Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest urban area in New Zealand. It is a conurbation, made up of the cities of Auckland, Waitakere, Manukau and North Shore. In Maori it bears the name Tamaki Makau Rau or Akarana.
Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between Manukau and Waitemata harbours.
Maori settlers
The area, Tamaki Makau Rau (isthmus of one thousand lovers), now known as Auckland, was first settled by Maori people around 1350. The region was valued for its rich and fertile land. Maori constructed terraced pa (fortified villages) on the volcanic peaks. Maori population is estimated to have peaked at 20,000 in the region in pre-settlement times, a figure which would later qualify in New Zealand as a city. Earthworks are still evident today around some of the larger volcanoes such as; Mount Albert, Mount Eden and One Tree Hill.
The isthmus, at around 8km from coast to coast - with Mount Eden and One Tree Hill placed along the line of the narrowest point, led to the area having great strategic qualities. The isthmus also has the highly productive soils providing agricultural opportunities, and the two harbours (Waitemata to the East and Manukau to the West) providing diverse kai moana (seafood).
Ngati Whatua and Tainui were the main tribes traditionally living in the area. The arrival of Europeans, using guns as one of many trade commodities, changed the balances of power between Iwi with the inevitable result of armed conflict. European settlement caused Maori numbers in what is now central Auckland city to be greatly reduced due to; inter-iwi warfare, new diseases (especially smallpox and tuberculosis), and the common ills experienced by indigenous peoples of colonisation. There was a period of migrations of both Europeans and Maori. One of the initial appeals of the area to Europeans being it was virtually uninhabited.
Apihai Te Kawau (c. 1760 - 1869), leader of the Ngati Taou Hapu, was a good friend of Samuel Marsden. Over a 10 month period of 1821 - 1822, he took a principle part in the 1,000 mile Amiowhenua expedition. This series of battles raged through much of central and southern North Island. It ended when Te Kawau's Ngati Whatua forces, uniting with the Taranaki they were embattled with, to jointly defend the Tainui Matakitaki pa from Hongi Hika's Nga Puhi forces.
By 1840 Te Kawau had become the paramount chief of Ngati Whatua. Cautious of reprisals from the Nga Puhi defeated at Matakitaki, Te Kawau found it most convenient to offer Governor Hobson land around the present central city. He and six other chiefs travelled the Bay of Islands to make the offer and signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 20th March.
Ngati Whatua would certainly have expected from English colonialism increased security and trading benefits. This would include greater access via the quickly developed port facilities for the lucrative trade in produce grown in Tainui's fertile Waikato and Hauraki Plains for the Australian prison colonies and Sydney market. The sale price for the initial 3,000 acres (12 km²) was for cash and goods to the value of £341.
As Maori population declined for nearly a century, so did the quantity of land held by Ngati Whatua. Within 20 years, 40% of their lands were lost, some through government land confiscation. At close to the lowest level of population, Ngati Whatua land holding was reduced to a few acres at Orakei, land which Te Kawau had declared "a last stand".
Birth of Auckland
After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840 the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, had the task of choosing a capital for the colony. At the time Kororareka, now called Old Russell, in the Bay of Islands, served as the effective capital. However, Kororareka's geographical position made it very remote, inaccessible and off-centre from the rest of the New Zealand archipelago, and the town had a notorious reputation for drunkenness and immorality.
1888 German map of AucklandEven in 1840 Port Nicholson (now the location of Wellington) probably seemed the obvious choice for an administrative capital. Centrally situated at the south of the North Island, close to the South Island, and growing fast, it had a lot to commend it. But the New Zealand Company and the Wakefield brothers had founded and continued to dominate Port Nicholson. Furthermore, it already had a bad reputation with the Maori for unscrupulous or even illegal occupation of land.
On the initial recommendation of the missionary Henry Williams, supported by the Surveyor General, Felton Mathew, and the offer of land from Ngati Whatua, Hobson selected the south side of Waitemata Harbour as his future capital. The Chief Magistrate, Captain William Cornwallis Symonds, soon purchased the further land from Ngati Whatua, and a foundation ceremony took place at 1pm on 18 September 1840, probably on the higher ground at the top end of present-day Queen Street. Hobson named the new settlement in honour of George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, a patron and friend of his. The New Zealand Government Gazette announced the royal approval of the name on 26 November 1842.
From the outset a steady flow of new arrivals from within New Zealand and from overseas came to the new capital. Initially settlers from New South Wales predominated, but the first immigrant ships sailing directly from Britain started to arrive as early as 1842. From early times the eastern side of the settlement remained reserved for government officials while mechanics and artisans, the so-called "unofficial" settlers, congregated on the western side. This social division still persists in modern Auckland.
Eventually Port Nicholson became the capital and, now known as Wellington, remains so today. The advantages of a central position became even more obvious as the South Island grew in prosperity with the discovery of gold in Otago, and with the development of sheep farming and refrigeration, especially refrigerated ships which allowed chilled meat to be safely shipped to Britain. Parliament met for the first time in Wellington in 1862. In 1868 Government House moved there too.
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