Isaac Coates（1808–1878），1843 年水彩；1870 年代翻拍者不明 · Public domain
c. 1760s–27 November 1849 (birth year uncertain)
Te Rauparaha
Te Rauparaha · 新西兰
c. 1760s–1849, Māori Ngāti Toa tribal chief and military leader, author of the haka *Ka Mate*.
Born around Kāwhia (one account says Maungatautari, uncertain); in the 1820s he led Ngāti Toa south, settling successively on Kapiti Island, Wellington, and the northern South Island, expanding his power in the Musket Wars and being called the "Napoleon of the South"; he took part in land transactions and negotiations around the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and in later life presided over the building of Rangiātea Church at Ōtaki, dying at Ōtaki on 27 November 1849. The section on the creative background of *Ka Mate* — "hiding in a kūmara pit and escaping death" — is tribal oral narrative, handled in this draft as **legend**, not as verified historical fact.
People & stories
Places in their life
Born in Kāwhia; places of activity Kapiti Island, Wellington, and Ōtaki; burial place Rangiātea Church, Ōtaki (one account says later reburied on Kapiti Island).
People
Cultural significance
*Ka Mate* is a taonga (treasure) of Ngāti Toa, and New Zealand's *Haka Ka Mate Attribution Act* (2014) expressly attributes its authorship to Te Rauparaha; the haka has today become one of New Zealand's most widely known cultural symbols.