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Tino rangatiratanga is a Māori language term that is often translated as "absolute sovereignty". It appears in the Māori version of the Treaty of Waitangi, signed by the British Crown and Māori chiefs (rangatira) in 1840.

It has become one of the most contentious phrases in retrospective analyses of the Treaty amid debate surrounding the obligations that were agreed to by each signatory. The phrase features in current historical and political discourse on race relations in New Zealand and is widely used by Māori advocacy groups. A tino rangatiratanga flag was designed in 1989 and has become accepted as a national flag for Māori groups across New Zealand.

Origins and etymology

A rangatira is a chief, the nominalising suffix -tanga makes the word an abstract noun referring to the quality or attributes of chieftainship, and the addition of intensifier tino in this context means the phrase can be translated as 'highest chieftainship' (Kawharu, 1989, p. 314), the intention of which was to 'emphasize to a chief the Queen's intention to give the complete control according to their customs' (ibid., p. 319). The term's English translation is 'absolute (tino) sovereignty (rangatiratanga)', although many also refer to it as self-determination, autonomy, or Māori independence.

• Tino: absolute ... used before a noun to indicate something is unrivalled or is true or genuine.
• Rangatiratanga: kingdom, realm, sovereignty, principality, self-determination, self-management.

Treaty of Waitangi

The emphasis on tino rangatiratanga draws from an inconsistency arising between Article 1 and Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi:

• In the English text of Article 1 of the Treaty, the Māori signatories cede their sovereignty to the British Crown. For the Māori text, since there was no direct Māori translation for the idea, the missionary neologism 'kawanatanga' (= 'governorship') was used to represent the concept of sovereignty. That word was based on the transliteration "Kawana" (= 'governor'), which had been invented by Bible translators to explain Pontius Pilate's authority in Judaea. Kawana had also been used prior to 1840 to describe the Governor of New South Wales.
• In the English text of Article 2, signatories are assured that the full exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties would remain for so long as they chose. In the Māori text, signatories are assured that their tino rangatiratanga will remain undisturbed over their lands, kainga and other taonga (te tino rangatiratanga o ratou wenua o ratou kainga me o ratou taonga katoa, literally the absolute chieftainship of your lands, your homes, and all your treasures/taonga).

Based on the Māori text alone, in Article 1, the signatories appear to be granting kawanatanga (governorship), and in Article 2, the signatories are promised that their tino rangatiratanga (absolutely sovereignty or highest chieftainship) would remain undisturbed. The apparent inconsistency led to much debate as to whether the Māori signatories intended to cede their sovereignty to the British Crown at all: a debate now definitively resolved by the Waitangi Tribunal ruling that sovereignty was not (indeed could not be) ceded.

Aside from the legal controversy, many Māori see the Treaty as a charter to choose their own way of life within the framework of law, free of external interference in taonga like language and culture.

Text of the Treaty

The Treaty says:

Ko te tuarua

Ko te Kuini o Ingarani ka wakarite ka wakaae ki nga Rangatira ki nga hapu - ki nga tangata katoa o Nu Tirani te tino rangatiratanga o o ratou wenua o ratou kainga me o ratou taonga katoa.

The literal translation by Professor I H Kawharu, published in the Report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy in 1988:

The Second

The Queen of England agrees to protect the Chiefs, the subtribes and all the people of New Zealand in the unqualified exercise of their chieftainship over their lands, villages and all their treasures.

Flag

The Tino Rangatiratanga flag is often referred to as the Māori flag and can be used to represent all Māori. Hiraina Marsden, Jan Smith and Linda Munn designed the flag in 1989. It uses black, white, and red as national colours of New Zealand. The design of the flag references the Māori creation story of Rangi and Papa, suggesting the sky, the earth, and the physical realm of light and being, which was created when they were separated.

See also

• Māori protest movement
• United Tribes of New Zealand flag

References

1. "The Treaty of Waitangi and New Zealand Citizenship". New Zealand Centre for Political Research. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
2. "1. – Treaty of Waitangi – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
3. Orange, Claudia (13 July 2012). "Story: Treaty of Waitangi: Page 1 – Creating the Treaty of Waitangi". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
4. "Flags". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
5. Kawharu, I. H. (1989). Waitangi: Māori and Pākēha perspectives of the Treaty of Waitangi. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford University Press.
6. Awatere, D. (1982). Maori sovereignty. Broadsheet, 100, 38–42.
7. Waitangi Tribunal (1996). The Taranaki report: Kaupapa tuatahi (Wai 143) (PDF) (Report). Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
8. "Treaty Signatories Did Not Cede Sovereignty in February 1840 – Tribunal". Te Roopu Whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi (Waitangi Tribunal). 14 February 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
9. ^ "The Treaty of Waitangi". Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, NZ. 10 January 2019.
10. Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. "Flags of New Zealand Page 6 – The national Māori flag". New Zealand History. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
11. Dignan, James. "Tino Rangatiratanga flag". Flags of the World. Retrieved 31 March 2015. It was designed in 1990 by Hiraina Marsden, Jan Smith and Linda Munn, and was the winning design in a national contest to find a "Māori Flag".
12. "New Zealand – Maori Flags". Crwflags.com. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

External links

• Maori leaders clash over flag's new role at The New Zealand Herald

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See also: Historical flags of the British Empire and the overseas territories

• Constitution of New Zealand
• Flags of indigenous peoples
• Māori politics
• Treaty of Waitangi
• Māori words and phrases
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