Turi (Māori ancestor)
māori mythological captain
Turi, according to Māori tradition, was the captain of the Aotea canoe and an important ancestor for many Māori iwi, particularly in the Taranaki region.
Arrival in New Zealand
Turi was a vassal to chief Uenuku of Hawaiki. One year, after Turi's tribute to Uenuku was insufficient as the annual harvest was not as plentiful as usual, Uenuku killed Turi's son Potikiroroa for food supply. Turi's father Rongotea retaliated by killing Awepotiki, the son of Uenuku, and hiding his heart inside a kūmara (sweet potato) tribute to Uenuku. The conflict led Turi and his people to depart for New Zealand with many others in the Aotea. This canoe had been given to Turi by Toto, father of Turi's wife Rongorongo. In some traditions, Turi and his party stopped at Rangitāhua, believed by some to be Raoul of the Kermadec Islands, where they encountered some of the crew from the Kurahaupō canoe. Continuing, Turi and his followers eventually arrived and settled at Aotea Harbour on the west coast of the North Island.
After some time at Aotea Harbour, Turi settled the Pātea region, where he lived with his people along Pātea River. His daughter Tāneroroa married Ruanui, the eponymous ancestor of Ngāti Ruanui.
“Turi (Māori ancestor)” enters the record as māori mythological captain. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Turi, Māori and ancestor can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7854908. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Turi (Māori ancestor)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.