The land track
The Treaty, in order
The 6 February 1840 signing at Waitangi is the date everyone knows. It was the start of a six-month process, not the whole story.
Declaration of Independence
He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni is signed by northern Māori chiefs at the same Waitangi site, asserting sovereignty five years before the Treaty.
Hobson arrives
Captain William Hobson arrives in the Bay of Islands under instructions from the British Government to negotiate a treaty, prompted partly by unregulated private settlement pressure from the New Zealand Company.
Proclamation at Russell
At Christ Church in Kororāreka (Russell), Hobson proclaims British administration over New Zealand through New South Wales, with himself as Lieutenant-Governor.
First signing at Waitangi
Around 45 Māori chiefs sign, alongside Hobson and English residents, at Waitangi. The document exists in both English and Māori, translated by missionary Henry Williams and his son — with no exact Māori equivalent for some English legal terms, a translation gap still debated today.
The travelling signature tour
Copies circulate throughout Northland and then the rest of the country over roughly six months, gathering more signatures from chiefs who weren't present on 6 February.
579 signatures
The final count of chiefs who signed either the English or Māori text, across dozens of separate gatherings nationwide.
Why the translation still matters
The English and Māori texts don't say exactly the same thing on the central question of sovereignty — a gap rooted in 1840 translation choices rather than any single deliberate deception, but one with real, ongoing legal and political consequences that outlasted the signing itself. The Waitangi Tribunal, established in 1975, exists specifically to hear claims about how the Treaty's promises have or haven't been honoured since.
None of this is abstract at the Treaty Grounds — Te Kōngahu, the museum on site, covers the translation dispute and its modern legal life directly, not just the 1840 ceremony.