Ko te Tiriti o Waitangi, i tohua i te 1840, he kawenata tāone nō Aotearoa i waenganui i te Kāwanatanga o Ingarangi me ngā Rangatira Māori. Ko tana whāinga kia tiakina te nui o ngā tāngata Māori, kia whakaaetia hoki te noho tāone o ngā Pākehā. Ko tana tuara i te wā i tohua ai he whakaaetanga tāone i waenganui i ngā iwi, engari i te nuinga o ngā Rangatira Māori i tohu ki te wāhi tuarua o te tuhinga reo Māori, e whakaatu ana i te whakaaetanga ki te kawanatanga, engari kāore i te whakaaetanga ki te hoko i ō rātou whenua ki te Kāwanatanga. I te tau 1877 ka tohua he kōti e te Kooti Kāwanatanga ki te whakaaetia tana whakamahi, ā, i te wā i whakaaetia ai te Tiriti o Waitangi (Pire) 1975 ka whakatūria te Kōmiti Tiriti o Waitangi hei whakamaumahara i ngā whakaritenga o te tiriti, me te whakauru i ngā whakapāinga mō ngā hara kua pērāhia i te Kāwanatanga ki ngā iwi Māori. Ko te Tiriti o Waitangi tētahi o ngā tuhinga matua o te tōrō i Aotearoa, ā, he nui ngā panoni i te wā tonu mai i te iwi Māori me te iwi Pākehā.