Session 1 · TRACE: Time & Place
The 1830s: who is in charge here?
- 10 minHook: the class timeline from 1830 to today, with a big question card: 'Whose authority, and who says so?' Add three dates you already know.
- 20 minPressure points in the 1830s: more settlers and traders, lawless behaviour at Kororāreka, a French adventurer (Baron de Thierry) claiming land, and a British Resident (James Busby) with no real power. In groups, each takes one pressure point and reports: who was worried, and why?
- 15 minMap it: mark Kororāreka, Waitangi, Paihia and your own rohe on a map of Aotearoa. Where was power held, and by whom?
- 5 minExit card: in 1834, who made the rules in your rohe?
Session 2 · TRACE: Relationships
He Whakaputanga 1835
- 10 minRead the first part of 'He Whakaputanga and te Tiriti o Waitangi'. What did the 1835 declaration say about mana and authority?
- 20 minPower map: in the centre, 'Who holds authority in 1835?' Place rangatira, the Whakaminenga (confederation of hapū), Busby, the British King and traders. Draw arrows for who decides, who influences and who is affected.
- 15 minSignatory search: use the NZ History He Whakaputanga database to find three signatories and where they were from. Why might they have signed?
- 5 minChoose your context and write your first-step list: one agreement or turning point, three groups, three sources.
Getting started
Use a partly completed power map with the rangatira and the British King already placed.
Stretch
Explain why Britain recognised He Whakaputanga in 1836, and what that meant for the claim that Aotearoa was an independent country.
Checkpoint
Every student can explain what He Whakaputanga affirmed and has a first-step list with three groups and three sources.
Activities for this week
- Power map: Who held power in 1835, in 1840 and in 1881, and how did it shift?
Useful this week
- He Whakaputanga signed by northern chiefs ↗ What happened at Waitangi on 28 October 1835.
- Declaration of Independence ↗ Why the 1830s felt lawless and why rangatira declared independence.
- Differences between the texts ↗ The te reo Māori and English texts compared, article by article.
- Te Tiriti o Waitangi – the Treaty of Waitangi ↗ The signings, the texts and how te Tiriti has been understood since.
- Waitangi Treaty Grounds ↗ Where He Whakaputanga and te Tiriti were first signed.