Kawanatanga in the Māori treaty text
The inspected Māori text, Ko te Tuatahi, uses the expression “te Kawanatanga katoa o o ratou wenua” in describing what the chiefs give to the Queen of England.
What this does and does not establish
The original term Kawanatanga is retained. The working translation does not establish equivalence with sovereignty in the separate English text, nor settle historical understanding or legal interpretation.
- Read through an AI working translation.
- Region
- Oceania
- Theme
- Politics and institutions
- Kind of record
- What a document says. The wording of a document, which is not proof of what happened in practice.
How it is dated
- Date reference
- English conclusion: “this Sixth day of February ... One thousand eight hundred and forty.” Used only to group the treaty documents, not as a quotation from the Māori text.
- How we use it
- Document-year grouping based on the separately identified English conclusion; it does not establish equivalence between the language versions or the date of every signature.
The date reference is this project’s reading of the source’s date. It may give an era name, a reign or a calendar in a normalised form rather than in the source’s own words; the dating notes say what the source prints.
Dating notes from the research record
Explicit year in English treaty conclusion, not a date for every signature or proof of implementation
File names and line numbers in these notes, and in the limits above, refer to the project’s retained copies of the cited sources. Names such as calendar_headers are the project’s calendar look-ups, and “the investigator” is the research step that prepared the record.
Sources and quoted text
Line and character numbers under “Location” refer to the project’s retained copy of the source. For database rows, “Edition” names the batch of rows that was fetched together.
Source 1 · Supports the statement
Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori text
1840 Treaty text reproduced by Waitangi Tribunal from Schedule 1, Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975
Māori-language treaty text (statutory transcription, not the signed original)
Ko nga Rangatira o te Wakaminenga me nga 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 o ratou wenua.AI working translation into English; not official or authoritative
The chiefs of the Confederation and all chiefs who have not joined that Confederation give entirely to the Queen of England, forever, all the Kawanatanga of their lands.
Source credit and reuse conditions recorded for this source: Attribute Waitangi Tribunal, historical treaty texts reproduced from Schedule 1 of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. Keep English and Māori text distinct; any AI working translation is non-authoritative; preserve qualifications and source URL.
Exact source version
c3df445258f75030cb0f634c4996ab07c70a05afe8c5d6468a2f9bd26d30b4e1Source 2 · Supports the statement
Treaty of Waitangi, English text
1840 Treaty text reproduced by Waitangi Tribunal from Schedule 1, Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975
English-language treaty text (statutory transcription, not the signed original)
Done at Waitangi this Sixth day of February in the year of Our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.Source credit and reuse conditions recorded for this source: Attribute Waitangi Tribunal, historical treaty texts reproduced from Schedule 1 of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975. Keep English and Māori text distinct; any AI working translation is non-authoritative; preserve qualifications and source URL.
Exact source version
e2686f902f07db0c817ed6185ceeef4af277a674ddd945371d6bd686de8a318fChecks and changes
Source checked 2026-11-04. An independent AI evidence review supports this bounded, attributed wording. That review does not guarantee historical truth. How records are checked
Before the first public release: separated translation from editorial explanation and made the date source explicit.
Revision p05_04_2_r3
Exact revision fingerprint
5ec5c88e554cdb5a46ce2aed0e134d180552bbfd04fb1d537f1624b292d93b98