Editing South Island (section)

=== Classical Māori period ===
Early inhabitants of the South Island were the [[Waitaha (South Island iwi)|Waitaha]]. They were largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the [[Kāti Māmoe]] in the 16th century.<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201123/http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/viewchapter.asp?reportID=df5193bc-b315-4a9c-a9bb-2a2f88a3557a&chapter=1 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url=http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/viewchapter.asp?reportID=df5193bc-b315-4a9c-a9bb-2a2f88a3557a&chapter=1 |title=The Ngāi Tahu Claim: Supplementary Report on Ngāi Tahu Legal Personality |publisher=Waitangi Tribunal |at=section 2.2 }}</ref>

Kāti Māmoe were in turn largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the [[Kāi Tahu]] who migrated south in the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book |author=Michael King |title=The Penguin History of New Zealand |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-14-301867-4 |page=90 |publisher=Penguin Books }}</ref> While today there is no distinct Kāti Māmoe organisation, many Kāi Tahu have Kāti Māmoe links in their [[whakapapa]] and especially in the far south of the island.

Around the same time, a group of Māori [[Polynesian navigation|migrated]] to ''Rēkohu'' (the [[Chatham Islands]]), where, in adapting to the local climate and the availability of resources, they [[ethnogenesis|eventually evolved into a separate people]] known as the [[Moriori]] with [[Moriori language|its own distinct language]] – closely related to the parent culture and language in [[mainland New Zealand]]. One notable feature of the Moriori culture, an emphasis on [[pacifism]], proved disadvantageous when Māori [[warrior]]s arrived in the 1830s aboard a chartered European ship.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/MaoriNewZealanders/Moriori/4/en |title=Moriori – The impact of new arrivals |publisher=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |date=4 March 2009 |access-date=12 November 2010 }}</ref>

In the early 18th century, [[Kāi Tahu]], a [[Māori people|Māori]] [[iwi|tribe]] who originated on the east coast of the [[North Island]], began migrating to the northern part of the South Island. There they and [[Kāti Māmoe]] fought Ngāi Tara and [[Rangitāne]] in the [[Wairau River|Wairau Valley]]. Ngāti Māmoe then ceded the east coast regions north of the [[Waiau Toa / Clarence River]] to Kāi Tahu. Kāi Tahu continued to push south, conquering [[Kaikōura]]. By the 1730s, Kāi Tahu had settled in [[Canterbury Region|Canterbury]], including [[Banks Peninsula]]. From there they spread further south and into the [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]].<ref name=teara-ngaitahu />

In 1827–28, [[Ngāti Toa]] under the leadership of [[Te Rauparaha]] successfully attacked Kāi Tahu at Kaikōura. Ngāti Toa then visited [[Kaiapoi Pā]], ostensibly to trade. When they attacked their hosts, the well-prepared Kāi Tahu killed all the leading Ngāti Toa chiefs except Te Rauparaha. Te Rauparaha returned to his [[Kapiti Island]] stronghold. In November 1830, Te Rauparaha persuaded Captain John Stewart of the brig ''Elizabeth'' to carry him and his warriors in secret to [[Akaroa]], whereby in subterfuge they captured the leading Kāi Tahu chief, [[Tama-i-hara-nui]], and his wife and daughter. After destroying Tama-i-hara-nui's village, they took their captives to Kapiti and killed them. John Stewart, though arrested and sent to trial in Sydney as an accomplice to murder, nevertheless escaped conviction.<ref name="teara-ngaitahu">{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Tau |first=Te Maire |title=Ngāi Tahu |encyclopedia=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/ngai-tahu |date=8 February 2005}}
</ref>

In the summer of 1831–32 Te Rauparaha attacked the Kaiapoi [[Pā (Māori)|pā]] (fortified village). Kaiapoi was engaged in a three-month siege by Te Rauparaha, during which his men successfully [[Sapping|sapped]] the pā. They then attacked Kāi Tahu on [[Banks Peninsula]] and took the pā at [[Onawe]]. In 1832–33 Kāi Tahu retaliated under the leadership of [[Tūhawaiki]] and others, attacking Ngāti Toa at [[Lake Grassmere]]. Kāi Tahu prevailed, and killed many Ngāti Toa, although Te Rauparaha again escaped. Fighting continued for a year or so, with Kāi Tahu maintaining the upper hand. Ngāti Toa never again made a major incursion into Kāi Tahu territory.<ref name=teara-ngaitahu/>

In 1836, the [[Ngāti Tama]] chief [[Te Pūoho]] led a 100-person war party, armed with [[musket]]s, down the [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]] and over the [[Haast Pass]]. They fell on the Ngāi Tahu encampment between Lake Wānaka and [[Lake Hāwea]], capturing ten people and killing and eating two children.<ref name=Smith1910>{{cite book |title=History and Traditions of the Maoris of the West Coast North Island of New Zealand Prior to 1840 |author=S Percy Smith |date=1910 |publisher=Polynesian Society |location=New Plymouth |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-SmiHist-t1-body1-d21-d7.html }}</ref> Te Puoho took his captives over the [[Crown Range]] to [[Lake Wakatipu]] and thence to Southland, where he was killed, and his war party destroyed by the southern Ngāi Tahu leader [[Tūhawaiki]].<ref name=AthollAnderson>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Atholl Anderson |title=Te Puoho-o-te-rangi |volume=1 |year=1990 |encyclopedia=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |url=http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/1t59/te-puoho-o-te-rangi |access-date=11 July 2017 }}</ref>

Kāi Tahu and Ngāti Toa established peace by 1839, with Te Rauparaha releasing the Kāi Tahu captives he held. Formal marriages between the leading families in the two tribes sealed the peace.