Ngāti Wairangi (South Island iwi)

It is believed that the Ngāti Wairangi were a pre-Aotea tribe (originating from before when New Zealand was known as Aotearoa), migrating from the Taranaki Region to the West Coast in the first Waitaha migration south.^[1] Ngāti Wairangi was a relatively isolated tribe, as there were no known paths across the Southern Alps to the Canterbury Plains until Raureka discovered one crossing from west to east.^[6] The tribe eventually connected with Ngāi Tahu through multiple strategic marriages before eventual conflict between the two iwi that assimilated Ngāti Wairangi into Ngāi Tahu at the battle of Lake Mahinapua by the late 1700s.^[2] The region was invaded again by northern tribes in the 1830s, but Ngāi Tahu maintained control and still does to this day.^[5]