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The Moriori genocide was the mass murder, enslavement, and cannibalism of the Moriori people, the indigenous ethnic group of the Chatham Islands, by members of the mainland Māori New Zealand iwi Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama from 1835 to 1863. The invaders murdered around 300 Moriori and enslaved the remaining population. This, together with diseases brought by Europeans, caused the population to drop from 1,700 in 1835 to 100 in 1870. The last full-blood Moriori, Tommy Solomon, died in 1933. There remain just under a thousand people of mixed descent who identify as Moriori.
After bloody inter-tribal conflict on the islands, high-ranking Moriori chief Nunuku-whenua introduced a philosophy of non-violence in the 16th century, known as Nunuku's Law. This law became engrained in Moriori culture.
In November 1791, the British survey brig, HMS Chatham, was blown off course to the islands which were then claimed for Britain in a formal flag raising ceremony by the ship's commander, Lieutenant William Broughton. In a misunderstanding with the ship's crew, a Moriori man, Tamakaroro, was shot dead. Moriori elders believed Tamakaroro was partly at fault for the shooting and planned appropriate visitor greeting rituals.
Due to the new arrivals' hostility, a council of 1,000 Moriori was convened at Te Awapātiki, on the eastern side of the island, to debate possible responses. Younger members argued that the Moriori should fight back as they outnumbered Māori two-to-one. Elders, however, argued Nunuku's Law should not be broken. Despite knowing Māori were not pacifist, Moriori ultimately decided to stay pacifist against the invaders, describing Nunuku's Law as "a moral imperative".
Although the council decided in favour of peace, the invading Māori inferred that the meeting was a prelude to war. They launched a pre-emptive attack on Moriori in their homes as soon as they had returned from the council. Around 300 Moriori were killed, with hundreds more enslaved. The Māori ritually killed around 10% of the population. Stakes were driven into some of the women, who were left to die in pain. Cited in King 2000, pp. 62–63.
During the period of enslavement the Māori invaders forbade the speaking of the Moriori language. They forced Moriori to desecrate sacred sites by urinating and defecating on them. Moriori were forbidden to marry Moriori or Māori or to have children. This was different from the customary form of slavery practised on mainland New Zealand.
A total of 1,561 Moriori died between the invasion in 1835 and the release of Moriori from slavery by the British in 1863, and in 1862 only 101 Moriori remained. In addition to the many who were killed by homicide, many others died of diseases brought by Europeans.
In 1870, a Native Land Court was established to adjudicate competing land claims; by this time most Māori had returned to Taranaki. The court ruled in favour of the Māori, awarding them 97% of the land. The judge ruled that since the Moriori had been conquered by Māori they did not have ownership rights of the land.
Moriori culture underwent a revival beginning with a 1980 documentary, which corrected lingering myths about Moriori. These myths include the claim that Moriori were extinct and that Moriori inhabited mainland New Zealand before Māori.
Waitangi Tribunal hearings began in 1994 for recognition of the continued identity of Moriori as the original inhabitants of the Chatham Islands and compensation. The tribunal's report, released in 2001, agreed with Moriori claims. In 2020 a treaty settlement, including an agreed account of history, a transfer of lands significant to Moriori, and $18 million in compensation, passed in Parliament.
The first Moriori marae on Chatham Island, Kōpinga Marae, was opened in 2005. A central pou (post) in the building displays the names of over 1,500 ancestors alive in 1835, compiled by Moriori elders in 1862 and sent to Governor George Grey.
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