What were the musket wars?
The musket wars were a series of battles fought between Maori tribal groups, or hapu, with muskets. The use of muskets by maori ended the type of individual combat that maori were used to fighting, and introduced more coordinated group manoeuvers. Most muskets sold to the maori were of inferior quality, and had less precision. Some of the outcomes of the musket wars were that the wars gave the Maori experience with defending against firearms. The experience in combat with modern weaponry revolutionised the way that Maori fought wars.
