📚 Unit Plans → 🌍 HIS 2.3: Perspectives → 📄 Treaty Text Comparison — HIS 2.3 Lesson 3
Year 12 Tikanga-ā-Iwi / Social Sciences
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Treaty Text Comparison — Whakataurite Tuhinga · Article 1

Level 2 History · HIS 2.3 · Lesson 3 · Work in pairs — use both texts to answer the questions below
 
 
Context: Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi was signed on 6 February 1840 at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands. There were two versions — an English text (drafted by Hobson and Busby) and a Māori text (translated overnight by Henry Williams). The two texts say different things about the most important question: what power did Māori agree to give the Crown? Article 1 is where the critical difference appears.
English text — Article 1
The Chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand and the separate and independent Chiefs who have not become members of the Confederation cede to Her Majesty the Queen of England absolutely and without reservation all the rights and powers of Sovereignty which the said Confederation or Individual Chiefs respectively exercise or possess, or may be supposed to exercise or to possess over their respective Territories as the sole sovereigns thereof.
Māori text — Ko te tuatahi
Ko ngā Rangatira o te Wakaminenga me ngā Rangatira katoa hoki ki hai i uru ki taua wakaminenga ka tuku rawa atu ki te Kuini o Ingarani ake tonu atu — te Kawanatanga katoa o ō rātou wenua.

[Translation: The chiefs of the Confederation and all the chiefs who have not joined the Confederation give absolutely to the Queen of England forever the complete governorship of their land.]
English term Māori text term What each means The critical difference
Sovereignty Kāwanatanga Sovereignty = full, supreme political authority over a territory and its people — the right to make all laws, own all unclaimed land, and override all other authorities.

Kāwanatanga = governorship — the power to govern (manage day-to-day affairs), but not necessarily supreme authority. The word was adapted from "Governor."		 The gap: When rangatira heard "kāwanatanga," many understood they were granting limited administrative authority over Pākehā settlers — not surrendering their own political sovereignty.

The Crown read the English text and understood they had received full sovereignty over all of New Zealand.

This is not a minor translation error — it is the source of 180+ years of Treaty dispute.
(not in Article 1 English text) Tino rangatiratanga Full, undiminished chiefly authority — guaranteed to rangatira in Article 2 of Te Tiriti. Rangatira expected to retain this over their own lands and people.
Tasks — Ngā Mahi · Work with your partner
Task 1: In the English text, circle the word sovereignty. In the Māori text, circle the word kāwanatanga. These are not equivalent translations. Complete this sentence:
"These two words are different because 'sovereignty' means _______ while 'kāwanatanga' means _______."
Task 2: Imagine you are a rangatira on 5 February 1840. You have just heard the Māori text read aloud by Henry Williams. You speak no English. What do you believe you are agreeing to give the Queen?
Tautoko — support scaffold: "Rangatira who signed believed they were keeping _______ because the Māori word used was 'kāwanatanga,' which means _______. They would only give the Queen _______."
Task 3: Now imagine you are Governor Hobson reading the English text. What do you believe you have received from the signing?
Task 4 — Discussion: Nōpera Panakareao, a rangatira who signed at Kaitaia, said: "The shadow of the land goes to the Queen, but the substance remains with us." In 1854, he retracted this — saying he had been deceived.
What does his retraction tell us about how rangatira's understanding of the Treaty changed over time?
Irreconcilability check: Could the rangatira who signed in 1840 and the Crown ever have fully agreed on what the Treaty meant — given these two different texts? What would have needed to be different for agreement to be possible?

📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot

Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions

Students will engage with this resource to develop NCEA Level 2 historical thinking skills — examining how and why different groups held distinct perspectives on significant events in Aotearoa New Zealand's past, and constructing analytical essays using the PEE (Point–Evidence–Explanation) framework.

Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria

Differentiation & Inclusion

Scaffold support: Provide PEE sentence frames and perspective analysis templates for entry-level access. Students new to historical essay writing benefit from annotated exemplars showing the difference between describing and explaining a perspective. Extend capable writers by asking them to explain the enduring significance of the perspective clash — why does it still shape Aotearoa today?

ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key historical vocabulary (perspective, corroboration, reliability, significance, agency) with visual glossaries. Allow oral explanation of perspective analysis before written essay drafts. Sentence starters and argument frames lower the language barrier without reducing the historical thinking demand.

Inclusion: Essay writing is cognitively demanding — chunk the process across multiple sessions with formative checkpoints. Neurodiverse learners benefit from explicit essay structure guides and colour-coded paragraph planning. Oral history discussion forums are a valid alternative assessment pathway for students who need them.

Mātauranga Māori lens: This achievement standard centres events where Māori perspectives have historically been marginalised or misrepresented. Placing tangata whenua perspectives as the primary lens — not as "the other side" — is an act of historical justice. Whakapapa provides a framework for understanding why events like the NZ Wars, land confiscations, and the Dawn Raids were not isolated incidents but linked expressions of colonial power. Tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake frame what was at stake. Students develop empathy and critical historical consciousness together.

Prior knowledge: Students should have foundational knowledge of the relevant historical events (NZ Wars, Treaty of Waitangi, Dawn Raids, or other case study). Familiarity with the PEE structure supports engagement with essay-focused resources.

Curriculum alignment