<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> www.treatyofwaitangi.govt.nz </Td> </Tr> <P> The Treaty of Waitangi (Māori: Tiriti o Waitangi) is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand . It is a document of central importance to the history and political constitution of the state of New Zealand, and has been highly significant in framing the political relations between New Zealand's government and the Māori population . </P> <P> The Treaty was written at a time when British colonists were pressuring the Crown to establish a colony in New Zealand, and when some Māori leaders had petitioned the British for protection against French forces . It was drafted with the intention of establishing a British Governor of New Zealand, recognising Māori ownership of their lands, forests and other possessions, and giving Māori the rights of British subjects . It was intended to ensure that when the declaration of British sovereignty over New Zealand was made by Lieutenant Governor William Hobson in May 1840, the Māori people would not feel that their rights had been ignored . Once it had been written and translated, it was first signed by Northern Māori leaders at Waitangi, and subsequently copies of the Treaty were taken around New Zealand and over the following months many other chiefs signed . Around 530 to 540 Māori, at least 13 of them women, signed the Treaty of Waitangi, despite some Māori leaders cautioning against it . An immediate result of the Treaty was that Queen Victoria's government gained the sole right to purchase land . In total there are nine signed copies of the Treaty of Waitangi including the sheet signed on 6 February 1840 at Waitangi . </P> <P> The text of the Treaty includes a preamble and three articles . It is bilingual, with the Māori text translated from the English . Article one of the English text cedes "all rights and powers of sovereignty" to the Crown . Article two establishes the continued ownership of the Māori over their lands, and establishes the exclusive right of pre-emption of the Crown . Article three gives Māori people full rights and protections as British subjects . However, the English text and the Māori text differ, particularly in relation to the meaning of having and ceding sovereignty . These discrepancies led to disagreements in the decades following the signing, eventually culminating in the New Zealand Wars . </P>

Where was the treaty of waitangi first signed