Named by Governor William Hobson after Lord Auckland, Viceroy of India, in 1840 - gazetted in 1842.
Tāmaki Makaurau, the Māori name for Auckland, means Tāmaki desired by many. This name refers to the abundance of natural resources, strategic vantage points, portage routes, and mahinga kai which first attracted Māori, and then other settlers.
The colony's capital was originally established by Governor William Hobson in the Bay of Islands. After 1841 it was sited in Auckland. A panel of Australian-based commissioners later designated Wellington the seat of government due to its favourable geography, sheltered harbour and central location.
Auckland, known as Tamaki Makau Rau, meaning 'isthmus of one thousand lovers', was originally a Māori settlement. After purchasing the land from the Māori, European settlers began to arrive and colonise the land. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed and Auckland was named the capital city of New Zealand.
Some of the earliest archaeological sites in Auckland are found on Motutapu Island, Ponui Island, Wattle Bay in the south of the Manukau Heads, and Matukutūruru (Wiri Mountain), however it is likely that early Māori settled widely in the area.
Etymology. After William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, patron of the founder of the city, after Bishop Auckland, formerly North Auckland in the UK, the site of Auckland Castle, from Ackland, possibly from Old Norse alka (“auk”) or from Middle English ak (“oak”) + land; similar, if not the same, to Oakland.
The date of first settlement is a matter of debate, but current understanding is that the first arrivals came from East Polynesia between 1250 and 1300 AD.
There are many accounts of mysterious people who were already in New Zealand when Polynesian voyagers arrived by canoe. It is said that they lived high in the mountains, and could be heard calling to each other. Two of these groups were known as the patupaiarehe and the tūrehu.
Māori are the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand, they settled here over 700 years ago. They came from Polynesia by waka (canoe).
Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350.
On 2 June, the petition was submitted before Parliament's committee. Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi argued that the proposed name change would recognise New Zealand's indigenous heritage and strengthen its identity as a Pacific country.
The name 'New Zealand' was attached to the islands a century before Cook's arrival, when Dutch cartographers renamed it after a region in the Netherlands called Zeeland.
The history of New Zealand's men in black
The All Blacks name comes from the black uniform the players wore, including the jersey, shorts, socks and boots. The New Zealand Native team that toured Britain and Australia in 1888-89 also wore black, so the colour could have been adopted for consistency.
For Aotearoa, is it widely assumed, is the original 'indigenous name' for New Zealand. It is certainly the 'modern' name favoured by many Māori and others. But our current common use and understanding of the name was probably not in existence before Western contact.
In December 1642 Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman was the first European to sight New Zealand's South Island, and Dutch cartographers named the territory after the Dutch maritime province of Zeeland.
Being Māori is so much more than blood quantum. In New Zealand, many believed there are no full-blood Māori left. It's often been used by critics of Māori who seek equal rights and sovereignty. My results, at least, show there is one full-blooded Māori contrary to that belief.
Are Maoris and Australian aboriginals related? The Maori of New Zealand (NZ) and the Aborigines of Australia are not related in modern contexts. The Aborigines came to Australia about 40,000 years ago from Africa while the Maori came to NZ about 1,000 years ago from Polynesia.
According to DNA analysis undertaken by Victoria University of Wellington zoologist Dr Geoff Chambers and Dr Adele Whyte (Ngāti Kahungunu), Māori migrated from mainland China to Taiwan, the Pacific Islands and eventually to Aotearoa.
English explorer Captain James Cook reportedly "discovered" New Zealand's East Coast on October 7, 1769, hundreds of years after it had been settled by Maori. But two visits early this year have convinced Cedric Bell that Chinese ships were visiting New Zealand 2000 years ago.
The first recorded ethnic Chinese in New Zealand were immigrants from the Guangdong province of China, who arrived during the 1850's gold-rush era. Due to this historical influx, there is still a distinct Chinese community in the South Island city of Dunedin.
A study of the men of the Maori (Pioneer) Battalion who returned from the First World War revealed that on average they were 170.9 centimetres tall and weighed 74.3 kilograms.
The answer is genetics. Māori, and Polynesians, evolved to store fat on long ocean voyages and to insulate against winter, especially in Āotearoa. This was fine when Māori were more active, but today with sedentary lifestyles, it doesn't work in our favour as it once did.
The findings confirm archaeological evidence that the ancestors of today's Maori originally set out from mainland south-east Asia 6,000 years ago, hopped from island to island, starting with Taiwan, and arrived in New Zealand 800 to 1,000 years ago.
The seven waka hourua that arrived to Aotearoa were Tainui, Te Arawa, Mātaatua, Kurahaupō, Tokomaru, Aotea and Tākitimu.