REFLECTIVE INSIGHT #013 - THE ARCHITECT OF THE NORTH - POMARE I
More Than Just a Warrior
Growing up in Te Tai Tokerau, you hear the names of the great rangatira passed down like heirlooms. But history has a funny way of flattening a man. For my 4-greats grandfather, Pomare I of Ngāti Manu, the history books often get stuck on the image of the "formidable warrior"—all muskets, mana, and battlefield prowess.
But if you sit on the porch long enough and look past the colonial ink, you see a different story. Pomare I wasn't just a fighter; he was a master of Strategic Entanglement. He was the original disrupter who transformed the Bay of Islands into a global trade powerhouse. He was an architect of reality who understood that to keep his people's Rangatiratanga, he had to master the new world's tools without letting them overwrite his internal "source code".
The Universal Explainer in the Bay
Pomare I was what we now call a Universal Explainer. He didn't just look at the influx of European ships and trade as a threat; he decoded the system. At Otuihu, he established an Economic Pā—a thriving hub of commerce where Ngāti Manu led in navigation, diplomacy, and global trade.
This wasn't just "selling logs." It was the practice of Indigenous Ekonomia—the stewardship of the household for the benefit of the whole whānau. While the "Babylonian" economic system of the time was looking to extract and liquidate, Pomare was building a circular ecosystem that integrated new technology into the hardware of Māori sovereignty. He was the Quantum Observer who collapsed the chaos of a lawless frontier into a reality of prosperity for his people.
Reclaiming Inherent Authority
We often find ourselves waiting for permission to be powerful. We wait for a "Settlement" or a crown signature to tell us we have the right to lead. Pomare I didn't wait. He exercised his inherent authority by mastering the "high-tech" of his era—celestial navigation, global market trends, and complex diplomacy.
However, we must also learn from the friction of that era. The shift he led was massive, making our current "digital transformation" look easy. The mistake we must avoid is allowing the "software" of extraction to eventually outpace our Kaitiakitanga.
To pick up where he left off, we must move toward Ancestral Futurism: using our ancient wisdom to command modern tools like AI and regenerative finance. We must ensure our modern investments in the North act as a "ripple-out" effect, strengthening the hapū first.
The Call to Action
I, and many others in the North, carry his blood, but we all carry the responsibility of his vision. We are not mere participants in someone else’s economy; we are the Universal Stewards charged with re-weaving the world.
Stop asking for permission. Exercise your mana in every room you enter.
Master the new tools. Whether it’s data science or regenerative farming, own the technology so it doesn’t own you.
Invest in the Weave. Prioritise projects that restore the mauri of the land and the people, not just the bank balance.
Straight up: My tūpuna showed us we can engage with the entire world and remain perfectly independent. We are the architects of our own timeline.
