The pacifist code that led to a near-extinction
In the 1830s, the Moriori people of the Chatham Islands faced a devastating invasion. Bound by a sacred law of non-violence known as the Law of Nunuku, they chose moral integrity over armed resistance, leading to one of history's most tragic examples of genocide by percentage.
The Moriori are the original inhabitants of the Chatham Islands (Rēkohu). Descended from East Polynesians who settled New Zealand, they migrated to the Chathams from the mainland, likely around the mid-15th century. While some theories suggested a much earlier arrival, radiocarbon dating of cultural remains points to at least 1500 AD, with recent discoveries of a waka (canoe) dating to between 1440 and 1470.
Life on the Chathams required a specialized hunter-gatherer existence. Because the climate was too cold for many traditional Polynesian crops, the Moriori relied on marine resources, including fish, seals, and sea birds. They even practiced the carving of dendroglyphs—intricate incisions in tree trunks—to express their ritual needs in the absence of materials like greenstone.
The defining feature of Moriori society was the Law of Nunuku, a pacifist code established by the 16th-century leader Nunuku-whenua. This law strictly prohibited warfare and cannibalism, replacing conflict with ritualized fighting using thin rods to settle disputes. This code was a moral imperative that the chiefs Tapata and Torea refused to abandon, even when faced with the 1835 invasion by Taranaki Māori.
The consequences of this adherence were catastrophic. Invading Māori groups, armed with muskets, killed or enslaved much of the population. By 1862, only about 101 Moriori remained alive from an original population of approximately 2,000. However, the Moriori people have since undergone a profound renaissance. Following a successful Waitangi Tribunal claim, the New Zealand government issued a formal apology and an NZ$18 million settlement in 2017, officially recognizing them as New Zealand's second indigenous people.
Source: Moriori
