Pōtatau Te Wherowhero (died 25 June 1860) was a Māori warrior, leader of the Waikato iwi (confederation of tribes), the first Māori King and founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. He was first known just as Te Wherowhero and took the name Pōtatau after he became king in 1858. As disputes over land grew more severe Te Wherowhero found himself increasingly at odds with the Government and its policies. 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. When Te Wherowhero was born near the end of the 18th century his father had just become the principal war chief of the Waikato tribes. Te Rau-angaanga defeated a much larger coastal Tainui and Taranaki force of about 7,000 warriors led by Ngāti Toa chief Pikauterangi in the battle of Hingakaka near Ohaupo. Te Wherowhero's mother, Te Parengaope, was a daughter of a chief of Ngāti Koura, a hapū (subtribe) of Waikato. Te Wherowhero was thus descended from the captains of both the Tainui and Te Arawa waka (canoes), which are said to have brought Māori to New Zealand. Te Wherowhero grew up in a period of relative peace for the Waikato tribes, following his father's victory over Ngāti Toa in the battle of Hingakaka. He was taught traditional lore, first by his father and then at Te Papa-o-Rotu, the Waikato whare wananga (school of knowledge) at Whatawhata. He lived at Kaitotehe pā on the western bank of the Waikato River, at the base of the Hakarimata Range and opposite Taupiri on the other bank. He had four wives, Whakaawi, Raharaha, Waiata and Ngawaero. His children included Matutaera Tāwhiao, Te Paea Tiaho, Makareta Te Otaota and Tiria (these last two may be the same person). 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 Marore, a wife of Te Rauparaha, was visiting relatives in Waikato for a tangihanga in about 1820, Te Wherowhero instigated her murder by Te Rangi-moe-waka. After a series of revenge killings, Te Wherowhero led 3,000 Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto warriors on an overland attack on Kāwhia, while