Welcome onto the marae, 1880s

Welcome onto the marae, 1880s

This photograph, taken at Maketū in the Bay of Plenty, shows a group of Māori assembling on the marae area in front of their wharepuni (meeting house) to receive visitors. This particular marae is one of several within a much larger pā (fortification), suggesting that the inhabitants of the pā divided into smaller groups which, to some extent, operated independently.