"Ko Te
Waewae Kapiti 0 Tara Raua Ko Rangitane". The full name given by the Maori to
Kapiti describes the island as the meeting place of the boundaries
of Tara and Rangitane (the son and grandson of
Whatonga).
About 1150 AD Whatonga divided the country by
making a boundary from the southern tip of Kapiti straight
across to the east coast of the North Island.
The land to the
south of this line he gave to Tara, and the land to the north,
including Kapiti Island, he gave to Tautoki, another son. Tautoki’s
heir was Rangitane, father of the great Rangitane people. They,
the Muaupoko, and later the Ngati Kahungunu were the first known
inhabitants of Kapiti. Life then was peaceful, and parts of the
island had been cleared and cultivated, especially the flatter
areas around Okupe Lagoon and
Rangatira
 In 1822 Te Rauparaha, having traveled south from Kawhia
with his Ngati Toa people, hatched a plot to capture Kapiti and have
it as his own base. He . made a great show of preparing to mount an
attack on the Muaupoko and Rangitane in the Horowhenua area. When Te
Rauparaha left Waikanae with a force. for Horowhenua the defenders on
Kapiti relaxed their guard.
The next day before dawn Te
Pehi Kupe, another Ngati Toa chief, secretly crossed to Kapiti
with his followers and took the defenders by surprise. Te Pehi
conquered the inhabitants after a fierce battle with many casualties.
Te Rauparaha then established  himself and his people on Kapiti. They formed and
occupied three large pa: Wharekohu in south, Rangatira, and
Taepiro between the two,where Te Rauparaha took up
residence. Retaliation against the Ngati Toa was inevitable,
but it took almost two years to gather enough support for an
attack. By early 1824, however, over 2,000 warriors from all over
the lower North Island and parts of the South Island had assembled
between Otaki and Waikanae. The Ngati Toa knew a large invasion
force was assembling, but weeks went by and the
expected attack never came.
Vigilance was relaxed and
when the attack did come the defenders were completely
unprepared. A vast armada of canoes approached Kapiti
overnight and landed at Waiorua at the north end of the
island.
The defenders held up the invasion while a
messenger rushed to Taepiro for help. The attack had nearly
succeeded when Te Rauparaha arrived with reinforcements. The
invaders were routed
the largest Maori force ever assembled
along this coast was defeated by one of the
smallest.
Te Rauparaha was described as fierce
and aggressive towards his enemies, and intelligent and
reasonable in his dealings with the pakeha.
In 1846,
however, because of his warlike activities he was captured and
interned on the order of Governor Sir George Grey. he died at
Otaki in 1849 soon after his release. The place
where
he was buried
has been kept a close secret; it was probably either
Otaki or his Beloved Kapiti
Island.

During the reign of Te Rauparaha, the whalers arrived and
established themselves on Kapiti and the three islets where
they set up seven whaling stations. By about 1846 whaling was no
longer profitable and the whalers moved away. after the
death of Te Rauparaha and the departure of the
whalers, most of the Maori also left the island. Many of them had
relied on trade with the Pakeha.
During the 1840s the
first of three farms was established on Kapiti at Wharekohu
Bay in the south; where Andrew Brown drained and cleared 250
hectares of swamp and forest. The next was at Rangatira, and the
third was at Waiorua in the north. Nearly three- quarters of Kapiti’s virgin
forest was destroyed. Farming was marginal, no doubt because
of the steep country and problems associated with
transporting stock to and from the mainland.
Many
animals were introduced, including sheep, cattle, goats,
pigs, deer, cats and dogs. The kiore (Polynesian rat) arrived
much earlier,brought by the Maori from Polynesia where it was an
important food.The Norway rat presumably came ashore during
the whaling era.
In 1892 Australian brush-tailed possums
were brought to Kapiti to establish a fur trade, the island
was being irreversibly altered Several far-sighted naturalists,
seeing the destruction of New Zealand’s unique Forests, and
realizing the potential of island sanctuaries, urged the
government to act.
The Kapiti Island Public Reserve Act was passed in 1897
to establish the Island as "a preserve for the flora
and fauna of New Zealand". By this time more than half the island was
cleared of bush and being grazed.
The first full time caretaker
was appointed in 1906, and in 1949 a regulation was passed
requiring a permit for entry into the reserve. Most of
the island was gazetted flora and fauna reserve in 1973, and this
status changed to nature reserve after the Reserves Act
was passed in 1977.
The reserve was managed by the
Department of Lands and Survey until 1987, when the
Department of Conservation took over
responsibility.
Efforts to improve the island as
a Habitat for native plants and animals began soon after it was
reserved. Cats, deer, goats, sheep, cattle, pigs, and dogs
were eradicated from the reserve.
Between February 1980 and
November 1986 22,500 possums were removed from Kapiti, making
this the first ever successful possum eradication programme.
Considering the damage done to the forest in the early
days, Kapiti’s vegetation has made a remarkable recovery and
the island now has a dense mantle of rapidly regenerating forest.
In 1996, an operation to eradicate rats was undertaken.
Within a few months lizards and invertebrates were becoming
more conspicuous on the island.
During the early 1900s many birds
and plants were introduced to Kapiti. One of these, the
little spotted kiwi, is now extinct on the mainland but is
thriving on Kapiti. Little spotted kiwi have been transferred
from Kapiti to other island sanctuaries in a bid to establish
other Populations.
Since 1981 a series of
experimental tranfers of the endangered saddleback (tieke) and
stichbird (hihi) have been made to Kapiti.These birds have
been brought from islands from in the Hauraki Gulf that are
free from harmful introduced mammals Endangered takahe and
kokako have also been introduced to kapiti. These birds have been
introduced for "insurance" in case any disaster befalls exsisting
populations. |