Talk:Pōtatau Te Wherowhero

Date of birth

The Oxford Dictionary of Biography claims that he was born between 1770 ans 1780 [1]. The link will only last a week but it can be looked up at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. accessed 25 June 2006

The Encyclopedia of New Zealand 1966 agrees with the article in its current form that he was born circa 1800. What sources do we have for the current birthdate that we give and how confident are we in them? Capitalistroadster 10:09, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Pronounciation guide?

While I dislike the byzantine IPA (which is not known to the common person), any guide would be appreciated so we don't default, by mental lapse, to "Potato". --Bobak 18:29, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Date of selection as king

The article currently says

Potatau Te Wherowhero had been selected as King by a meeting of chiefs of the Maori tribes held at Pukawa, Lake Taupo in November 1865.

How can he be selected as King 8 years after his coronation, and 5 years after his death? --Doradus 11:36, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Has to be 1857. Have changed article. Nurg 11:29, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

His tribe Ngati Maniapoto?

"his own tribe Ngati Maniapoto" - surely not. Earlier it says he was from Ngati Mahuta and Ngati Koura, subtribes of Waikato, not Ngati Maniapoto. Nurg 11:29, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Possible vandalism?

The last sentence of "Early Life" says "Te Wherowhero himself regularly attended services albeit, he was baptised very regeruly and loved to **** alot....

Judging by the poor spelling and randomness of the comment, I have determined this to be an act of vandalism and deleted it.

Second one that I've spotted was under "Coronation", "He was 'erected' as king at Pūkawa in 1857 and installed as king during elaborate ceremonies held at his marae in Ngaruawahia in 1858."

I've changed it back to "elected."

Is there any way the guy responsible for this could be tracked down and banned?

Ask an admin to do the banning, they can check the logs/IP-addresses. eg. User:Moriori.

However, oddly enough, the erected comment is probably accurate[2]. Maybe the process needs to be expanded. I suspect it means to be reluctantly elected.

NevilleDNZ 07:22, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, since the position of Māori monarch is not hereditary in principle[3]I guess elected is a good description... since he didn't put himself up to be a candidate and was made King nevertheless, that could explain why the word "election" was in inverted commas. But you're right, I guess "erected" could work... just seemed suspicious after the first incident... --Littmann 19:55, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

I concurred with you, so I found the an original citation and it is 'erect'. I checked the dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/erect and it has "2. erect (archaic): directed upward". It could be that it is a direct translation from Māori, and the equivalent word for "erect" in Māori could several meanings. Interesting though, sad I have no bandwidth to learn Māori. NevilleDNZ 21:54, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

The Erection of the King

What happened was the people from many iwi and hapu decided that they wanted him to be their leader after much talk. There was no formal vote just lots of talk and a concensus. Tamehana went to his tent and bought him out to be acclaimed as the new king. The people asked him what he wanted to be called-"chief" or "king" and he said "king".—Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.237.33.244 (talk) 09:31, 13 February 2011 (UTC)