The Ka Mate Haka was composed in 1820 by a war leader of the Ngati Toa iwi (tribe) called Te Rauparaha.

He was fleeing his enemies from the Ngati Maniapoto iwi and the Waikato. He was given refuge on the shores of Lake Rotoaira at a site called Opotaka.

He hid in a Kumara pit. It was here that he was said to utter the words "Ka Mate, Ka Mate, Ka Ora, Ka Ora", continuing to compose the lyrics to the Ka Mate Haka until his pursuers never found him and when Te Rauparaha emerged from the pit and was befriended by the tribe at Opotaka. Te Rauparaha's haka was a celebration of life over death, rather than a war dance.

Opotaka

You can visit the very site and even the Kumara pits where the Ka Mate Haka was born at Opotaka on the road between Turangi and the Tongariro National Park on the North Island NZ. Opotaka is on the shore of lake Rotoira, immediately downhill from Lake Rotopounamu where my wife & I married.