Here was a man, a short man of great muscular strength, the Napoleon of the South Seas, a man whose profile was aquiline, a man whose eyes would gleam and his lower lip curl downwards when he was excited.

An 1845 pencil sketch of Te Rauparaha by Edward Abbott

Te Rauparaha of Ngati Toa.

He could be described as a ruthless, vengeful, cannibal and also, (as is so often the case with  historical interpretation),  as a man with mana, a man who aggressively defended Ngati Toa’s interests.  Read more about him here

Most New Zealander’s will know his Haka, ‘Ka Mate’ but not so many know he made to the Mrs Blacksmith’s  Hot-storical  Top 100!