Introduction
The
technology which will be the focus if my research is the “Musket”, the musket
has found its way throughout the world leaving a trail of blood.
I
will give an insight into how the musket had become so reliant with the Maori
people and the impacts it had on the Maori society from various aspects.
The Musket
Wars
How
the musket came across the Maori is been held accountable to one man “Hongi
Hika” leader the Maori tribe “Ngapuhi”. Intertribal wars between Ngapuhi and
rival tribe Ngati-Whatua was an on-going battle which will be the trigger to
what is known as the “Musket wars” (S.Walters, 2014)
Due to early encounters with European
settlers, Hongi Hika made himself familiar with the weapon “Musket” which he
used in a fierce battle with the Ngati-Whatua. The muskets created a loud noise
and if hit by the lead fired from the musket would severely wound or kill the
opposition, the muskets being slow to reload gave an advantage to the
Ngati-Whatua who ambushed Hika and his tribe with traditional Maori weaponry known
as the Taiaha and Patu (Maori spear and club) and slaughtered the Ngapuhi tribe (S.Walters,
2014) .
The need for Hongi Hika to avenge his uncle
and two brothers who lost their lives on the battle prompted the contact
between Hika and the Europeans to begin trading of food and supplies for more
muskets and gun powder (S.Walters, 2014) .
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| figure 1. photo of musket and timeline showing the increase of the cost. Retrieved from http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/musket-wars/aftermath |
Hika
now armed with large musket armies, campaigned his leadership slaughtering many
tribes throughout the north island inflicting fear on his enemies and stating
his dominance. In order for the other tribes to stand a chance against Hika and
his musket armies they too armed themselves with muskets through trading food
and supplies with the Europeans which is known as the musket wars that claimed
many Maori lives (S.Walters, 2014) .
The
cost of the musket was proving to be a problem as the demand was becoming more
increasingly so too was the price, local people would starve as the need for
power and protection would cause a tribe to trade all the pork and potatoes
they have for muskets and gun powder (S.Walters, 2014) .
The introduction of the musket caused fear
among tribes which drove them out of their traditional areas and forced to live
with relatives. Being driven out freed up the area and created confusion over
ownership which created a new reason for fighting when other tribes had come
across the land of the locals. Disputes are still being made at the Waitangi tribunal
over land ownership and are asked to consider before the musket was introduced
to the Maori as Maori believe that land was acquired unfairly (S.Walters,
2014) .
Muskets and
the Native Americans
The
introduction of muskets to the Native Americans had come across in the battles
against the Europeans. The noise and unfamiliarity of the musket to which was
called a fire stick had put fear into the Native Americans (Muskets and Rifles, n.d) .
The musket was not good for battle as they
were considered inaccurate and the main use in battle was to fire at large
groups of people which were useless against the Native Americans as they fought
individually (Muskets and Rifles, n.d) .
In the
1700’s the Native Americans became familiar with the “British Norwest Musket”
but found little use for them in their style if fighting and hunting as the
musket was too heavy and too hard to handle and reload whilst on the back of a
horse. The bow and arrow proved to be the weapon of mass destruction at the
time up until the 1860’s where Native Americans equipped themselves with more modernised
rifles which are easily handled while riding on the back of a horse (Muskets and
Rifles, n.d) .
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| figure 2. Photo of Apache with rifle. Retrieved from http://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/the-indian-wars/beaver-wars.htm |
The
new found weaponry for the Native Americans proved at a high cost as for one
rifle it cost stack of fur the were as high as the rifle which caused riots
between neighbouring tribes as they would invade territory’s to hunt for beaver
fur to trade for weapons which is the triggering point of what is known as the “Beaver
Wars” (Beaver Wars, n.d) .
Not only did the cost impact the tribe so did
power status as the rifles had disturbed the balance of authority between
tribes as power shifted to those tribes that had rifles (Muskets and
Rifles, n.d) .
 |
| figure 3. timeline of the beaver wars. Retrieved from http://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/the-indian-wars/beaver-wars.htm |
Conclusion
The
musket is used by both these indigenous tribes both introduced by the Europeans
and caused tribes to descend from their traditional ways of warfare and using
the traditional method.
In doing
so they have allowed for more European influences within their tribe and leads
them away from their cultural aspects.
With
the introduction of the musket to the Maori they have used it to slaughter
their own people with the intertribal wars whereas the Native Americans want to
use it to fight the battle against the European although the demand for guns
from the Natives caused conflict between tribes as lack of beavers to provide
fur for trading became a problem prompting the beaver wars.
Both
tribes have been heavily influenced by the introduction of muskets into their
culture and not for the good as it was the source of wars.
References
Beaver Wars. (n.d).
Retrieved October 17, 2014, from
http://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/the-indian-wars/beaver-wars.htm
Muskets and
Rifles. (n.d). Retrieved October 17, 2014, from
http://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/native-indian-weapons-tools/muskets-and-rifles.htm
New Zealand
History. (2014, September 18). First contact between Maoris and Europeans.
Retrieved October 18, 2014, from http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/page/first-contact-between-maori-and-europeans
S.Walters, D.
(2014, January 22). Retrieved October 17, 2014, from New Zealand History:
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/musket-wars/further-information
