Arawa (canoe)

Arawa (canoe)

In Māori tradition, Arawa was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that was used in the migrations that settled Aotearoa.

Both the Te Arawa and Tainui canoes were formed from one great tree in Hawaiki. The canoe belonged to Tama-te-kapua of the Nga-Oho tribe. After a series of battles between his family and the high-chief Uenuku, it was decided that they should set out for the newly found land of the prized pounamu(nephrite jade). The Arawa landed in Whanagparaoa, Cape Runaway. The modern descendants of the Arawa settlers live in the Te Waiariki, Bay of Plenty Volcanic Plateau region.