Te Tiriti o Waitangi 

Te Tiriti o Waitangi , (February 6, 1840), historic pact between Great Britain and a number of New Zealand Māori tribes of North Island. It purported to protect Māori rights and was the immediate basis of the British annexation of New Zealand. Negotiated at the settlement of Waitangi on February 5–6 by Britain’s designated consul and lieutenant governor William Hobson and many leading Māori chiefs, the treaty’s three articles provided for (1) the Māori signatories’ acceptance...