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search  A hapū ("subtribe", or "clan"[1]) is "the basic
political unit within Māori society".[2]  A named[3] division of
a Māori iwi (tribe),[4] membership is determined by genealogical
descent; a hapū is made up of a number of whānau (extended
family) groups. Te Maire Tau noted in his study of Ngāi Tahu
migrations that hapū size and names were volatile with hapū
splitting into sister groups when they grew in size or when
migrating. New hapū were often named after events associated
with the migration. Likewise the same group of people would
change their name according to different circumstances. These
were primarily to do with rights to resources that had been
given to a named hapū or to link to an ancestor with mana in a
particular area. Tau states that hapū names and locations have
become more stable in more recent times.[5] Generally hapū range
in size from 350–500 although there is no upper limit. A Māori
person can belong or have links to many di