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In Māori tradition, 'Tainui' was the name of one of the great ocean-going canoes in which Polynesians migrated to New Zealand, approximately 800 years ago. The ''Tainui'' waka was named for an infant who did not survive childbirth. At the burial site of this child, at a place in Hawaiiki known then as Maungaroa, a great tree grew; this was the tree that was used to build the ocean canoe.

Contents

Voyage

See also

References

Voyage

Several Tuamotuan stories are told of canoes named 'Tainui', 'Tainuia' (captained by Hoturoa) and 'Tainui-atea' (captained by Tahorotakarari), that left the Tuamotus and never returned.
In Māori traditions, the ''Tainui'' waka was commanded by the chief Hoturoa. On its voyage the ''Tainui'' stopped at many Pacific islands, eventually arriving in New Zealand. Its first landfall was at Whangaparaoa in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island. ''Tainui'' continued on to Tauranga, the Coromandel Peninsula and Waitemata. From Waitemata Harbour on the eastern coast, the canoe was carried by hand across the Tamaki isthmus (present-day Auckland) to Manukau Harbour on the western coast. From Manukau, ''Tainui'' sailed north to Kaipara, then southwards to the west coast harbours of Whaingaroa (Raglan), Aotea (Great Barrier Island) and Kāwhia. It continued further to south of the estuaries of the Mōkau and Mohakatini rivers before returning north to its final resting place at Maketu, Kāwhia harbour.
Crew members disembarked and at each landfall site along the way. Descendent groups formed several iwi, many associating under the Tainui confederation of iwi.

See also

★ List of Māori waka

References

★ Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology, Craig, RD, , , Greenwood Press, 1989,

★ Dictionary of Some Tuamotuan Dialects of the Polynesian Languages, Stimson JF and Marshall S, , , Peabody Museum, 1964,

★ Canoe traditions

★ Te Tumu O Tainui, , , , , 1986,