The first evidence of
Tāmaki Māori in the coastal Māngere area comes from the 14th century, with evidence of the first settlements later in the 15th century. The Māngere East area formed an important part of the
Waokauri / Pūkaki portage, connecting the
Manukau Harbour and
Tāmaki River via
Papatoetoe, and was often used by Tāmaki Māori to avoid the
Te Tō Waka and
Karetu portages, controlled by the people who lived at
Ōtāhuhu / Mount Richmond. The area is within the
rohe of the
Waiohua tribes, including
Te Ākitai Waiohua. In January 1836 missionary
William Thomas Fairburn brokered a land sale between
Tāmaki Māori chiefs,
Pōtatau Te Wherowhero and Turia of
Ngāti Te Rau, covering the majority of modern-day
South Auckland between
Ōtāhuhu and
Papakura. The sale was envisioned as a way to end hostilities in the area, but it is unclear what the chiefs understood or consented to. Māori continued to live in South Auckland, unchanged by this sale. Fairburn was criticised for the sheer size of the purchase, and in 1842 the
Crown significantly reduced the size of his land holdings, and the Crown partitioned much of the land for European settlers. On 9 July 1863, due to fears of the Māori King Movement, Governor Grey proclaimed that all Māori living in the South Auckland area needed to swear loyalty to the Queen and give up their weapons. Most people refused due to strong links to Tainui, leaving for the south before the Government's
Invasion of the Waikato. The Māngere East area was predominantly rural, featuring a number of country villas (such as the Massey Homestead, former home of Prime Minister
William Massey). Māngere East and
Ōtāhuhu began slowly developing after the
North Island Main Trunk linked Auckland to Wellington in 1908, and the
Māngere railway station opened around the same time. Māngere East began to develop as a suburban area after the opening of the
Otahuhu Railway Workshops in the late 1920s. One of the first suburban developments was the Massey Park subdivision, which was built at the corner of Henwood Road and Massey Road. The Mangere East Hall opened in 1924, serving as a community area and cinema. Mangere East School opened in 1927, and in 1927 a Selwyn church was relocated to Māngere East from Ōtāhuhu. During
World War II, Māngere East became home to Camp Euart, an 84-acre military camp for the
United States Military which housed 5,000 troops. By 1955, the area had grown enough that Māngere East was established as a town district. Ten years later, the Māngere East town district was absorbed into the newly established
Manukau City. The greater area saw increased suburban growth in the 1960s and 1970s, when central Māngere was developed as a large-scale housing development, and Māngere East became a suburb of the Manukau City. ==Demographics==