Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (died 25 June 1860) was a Māori rangatira who reigned as the inaugural Māori King from 1858 until his death. A powerful nobleman and a leader of the Waikato iwi of the Tainui confederation, he was the founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. His 1858 coronation followed years of efforts to create the Kīngitanga, a Māori monarchy intended as an equivalent of the British monarchy, and to foster Māori nationalism against settler encroachment.
He was first known just as Te Wherowhero and took the name Pōtatau after he was crowned. As disputes over land grew more severe, Te Wherowhero found himself increasingly at odds with the Government and its policies. Although he accepted the throne reluctantly and reigned only briefly, he has been credited with establishing a number of historical precedents for the Kīngitanga that survive today, as well as more broadly for the rise of pan-Māori identity.
Early life
Te Wherowhero was the eldest son of Te Rau-angaanga, who belonged to the senior chiefly line of Ngāti Mahuta and was a prominent war leader before and during the 1807–1845 Musket Wars. Te Wherowhero was thus descended from the captains of both the Tainui and Te Arawa waka (canoes),
When his fellow Ngāti Mahuta chief and relative Te Uira killed a Ngāti Toa man, and was in return killed by a war party led by Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha, Te Wherowhero joined his father in attacks on Ngāti Toa at Kāwhia. when he refused to retreat and abandon the body of a slain Waikato chief. The intervention of Te Rauparaha saved him, but subsequently he had to engage a number of enemy chiefs in single combat, armed with only a digging implement.
By 1836 Te Wherowhero made peace with the Taranaki tribes.
Although he never ceded sovereignty to the British Crown, he did have good rapport with early New Zealand governors, especially George Grey.
As more settlers came to New Zealand, from the early 1850s Te Wherowhero became less friendly to the . This was at least partially due to the nature of these arrivals in the Waikato lands, who often encroached on Māori tribal lands with no formal jurisdiction or consensual purchasing or gifting of the land.
Māori King
thumb|The flag hoisted at [[Ngāruawāhia on the proclamation of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero as Māori King. Drawn 1863.]]
In the early 1850s, a movement to establish a Māori King developed, as shared monarchy of numerous Māori iwi of New Zealand. This aimed to unite the Māori people and to act as a counterbalance to Queen Victoria. But above all the King Movement wanted to halt the sale and alienation of Māori land by the Government.
Mātene Te Whiwhi travelled throughout New Zealand seeking a chief of high standing who was willing to be king. Iwikau Te Heuheu Tūkino III of Ngāti Tūwharetoa suggested that Te Wherowhero should be approached, and his choice was supported by Wiremu Tāmihana of Ngāti Hauā.
Pōtatau himself wished to continue to work in co-operation with the British Government, but many of his followers adopted a much more independent position. Gradually the two sides polarised and grew apart, culminating five years later in warfare (see Invasion of the Waikato and New Zealand Wars).
Death
Pōtatau died at Ngāruawāhia on 25 June 1860 and is buried on Mount Taupiri, a mountain close to his royal residence in Ngāruawāhia. His son Matutaera Tāwhiao succeeded him.