Te Whiti o Rongomai

Te Whiti o Rongomai III (c. 1830 – 18 November 1907) was a Māori spiritual leader and founder of the village of Parihaka, in New Zealand's Taranaki region.

A proponent of nonviolence, Te Whiti established Parihaka community as a place of sanctuary and peace for Māori many of whom seeking refuge as their land was confiscated in the early 1860s.

One account makes him the son of Hone Kakahi of the Te Āti Awa iwi and of Rangi Kauwau.

[citation needed] As a youngster, Te Whiti was well educated by Māori elders, who taught him about the traditions of his culture.

In 1862 Te Whiti saved the lives of the crew and passengers of the Lord Worsley,[1] which was wrecked on the Taranaki coast 80 km south of New Plymouth.

With his close relative, Tohu Kakahi, Te Whiti led the people of Parihaka in their nonviolent resistance to the confiscation of Māori land by the New Zealand Government.

The government passed the Suppression of Rebellion Act 1863 to punish Māori "rebels" who had fought against the Crown – mainly in Taranaki and the Waikato.

British newspaper reports of the Māori ploughmen's non-violent struggle influenced the thinking of Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi during his sojourn in South Africa from 1893 to 1914.