fPcN interCultural:

friends of Peoples close to Nature

A 'rebellious' (fPcNs preferred term: 'dispossessed') New Zealand Maori tribe entered into negotiations with the government Thursday in a bid to gain autonomy over its land.

Ngai Tuhoe is the only Maori tribe that refused to sign the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, which established peaceful relations between New Zealand's indigenous groups and white settlers.

Tuhoe still insists it retains sovereign control over its culture and its lands in central North Island, which it claims were confiscated illegally by settlers in the 1800s.