6th February

On this day in history, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 in New Zealand. The 6th of February is marked as a national holiday in New Zealand to commemorate the event.

European settlers and Maori gathered at James Busby's house at Waitangi in the North Island of New Zealand to sign the Treaty, which was to establish New Zealand as a British colony, and would grant Maori the rights of British subjects. The text was written both in Maori and English, and inconsistencies between versions subsequently lead to many a legal debate over exactly what the Treaty established. Today, though it has a complex legal past, the Treaty is generally acknowledged as an important founding document in the New Zealand's legal history.