Natives of Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud - New Zealand), the Maori have a long tradition of inter-tribal conflicts going back hundreds of years.

Armed with patu (clubs) and taiaha (spears) or tewhatewha (long-axes) fashioned out of wood, bone and (very rarely) pounamu (greenstone) – the warriors of different tribes engaged in seasonal close combat to fight over food, land, resources and mana (honour).

With colonial settlement in the 19th century, the Maori adapted quickly to the use of firearms. Nevertheless, it was hard to get your hands on a gun, powder or ammunition if you were a Maori – thus the use of traditional weapons continued well into the New Zealand Wars of the latter half of the 19th century.