth 😂

Thanks for covering an incident during the New Zealand Wars. These conflicts consolidated settler control over New Zealand and laid the foundations for the development of NZ as a settler colony.

I love the fact that you travel the world for your Videos, so much effort and love goes Into them and one can really feel that, absolutley great work, keep it going please 😊

17:25 “God fights on the side with the best artillery.” -European proverb ++ Big Guns Never Tire ++ -Imperial Guardsman’s Uplifting Primer

Yo this video is crazy good, the attention to detail is immaculate and the production is crazy good, how does this not have more views????

I’m so impressed by your editing skills! I wish I could learn to edit like that someday

Spectacles u spectacular bastard; ty 4 the content as usual

Didn't expect to see something from my country on this channel. Good stuff

This is actually decently accurate to what I've experienced and learned from being at most of those places, people and my family who used to live nearby to that region. Could do with some work on pronunciation but overall good work!

My dad says there was a murder in the small town where we grew up. A family of 2 adults and a newborn. The adults were shot from an outside window, but the baby he been constantly fed and kept alive over the time from the murders to when the bodies were found

Great video thank you

Love your channel guys

So happy I’m here before this channel blows up!

It is a good day when Spectacles uploads 😊

I have mixed feelings about this video. I appreciate that you've made a video about Maori culture, but a lot of the history in this video is very incorrect, and some of the biggest events have just been missed out. Much has been mentioned by others, but one person who's been greatly under represented is Te Ruki Kawiti. He was Heke's uncle, and my own ancestor. He was the last to sign the Treaty and disapproved of it from the start. Much of the rebellion was joint between their people and the two of them. At the battle of Ohaeawai, Heke wasnt actually there at all. He'd heen badly injured after the invasion of his own pa and wasn't involved whatsoever. The battle was led by Te Ruki Kawiti, who had designed the fortifications, its often attributed as the first instance of trench warfare being used. Ruapekapeka, again was all Kawitis design, and led Kawiti with Heke in support now that he'd recovered. Neither of these forts were important at all. They were built solely to waste the resources and time of the British on empty, culturally irrelevant spots. Kawiti was the one who led the attack on Russel/Kororareka whilst Heke cut the flag down, and came to Heke's rescue when Tamati Waka Nene attacked my fighting in hand to hand combat throughout. The outcome of the war wasn't decisive, the Ngapuhi were under economic pressure for peace, but they didnt sucede to the British. The British had wasted an excessive level of resources trying to defeat the rebellion and did now have peace, but had captured very little in result (as all of those forts had been constructed with the sole purpose of wasting their time in the middle of nowhere). Kawiti did all of this whilst in his 70s. His son, my great great great great grandfather Maihi Paraone Kawiti would lead reconcilation with the British and eventually the restoration and reinstallment of the flagstaff there today, made and lifted by descendents of the men who fought in the rebellion as a show of good faith.

this is polished, professional, and interesting. You have a fantastic channel. I know you'll blow up soon.

The sad part is that, all things considered, Aotearoa was lucky. Lucky that the language, customs and name of this nation are still known across the world. Not many island nations and small native communities trampled by the colonisers can say the same.

Absolutely fantastic little documentary, New Zealand's formative years are more fascinating than I thought

the New Zealand wars are such an interesting topic to learn about, I think the treaty of Waitangi was translated in like 1 night before the signing and the main point of conflict was that I think Sovereignty wasn't a word in Māori and something about "Complete Ownership" wasn't translated thoroughly. Correct if wrong but every mispronunciation hit me like a truck

Ngapuhi = the 'g' is silent so it is 'Na-pu-he'.

Just a small correction. Aotearoa wasn't the name of New Zealand in the 1840s. Aotearoa wasn't used as a term for New Zealand, I believe, until 1855. This isn't to say this term is bad or we shouldn't use it. Look at my profile picture, you'll find I am very fond of my countries Maori name. I just think that we need to love it in context of evidence and truth. Before Aotearoa, the term 'Niu Tereni". We should be proud Kiwis, but to be proud Kiwis, and lovers of Aotearoa, we ought not do this void of truth. Many countries are named after smaller settlements or rivers that later made the official nation name for the country.

Congrats on the 100k subs!

Bro great documentary I’m kiwi and learned something new watching this thank you 🙏

as a pakeha new zealander, honestly the british should've left aotearoa tf alone and minded their own business. te titiri o waitangi was intentionally mistranslated by an englishman when he was translating it to te reo māori. it was a con.

Brilliant narrative of the events. Those which I did not know of.

Wow, this was a lot better than your previous short video on New Zealand. Thanks for helping bring this piece of NZ history to the wider world.

You should read about the musket wars which preceded the treaty for context. The treaty wasn't about colonization it was about ending a hellish culture of genocide and enslavement. NZ was known as the Hell-Hole of the Pacific at the time and it's a very accurate description. It was a lawless and extremely violent place, the British very definitely did not want it, they had the Indian mutiny to contend with.

Beautifully made video as always, but how the _whuck_ did you get the _wh_ sound wrong?

Weirdly enough, I'm related to Henry Williams on my father's side and to Hone Heke on my mother's side.

I'm from NZ and I didn't know this!

Some of us still refer to NZ as Aotearoa btw! Cool video too, thanks for shining a light on some interesting kiwi history.

Wild this channel hasn’t blown up yet

It's cool learning about Hone Heke in Social Studies in school and then to hear about him acknowledged by the greater internet

Great video

Im from New Zealand and I didn't know this. I feel like we probably should of learnt this in school.

Never thought I would hear someone use Hone Heke as a Segway for a sponsor.

Brilliant video, deserves more views. Massive respect to NZ as an Aussie, we are so much further behind in relations with our native population.

Hey Harry you got the date wrong at 9:55 it's July 1944 not 1945, was so confused when the next date was January 1945 that I had to look it up. Excellent vid though

what software do u use for the 3d animations?

Holy cow. I felt like applauding after the intro. Was this an original score from Harry? It sounded amazing.

As a kiwi it is always interesting to see a Fourniers opinion

I (american) lived in New Zealand for a year and a half and I regret not seeing more of it while I was there. I was fortunate enough to drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound on a rare clear day, and it’s the most breathtaking scenery I have ever seen with my own eyes. No wonder the Māori wanted to keep their lands.

Whats tragic is that the recent government is trying to remove the Maori legislative seats. Both out of racism, and for personal political gain from supporters of there party

New Zealand was a tribal society where the strongest survived. It was also a land of multiple migrations by boat. Eventually, a tribe would win and those people's and government came on boats like everybody else. They were the British. This is pretty much the history of any country and human history is full of conquests. Even England itself has a similar story with the Anglo-Saxons. The British Empire in this instance was like the Roman Empire. You could surrender and join, or fight.

You, sir, are the most brilliant American I've heard speak on this subject.

Thanks for the vid school never did a good job at explaining this to me Im pakeha and unfortunately theres alot i still dont about our history i know things happened but not how

That comment i left here was by accident. I was watching a short on my home page, when i wrote the comment it was on the short but somehow transferred to this video

As an ancestor of Sir Apirana Ngata - the most famous Maori politician and the man on our $50 note - i can proudly say our people have come a long way since our first engagements - both ethnicity's of tangata whenua. (people of the land) Sadly, there is still much to discuss and come to an agreement/arrangement on, however, i know one day soon the land of Aotearoa New Zealand will cede its ignorance/tall poppy syndrome and other such limitations and finally flourish fully into the land of fortune and grace it has always been.

Same deal today. Some of us see the precedents we set by giving up larger or smaller amounts of our freedom every day. Most people just think it’s no big deal.

Lindy Beige has a great video about Gate Pa, a good companion to this excellent video

Great video it’s interesting to see our history told by someone from outside the country, it’s unfortunate that the history of the New Zealand wars could be expanded on but you would need 3-4 hours to tell that story but thank you for telling the story anyway I very much appreciate you taking the time to respectfully try and explain what made us to the rest of the world

Reasonable effort. But check out Sir Apirana Ngata's historical writing.

An odd note: the subtitles use alternate language to the audio, same in meaning but different in words. How come this is so?

Come from the other part of the world that has also suffered from British misadventures....But heck those Maori were brave and had a resolve.....respect

Hi, I just stumbled across this video in my Recommendations. You say it was a "quadruple" murder, but Wikipedia says that 5 people were killed.

Man this would do well as a Hollywood movie about Hone Heke

I went to school with a guy who was named after Hone. I was then informed by my mate on the cutting of the flagpole. I didn't know about the murder beforehand though. Just the flag and following war. Mad respect for Hone he's always been one of my favs in Aotearoa history. I love that you mentioned the seats in parliament assigned for Maori representation. I switched to the Maori electoral roll last year, trying to get my lil bro to switch as well since our mother's side is Maori.

While this captures part of the story, I think the desire for land and exportable goods also explains why this land was colonised and brought under heel the way it was.

That ad Segway was so insensitive .

Pretty good. I can't understand if he's been here, how he can pronounce Te Tai Tokerau and Ngapuhi so stangely!

Why no info on the last war for souverignty? How many died each side, where did it take place and stuff?

In reality there were two treaties signed the English one and one that was translated into Maori by an Anglican priest and the priest gave the Maori one and altogether different translation

Great video!

It’s consuming to think of land grabs as something only of colonial powers. Within New Zealand there were multiple tribes who fought each other and conquered each others land.

Great pronunciation dude!

This narrator has a pritty good flow hahha

This case kind of reminds me of the Hong Kong extradition law that caused the protest movement back in 2019.

Video idea: the killing of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002. The Dutch JFK mystery

The glasses at the intro looks like the Vodafone Logo lol

To my shame, this is the most I have ever learned about the colonization of the Maori lands. To my joy- and your credit, Sir Spectacles, I have finally learned an introduction to Māori civilization at the time of British arrival. This doc was an awesome work. I look forward to watching the rest of what you have created.

young toko frm the city of auckland in the suburb of Otara, the philosophy is tuff

I like your vids but keep in mind ads when you're making the video because your narration is so quiet that when I turn it up enough to hear it the ads are so obnoxiously loud

As a resident of Russell with a partner and most friends from Kerikeri it always trips me the hell out seeing footage of places a 10 minute walk from my house on the internet. Also that aint how you pronounce Ngapuhi, not even close

This is worded like a biased high school thesis 😂

Your pronounciation of some of the Maori words is pretty shocking mate. The Nga in Nga Puhi is similar to the Ng in sing. If you say "(si)ng a (song)" quickly you are basically saying the word Nga. And Puhi is basically pronounced Poo-hee but the H is often very soft

It's funny how my tour guide in NZ just chalked it up as the maori liked the british so much they decided to join them.

Pronunciation on point SIKE!

A fascinating story of resistance by the Maori. Even though they ultimately were defeated by the British their fight was not ultimately in vain. In the grand scheme of things they got a better deal than many other native peoples. Sure there is still a lot of room for improvement, but there is hope that things will improve for them.

Great vid though

The G is silent is Nga Puhi. Kia ora tho. Good pronunciation attempts

By the time Britain drafted the Treaty of Waitangi they were already old hands in the business of colonization and therefore the idea that any discrepancies in the document were simply mistranslations is quite frankly rather difficult to swallow the British being masters of the diplomatic double-cross would never have let the acquisition of important new territories slip from their grasp, the fact that their version favors the British immeasurably should really tell us most of what we need to know in regards to the duplicity practiced by white settlers all over the world in this period.

"Never let a good crisis go to waste"