How to Start a Monarchy from Scratch (Part 1)

0:00Dana Schwartz:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. We got clear facts. Maybe we can calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around L.A. in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr. Want the full story? Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes.

0:47And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy and Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Goodbye. The official language of football is trash talk. Late night group chats, memes, and unbelievable highlight clips. That's why Boost Mobile brings you our new global connection plan. The first plan ever made for WhatsApp.

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1:42Dana Schwartz:Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim & Mild from Aaron Menke. Listener discretion advised. As Te Fuero Fuero watched his foes retreat toward the muddy banks of the Waitara River, it all felt too easy. For nearly two years, the seasoned Maori warrior had led his vast army to push their tribal rivals down the west coast of what is now known as New Zealand's North island. By late 1821, early 1822, Tefuero Fuero and his Waikato tribe allies had battled against the Ngati Toa across forests, mountains, and swamps, with both sides suffering through hunger, pain, and frequent casualties.

2:36Dana Schwartz:So why now was his enemy retreating? Why would Tefuero Fuero's savvy opposite number, Te Rapparaha, simply back off once his party had reached the Taranaki region, because that's where their reinforcements were surely waiting. Between Te Fuero Fuero's years of military experience and his lifetime of absorbing Maori lore and tribal connections, he knew there were plenty of hostile adversaries who would be more than happy to attack his allied forces as they progressed into the Taranaki territory. And so, despite the retreat, Tefuero Fuero urged his army to halt. But many of his fellow leaders did not listen, instead ordering their men to charge.

3:37Dana Schwartz:What followed was a brutal military disaster in which many of Tifuerofuero's side were slaughtered. Those who survived made a hasty retreat, but Tifuerofuero refused to join them. As the stories go, he instead stayed by the side of a killed Waikato chief. There, the allies of the enemy tribe found him. The fighters were tempted to shoot Te Fuero Fuero on the spot. After all, he was the enemy leader. He'd likely been responsible for the deaths of many of their relatives. But then the leader of the enemy group, Te Reparaja, arrived on the scene. No one dared get in the way of the prominent chief and warlord, who had transformed his small tribe into one of the most powerful in New Zealand.

4:38Dana Schwartz:Te Rapparaha himself had lost loved ones to his bloody, years-long feud with Te Fuero Fuero, so it's hard to imagine him not being tempted by the chance to inflict fierce vengeance as he walked towards his nemesis. As for Tefuero Fuero, he was not one to go down without a fight. He was purportedly just as skilled with words as he was with weapons, which was a fortunate backup skill to have, because according to several sources, the only weapon available to him at that moment was a digging implement. Despite being ridiculously outnumbered and outgunned, Tefuero Fuero grabbed the tool, and with his life, his tribe's fortunes, the power dynamics of the region, and even the fate of long-term royal control of New Zealand all hanging in the balance, he wielded his small weapon with every last bit of gravitas he could gather as his enemy approached.

5:51Dana Schwartz:I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is Noble Blood. Trying to rule over the entirety of New Zealand was no easy feat, especially in Te Fuera Fuera's era, because there was no existing monarchical structure or overarching sense of national identity. To paint an extremely broad strokes picture of New Zealand's early history, Its two largest islands, now simply called the North Island and South Island, were the last large habitable landmasses on Earth to be reached by humans. According to both modern archaeological studies and generational Maori wisdom, Polynesians first traveled to the North Island by canoe in approximately 1250.

6:45Dana Schwartz:Scientific analysis has shown that they used more sophisticated navigation methods than many historians initially acknowledged, and by about 1350, Polynesian settlers were migrating in more substantial numbers. Over time, as villages grew, they began forming a distinct Maori culture. It wasn't until the 17th century that European sailors visited the grouping of over 600 islands. Then it took almost 200 more years for friction between colonists and Maori tribes to fuel a brutal period of political turmoil, land grabs, and forced assimilation, all of which I will circle back to later. For now, the key hierarchies to know about that existed on the North and South Islands when Tifuera Fuera was born around 1770 were the complex Maori systems of Iwi, or tribes,

7:58Dana Schwartz:A Rangatira's power was often, but not always, hereditary. In Tefuero Fuero's case, it certainly was, since his father was a chief and his mother the daughter of another chief within the large Waikato tribe. This afforded him ample clout and opportunity from birth. Tifuero Fwero also initially benefited from growing up in a period of relative peace, since that allowed him plenty of time to gain valuable knowledge and experience. Under the supervision of his renowned warrior father, Tifuero Fwero reportedly honed his fighting skills, studied military strategy, and absorbed traditional Maori lore.

8:48Dana Schwartz:Then he continued to learn genealogy, sacred rituals, and arcane wisdom at an exclusive Maori institution of higher learning, where elders instructed a select few pupils, mostly sons of chiefs. This all helped enhance Te Fuera Fuera's mana, a crucial element for a Maori leader. The concept of mana is extremely complex and profound within Maori culture, and therefore difficult for me to succinctly encapsulate. That said, it's often translated and understood as an intangible force that gives a person or entity prestige, authority, or power. As we'll explore more soon, mana was key to Tefuerofuero's life and unprecedented ascent as a leader.

9:48Dana Schwartz:The peaceful period could only last so long for his Waikato tribe, and Tefuerofuero soon needed all the mana he could get to survive the coming Musket Wars. The Musket Wars were actually a series of thousands of battles among Maori tribes spanning 1807 to 1845. These violent conflicts were later grouped together by scholars due to how they were markedly influenced by the introduction of, you guessed it, the musket. As European settlers brought and traded guns, it essentially sparked a Maori arms race among tribes and sub-tribes. Although the Europeans, the majority of them British, supplied the firepower, they were initially vastly outnumbered and supposedly mostly focused on trading, whaling, and proselytizing as Protestant Christian missionaries.

10:53Dana Schwartz:This meant that in his warrior prime, Tifuero-Fuero's biggest foes were other tribes. He went on numerous military campaigns, the most dramatic being his war against the Ngati Toa Iwi. Because in this rival tribe, Tifuero-Fuero met an equally formidable adversary, a mighty chief by the name of Teirah Paraha. According to many sources, tensions particularly ratcheted up when members of the Ngate Toa killed a relative of Te Fuera Fuera's. This prompted him to spearhead a series of revenge missions, which included allegedly overseeing the murder of one of Te Roparaha's wives when she visited Waikato territory in 1820.

11:49Dana Schwartz:This sparked a bitter feud over territory, resources, and purported hostile transgressions. While Tefuerofuero's father continued to lead the larger Waikato tribe, Tefuerofuero led a coalition army of warriors from Waikato and another Iwi against the Ngato Toa and their chief, Teraparaja. Tefuerofuero's side won decisive victories, attacking by land and sea and eventually surrounding the Ngataitoa near Kaffia Harbor on the North Island's west coast. Tefuerofuero and his legion of warriors seemingly had a perfect chance to annihilate their opposition, and yet they didn't. The reasoning behind this apparently perplexed some scholars, especially those predominantly accustomed to studying European monarchies.

12:49Dana Schwartz:One likely explanation proposed by experts on Maori culture is that Tefuero Fuero showed restraint due to deeper dimensions within his tribe's structure. Namely, while his larger Waikato Iwi was at war with Te Roparaja's Ngatetoa Iwi, there were still numerous critical links between many of the involved fighters' sub-tribes. The specific names of these connected sub-tribes were seemingly not well documented or commemorated, but multiple accounts claim that the majority of the senior members in Tefuerofuero's army were against executing Te Roparaja. Ultimately, Tefuerofuero listened to his people and negotiated for his tribe to take control of Ngatitoa territory, and he banished his foes to the Taranaki region to the south of his enlarged Wacato domain.

13:52Dana Schwartz:Subsequently, Tefuerofuero led his army into Taranaki, possibly to keep pushing Te Roparaja south, although it appears probable that his most pressing goal was to rescue an allied war party that was under siege nearby. This is where things took a drastic turn. Te Fuero Fuero supposedly had the foresight to realize Te Roparaja was planning the fake retreat. But when his fellow Waikato warriors and chiefs disregarded his warnings and attacked anyway, he had little choice but to support them. The legends and history books are murky about the exact identity of the slain Waikato chief with whom Te Fuero Fuero stayed while his enemies closed in.

14:44Dana Schwartz:But according to the many probably embellished accounts of that fateful day, his loyalty to his allies and love for his fellow leader could not have been clearer. The real question was how far any related benevolence stretched among his enemies, namely what mercy was within the heart of Te Roparaja. Fortunately for Te Fuerofuero, his chief adversary arrived and ultimately decided to stay his execution. Once again, the question of why has intrigued historians and writers. The simplest explanation is that Te Roperaja felt compelled to repay his debt since Te Fuerofuero had previously spared his life.

15:34Dana Schwartz:As we've touched upon, the more complex answer involves several other notable factors, including territory negotiations and underlying relationships between sub-tribes. Importantly, underpinning all of this was the fascinating and foundational concept of mana. As previously mentioned, mana denoted the authority and prestige of a person. It bestowed respect. It was the essence of someone's aura. But mana went beyond that. Maori society had no specific word or concept of religion in the same sense that many European cultures at the time did. As certain researchers and anthropologists have pointed out, supernatural and natural were inextricably linked and intertwined throughout the fabric of Maori daily tribal life, all through mana.

16:36Dana Schwartz:Mana was inherited at birth, but also constantly fluctuated over one's lifetime. Maori could increase their mana through courageous acts, such as fighting heroically in battle, while their mana might decrease if they suffered distinct embarrassments, such as allowing themselves to be shamefully tricked. On occasion, mana could be sneakily stolen or even stem from brash humor. In a 1990 issue of New Zealand Geographic, a journalist and student of Maori culture and customs named Chris Winitana recounted this amusing story about his ancestor from roughly 300 years ago, who was famously skilled with a type of long-staff weapon.

17:29Dana Schwartz:Quote, One day, he was caught alone near the Star Lake by a battalion of soldiers out to settle a score. Outnumbered 400 to 1, he had a choice to make. Die, run, or simply see who had the most mana. Deciding on the latter, he calmly lifted his war apron, exposed himself, and urinated in front of the enemy. Satisfied that he had made the right impact, he yelled out to them, You have now seen my long staff. Do not come forth, for its mana will kill you. Nonchalantly, he turned around, broke wind, and walked away. Fearing the double-edged threat of his mana, not one of the 400 was game to have a go.

18:20Dana Schwartz:End quote. Power, prestige, pissing contests, all were laced with mana. And above all, mana was deeply rooted in family. A Maori person's mana went all the way back to their ancestors and to the Atua, their ancestral deities and potent keepers of knowledge who helped to link people to the natural world. Crucially, Tefuerofuero's and Teroparaja's respective mana were believed to flow all the way from the revered captains of the two legendary Polynesian canoes that first landed on the shores of the North Island. So these leaders crossing paths as influential chiefs in their own rights was something of a full-circle moment in terms of New Zealand Maori and hereditary history.

19:19Dana Schwartz:Tefuero Fuero would have undoubtedly known this, thanks to his schooling and genealogical wisdom. Accordingly, he was reportedly an eloquent orator, and so he surely made his case well when faced with his rival chieftain and the threat of execution. And what he couldn't get across in words, he backed up with his actions. Because Te Roperaja did not let Te Fuero Fuero off easy. As the stories go, Te Fuero Fuero first had to face numerous well-armed chiefs in single combat with only the simple digging tool he had to defend himself. Unlike the, ahem, long staff master who boldly peed and farted to intimidate his foes, Tefuero Fuero had to actually fight for his life, since his opponents apparently were all game to have a go.

20:20Dana Schwartz:But he conducted himself valiantly, and in the end, the combination of Tefuero Fuero's heritage, past deeds, charisma, and raw power all ostensibly persuaded Te Roparajas to negotiate for his release when a number of Waikato allies returned. Put simply, Te Fuero Fuero had too much mana to deny. It's worth noting that scholarship today largely relies on both European historical texts and Maori oral traditions. Understandably, these sources often offer decidedly different perspectives. For a long period, Maori oral traditions were disregarded by many colonial scholars. These dismissals purportedly went hand in hand with the sort of Eurocentric vision for New Zealand that was used to directly and indirectly justify attempts throughout the 19th century to separate Maori from their lands and force them to culturally assimilate.

21:29Dana Schwartz:However, later analysis by a range of both Maori historians and non-Native researchers frequently showed that, while sometimes embellished, these oral histories were just as accurate, if not more so, than many European settlers' written documentations. And if anything, the passed-down legends give us the best context and insight regarding many significant and densely interconnected Maori tribal events, such as Tefuero Fuero and Te Rapuraja's epic rivalry. Tefuero Fuero's legacy kept growing through the Musket Wars. In terms of hierarchy, Tefuerofuero took command of the overall Waikato Iwi when his father died in about 1830.

22:20Dana Schwartz:He then continued to increase Waikato territory throughout the central part of the North Island, ultimately helping to make them one of the most powerful and prosperous tribes in all of New Zealand. Te Fuero Fuero eventually even saw value in negotiating for peace with the Ngata Toa. According to some chroniclers, it was quite mutually beneficial for these prominent tribes to work together as their interests further aligned due to the encroachment of common enemies and their increasing need to deal with foreign governments and monarchs. Some scholars have additionally posited that Tefuero-Fuero's peacemaking was a result of his increased interest in British missionaries' Christian teaching and values.

23:13Dana Schwartz:All that said, Tefuero-Fuero by no means became a universally beloved individual or an entirely magnanimous figurehead. After all, he'd still committed and instigated plenty of war and murder. But as a warrior, ranked Tira, and spiritual leader, Tifuera Fuero was seemingly always able to garner some level of respect, even from his opponents. And in many ways, the image of Tifuerafuero loyally standing guard besides a fallen ally, brandishing a digging implement while attackers encircled him, was symbolic of both his persona and of dramatic events to come. because as colonists increasingly ventured from Europe to New Zealand, the dark storm clouds of a Maori versus British war began gathering on the horizon.

24:11Dana Schwartz:Te Fuero Fuero would soon find himself caught in the middle as he was ultimately presented with the staggering opportunity to become the first ever monarch in Maori history. That's part one of the story of Tifuero Fuero's unique rise to royalty. But stick around after a brief sponsor break to learn a fascinating piece of his rival-turned-comrade's spiritual legacy.

24:47I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we can calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News, reporting for America. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around L.A. in the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr. Want the full story? Take a listen. Hedy, she starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him?

25:32I mean, I watch The Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him. But incredible innovator. Right. She says he's a, quote, very strange man. But they do get along really well. Give us examples. I know. They do get along intellectually. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings. And she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of like what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today.

26:09And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy Lamarr and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Goodbye. The official language of football is trash talk. late night group chats, memes, and unbelievable highlight clips. That's why Boost Mobile brings you our new global connection plan. The first plan ever made for WhatsApp. Get unlimited data, talk and text, international roaming, and calls to over 100 countries for just$40 a month. $40 price includes$5 a month auto pay discount. After 40 gigabytes of premium high-speed data, speeds will be lowered.

26:45Coverage not available everywhere. Visit store or boostmobile.com for details.

26:50Dana Schwartz:For anyone who has watched New Zealand's vaunted international rugby team, the All Blacks, prepare for a match in recent decades, the sight and sound of their forceful haka, or ceremonial challenge, is incredibly iconic. Interestingly, the haka most commonly performed by the All Blacks and many other New Zealand sports teams is Ka Mate, which was composed by none other than Te Fuero Fuero's one-time bitter rival Te Rapuraha. Maori oral histories credit the famed Ngatutoa chief with creating the haka in 1820 after evading some of his Waikato enemies in the musket wars. The chief reportedly had to hide in a sweet potato storage pit with the help of a female farmer.

27:42Dana Schwartz:When he safely emerged into the sunlight, he was so elated and thankful that he composed the chant as a celebration of life over death and as an ode to the spiritual power of the woman who stood guard and helped save his life. Not only did New Zealand's sporting traditions benefit from the chief surviving, Te Fuero Fuero eventually would as well, because the rival chief's lineage would greatly impact Sefuero Fuero's eventual candidacy to become the first king of New Zealand. But listen to next week's episode to find out about that.

28:29Dana Schwartz:Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is hosted by me, Dana Schwartz. Writers for Nobleblood are Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Paul Jaffe, Natasha Lasky, and me, Dana Schwartz. The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk and Noam Scrippen, with supervising producer Rima Ilkayali, and executive producers Aaron Menke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. What if your soda actually did something for you? Introducing Skypot Protein Soda.

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30:46Dana Schwartz:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.