Pā

The word pā (pronounced pah) traditionally refers to a Māori village or settlement. In contemporary Western (and especially archaeological) usage, it has come to refer to a Māori hillfort from the 17th – 19th centuries, that was fortified with palisades and earthworks such as defensive terraces. Prior to the 1960s, any Māori settlement, fortified or not, might be called a pā. This usage fell out of favour following the publication in 1964 of a controversial book Washday at the pa by Ans Westra, but older settlements may still bear the name. In Māori society, a great pā represented the mana of a tribal group, as personified by a chief or rangatira.

Nearly all pā were built in defensible locations to protect dwelling sites or gardens, almost always on prominent, raised ground which was then terraced; as for example in the Auckland[?] region, where dormant volcanic cones were used. While built for defense, many were also primarily residential, and often quite extensive.

Māori pā played a significant role in the New Zealand Land Wars, though they are known from earlier periods of Māori history. They were mostly absent, however, until around 500 years ago, suggesting scarcity of resources through environmental damage and population pressure began to bring about warfare, leading to a period of pā building.

Fortification

Their main defense was the use of earth ramparts (or terraced hillsides), topped with stakes or wicker barriers. The historically later versions were constructed by people who were fighting with muskets and hand weapons (such as spear, taiaha[?] and mere) against the British Army and armed constabulary, who were armed with swords, rifles, and heavy weapons such as howitzers and rocket artillery.

Pā were often put in place in very limited time scales, sometimes less than two days, and resisted attack for many hours and, sometimes, weeks. Military historians like John Keegan have noted that Māori recognition of the strong resistance of earth fortifications against modern weapons (especially artillery) predates the successful defensive use of trenches and sloped earth ramparts in World War I by many decades.

Warrior chiefs like Kawiti realised these properties as a good counter to the greater firepower of the British. With that in mind, they sometimes built pā purposefully to resist the British Empire’s forces, like at Ruapekapeka, which was constructed specifically to draw the enemy, instead of protecting a specific site or place of habitation like more traditional pā. At the Battle of Ruapekapeka, the British suffered 45 casualties, against only 30 amongst the Māori. Afterwards, British engineers twice surveyed the fortifications, produced a scale model and tabled the plans in the House of Commons.

The fortifications of such a purpose-built pā included palisades of puriri trunks and split timber, with bundles of protective flax padding, the two lines of palisade covering a firing trench with individual pits, while more defenders could use the second palisade to fire over the heads of the first below. Simple communication trenches or tunnels were also built to connect the various parts, as found at Ohaeawai Pā or Ruapekapeka. The forts could even include underground bunkers, protected by a thick layer of earth over wooden beams, which sheltered the inhabitants during periods of heavy shelling by artillery.

A limiting factor of the Māori fortifications that were not built as set pieces, however, was the need for the people inhabiting them to leave frequently to cultivate areas for food, or to gather it from the wilderness. Consequently, pā would often be abandoned for 4 to 6 months of each year.