Pa is a Maori word that can describe any village or defensive settlement, though it most often refers to a hillfort, a fortified settlement built with palisades and defensive terraces. Maori built pa on defensible ground, especially raised volcanic hills, to safeguard resources and territory, incorporating food storage pits for kumara and wells alongside their defensive works. More than 5,000 pa sites have been located, photographed and examined, occurring mainly in New Zealand's North Island north of Lake Taupo. A substantial pa signified the mana, the prestige and strategic strength, of the iwi or tribal confederacy that built and held it.
Facts
Building TypeHillfort or fortified Māori settlement 1 LocationNorth Island, New Zealand 1 Classification
Standing Status Building Type
Building Type (category) Connections
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Source Wikipedia: PāLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articleQuote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Pā sites occur mainly in the North Island of New Zealand, north of Lake Taupō.
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1. Wikipedia: Pā
Lead section, first sentence
can refer to any Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts
Lead section, distribution of pā sites
Pā sites occur mainly in the North Island of New Zealand, north of Lake Taupō.
Lead section
Pā sites occur mainly in the North Island of New Zealand, north of Lake Taupō. Over 5,000 sites have been located, photographed and examined, although few have been subject to detailed analysis.
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