Colony of New Zealand

The Colony of New Zealand was a British colony that existed from 1841 to 1907. It was established after the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840, when Māori chiefs and the British Crown agreed on British sovereignty; the charter creating the colony took effect on 3 May 1841. A governor held British authority, advised by an Executive Council and a Legislative Council. The colony's first capital was Okiato, but the seat of government moved to Auckland in 1841 and to Wellington in 1865. The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 created a General Assembly with an elected House of Representatives, and responsible government followed in 1856. Settler demands for land led to the New Zealand Wars, while the discovery of gold in Otago in the 1860s brought rapid growth. In 1907 the colony became the Dominion of New Zealand; full independence came only with the adoption of the Statute of Westminster in 1947. The colonial period shaped the country's parliamentary system, its English-speaking settler society, and the enduring tensions over the Treaty of Waitangi.