Potatau Te Wherowhero (died 25 June 1860) was a Maori warrior leader of the Waikato iwi (confederation of tribes) the first Maori King and founder of the Te Wherowhero royal dynasty. He was first known just as Te Wherowhero and took the name Potatau after he became king in 1858. As disputes over land grew more severe Te Wherowhero found himself increasingly at odds with the Government and its policies. Te Wherowhero was the eldest son of Te Rau-angaanga who belonged to the senior chiefly line of Ngati Mahuta and was a prominent war leader before and during the 1807–1845 Musket Wars. When Te Wherowhero was born near the end of the 18th century his father had just become the principal war chief of the Waikato tribes. Te Rau-angaanga defeated a much larger coastal Tainui and Taranaki force of about 7000 warriors led by Ngati Toa chief Pikauterangi in the battle of Hingakaka near Ohaupo. Te Wherowhero's mother Te Parengaope was a daughter of a chief of Ngati Koura a hapu (subtribe) of Waikato. Te Wherowhero was thus descended from the captains of both the Tainui and Te Arawa waka (canoes) which are said to have brought Maori to New Zealand.