The iwi traces its arrival in New Zealand to the Māhuhu-ki-te-rangi canoe, which landed north of the Kaipara Harbour.

They also descend from ancestors who migrated from Muriwhenua in the Far North and intermarried with the tribes in Ngāti Whātua's territory.

[4] Tūperiri arranged peace marriages between his sons Tomoaure and Tarahawaiiki to important Waiohua women, Tahuri and Mokorua.

[6] Ngāti Whātua sought British protection from Ngāpuhi as well as a reciprocal relationship with the Crown and the Church.

Soon after signing Te Tiriti, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, the primary hapū and landowner in Tāmaki Makaurau, made a strategic gift of 3,500 acres (1,400 hectares) of land on the Waitematā Harbour to Hobson, the new Governor of New Zealand, for the new capital.

The land, which the New Zealand government had acquired cheaply for public works many decades before, largely reverted to the hāpu after a long occupation and passive resistance.