Quote by Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki: “I am appointed to unite the Māori people for peace.”

This statement reveals Te Kooti's self-perception as a divine leader with a mission to bring harmony and collective strength to Māori during a time of intense conflict and dispossession. He saw his role as a spiritual and political unifier.

Following his miraculous escape from imprisonment on the Chatham Islands, Te Kooti gathered followers, presenting himself as a prophet destined to lead Māori in resisting colonial forces and reclaiming their ancestral lands.

Māori religious prophet and military leader who founded the Ringatū faith in New Zealand in the 1860s while imprisoned without trial on the Chatham Islands by the colonial government. After escaping, he led a guerrilla campaign before receiving a pardon in 1883. He is a complex and contested figure in New Zealand history.