[1] His father Te Rākaherea was a war leader of his people and died at the Battle of Hingakaka fighting the Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto iwi.

His mother was Waitohi, the elder sister of Te Rauparaha and an important chief or ariki, and his maternal grandmother was Parekōwhatu of Ngāti Raukawa.

Te Rangihaeata's sister was Rangi Topeora who was also a chief of Ngāti Toa and signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Kāpiti on 14 May 1840.

They subsequently conquered most of that region and the upper parts of the South Island, occupying and claiming ownership of the land by right of conquest.

This forcible change of ownership was to be a source of much confusion and conflict when the European settlers arrived and began buying land.

Despite this they were prepared to follow the Pākehā legal procedures and await the decision of the Land Commissioner, William Spain.

Te Rangihaeata had his men firmly but nonviolently remove them, being scrupulously careful to return to them all their surveying equipment and personal possessions, but burning their thatch huts.

Several years of active immigration and the arrival of British Imperial Troops had put the settlers in a much stronger position and much less inclined to tolerate either Māori claims or legal challenges to their occupation of the land.

Once again Te Rangihaeata became involved in the resistance, destroying the farms and the possessions of the settlers on disputed land, but not injuring anyone.

[1] There are conflicting stories about this period, that he fiercely resisted any Pākehā penetration into the area and, alternatively, that he made his peace with Governor Grey.