What caused the Musket Wars to engulf early nineteenth-century Aotearoa?

Trading Blows
What Drove the Musket Wars

Matthew Wright

‘Musket Wars’ may be the wrong name for era of conflict says new book that explores period’s social and economic drivers

During the first decades of the nineteenth century New Zealand was swept by inter-tribal warfare at an unprecedented scale, in a wave of fighting that became known as the Musket Wars.

But as eminent historian Matthew Wright writes in this gripping book, there were many factors besides muskets at play in these conflicts, which have profoundly shaped modern New Zealand.

Trading Blows explores the forces at work in this period, explaining why British industrial technologies led to widespread warfare and social disruption. 

He also explores the ways in which major war-era figures such as Hongi Hika and Te Rauparaha were not just military leaders but innovators, seizing the opportunities offered by new technology.

Incisively written, with helpful maps, this is an important contribution to historical writing about events that fundamentally shaped New Zealand physically and politically, feeding into the race relations and economic conditions of today.

The author 

Matthew Wright is the author of more than 60 books on topics ranging from history to science and engineering, for all ages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His books include Ernest Rutherford and the Birth of Modern Physics (Oratia Books and Scribe, 2025); the Bateman Illustrated History of New Zealand; Freyberg, a Life's Journey, the biography of Bernard Freyberg; and the popular introductory book The New Zealand Wars. Matthew lives in Wellington (see matthewwright.net).

Publication Date: 22 October 2026 | ISBN: 9781991353023 | RRP $45.00 Paperback, 240 x 160 mm, 224 pages, black and white