Kahe and Te Tiriti
Kahe was among the women who signed Te Tiriti in 1840; her biography gives the date 29 April.
Kahe in the history of the Treaty
Kahe appears in the history of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as one of the women who signed in 1840. The biography preserved in the Whale Song research gives 29 April as the date of her signing.
Her presence among the signatories is an important reminder that women were participants in the political and commercial life of the period. The companion book Kahe the trader explores another part of her story. Read together, the two entries connect the signing of Te Tiriti with the people and trading relationships of the Cook Strait region.
Te Kahe Te Rau-o-te-rangi appears in the histories of Kāpiti as a woman whose life connected Māori communities and the changing maritime world of the nineteenth century. New Zealand History describes the Kāpiti Island settlement associated with her as a bicultural whaling village.
The history of Te Kahe also belongs to the story of Te Tiriti o Waitangi: she was among the women who signed in 1840, with her signing recorded on 29 April. Her life is therefore connected both to the daily world of coastal trade and to a major political event in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Sources: Existing WhaleLIBRARY Te Kahe entries; NZHistory biography and Treaty-signing record as recorded in the collection.