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When the Maori tribes obtained muskets in the early 1820s, the inter-tribal warfare which broke out resulted in major massacres and thousands of deaths. The Ngapuhi tribe of the far north, under the legendary Hongi Hika, swept away all before it, conquering tribes as far south as the Bay of Plenty. The 'musket wars' rewrote the Maori landscape, changing traditional regional power balances and depopulating whole areas of the country. As a result, when Europeans arrived, they met not healthy tribes, but often weakened local groups or even deserted landscapes. This study of Maori warfare asks, What is a musket war? Were many of them simply traditional tribal encounters? And what was happening in Maori society at the time?