Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi. Nevertheless, the Crown's undertaking to Māori in the Treaty applies to Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua. From the 1840s, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua welcomed settlers to Wairarapa and Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua and enjoyed wealth and benefits from rent and trade. In 1845, during the Crown's first encounter with Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua, the Crown prejudged their guilt in a dispute with settlers and forced them to cede tens of thousands of acres at Mangaroa with threats of violence. During the late 1840s and early 1850s, the Crown threatened to end Pākehā settlement in Wairarapa and Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua unless iwi sold their land on to the Crown and gave up the pastoral leases, which were providing Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Tāmaki nui-ā-Rua with income and trade benefits while retaining ownership of the land.