21-592: The Waihi Fault Zone is a seismically active area of the central North Island of New Zealand whose earthquakes have been associated with significant loss of life. The intra-rift Waihi Fault Zone extends at least 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Little Waihi at Lake Taupō towards Mount Ruapehu on the west side of the mountain. It has two segments known as the Waihi North fault and the Waihi South fault and at least 19 fault strands (three of which were previously known as
42-586: A three fault complex another 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) on land or even beyond the shore line of Lake Taupo. The nearby intra-rift Poutu fault zone to the east, by about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi), is parallel to the Waihi fault. The active Taurewa and Rotopounamu faults that have been separately named by some are now assigned to the two fault zones. To the west of the Waihi Fault Zone the National Park Fault
63-681: A whole. During the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, the North and South islands were connected by a vast coastal plain which formed at the South Taranaki Bight . During this period, most of the North Island was covered in thorn scrubland and forest , while the modern-day Northland Peninsula was a subtropical rainforest . Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, eventually separating
84-459: Is in the North Island", "my mother lives in the North Island". Maps, headings, tables, and adjectival expressions use North Island without "the". According to Māori mythology , the North and South Islands of New Zealand arose through the actions of the demigod Māui . Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe (the South Island) when he caught a great fish and pulled it right up from
105-469: Is one of the two main islands of New Zealand , separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait . With an area of 113,729 km (43,911 sq mi), it is the world's 14th-largest island , constituting 43% of New Zealand's land area. It has a population of 4,077,800 (June 2024), which is 76% of New Zealand's residents, making it the most populous island in Polynesia and
126-708: Is the current western wall fault for the modern Taupo rift. Large landslides have occurred in the Hipaua Steaming Cliffs area of the Waihi fault escarpment and it is likely that some the large historical loss of life by New Zealand standards from these landslides has been related to earthquake activity on the fault. 39°03′40″S 175°38′02″E / 39.061°S 175.634°E / -39.061; 175.634 North Island The North Island ( Māori : Te Ika-a-Māui [tɛ i.kɐ ɐ mɑː.ʉ.i] , lit. 'the fish of Māui', officially North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui or historically New Ulster )
147-448: The 28th-most-populous island in the world. Twelve main urban areas (half of them officially cities) are in the North Island. From north to south, they are Whangārei , Auckland , Hamilton , Tauranga , Rotorua , Gisborne , New Plymouth , Napier , Hastings , Whanganui , Palmerston North , and New Zealand's capital city Wellington , which is located at the south-west tip of the island. The island has been known internationally as
168-548: The North Island for many years. The Te Reo Māori name for it, Te Ika-a-Māui , also has official recognition but it remains seldom used by most residents. On some 19th-century maps, the North Island is named New Ulster (named after Ulster province in northern Ireland) which was also a province of New Zealand that included the North Island. In 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that, along with
189-645: The North Island . With the passing of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1846 , the province was defined as the North Island north of the Pātea River mouth. Like the other province of New Zealand at the time, New Munster Province , New Ulster Province was headed by a Lieutenant-Governor who reported to the Governor of New Zealand . In 1852, a new Constitution Act was passed, and the New Ulster province
210-573: The 2023 census, 63.1% of North Islanders identified as European ( Pākehā ), 19.8% as Māori , 10.6% as Pacific peoples , 19.3% as Asian , 1.9% as Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and 1.1% as other ethnicities. Percentages add to more than 100% as people can identify with more than one ethnicity. Māori form the majority in three districts of the North Island: Kawerau (63.2%), Ōpōtiki (66.2%) and Wairoa (68.5%). Europeans formed
231-583: The North Island is provided by fifteen District Health Boards (DHBs) . Organised around geographical areas of varying population sizes, they are not coterminous with the Local Government Regions . New Ulster New Ulster was a province of the Colony of New Zealand that existed between 1841 and 1853. It was named after the Irish province of Ulster . Between 1841 and 1846, the province included all
SECTION 10
#1732852426627252-508: The South Island, the North Island had no official name. After a public consultation, the board officially named it North Island, or the aforementioned Te Ika-a-Māui, in October 2013. In prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island , with the definite article. It is also normal to use the preposition in rather than on , for example "Hamilton
273-437: The South Island, this is solely due to the North Island having higher natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) and international migration; since the late 1980s, the internal migration flow has been from the North Island to the South Island. In the year to June 2020, the North Island gained 21,950 people from natural increase and 62,710 people from international migration, while losing 3,570 people from internal migration. At
294-462: The South Island, with the country's largest city, Auckland, and the capital, Wellington, accounting for nearly half of it. There are 30 urban areas in the North Island with a population of 10,000 or more: The sub-national GDP of the North Island was estimated at NZ$ 282.355 billion in 2021 (78% of New Zealand's national GDP). Nine local government regions cover the North Island and its adjacent islands and territorial waters. Healthcare in
315-593: The Taurewa Fault). Together they make up the south western intra-rift faults of the Tongariro Graben in the Taupō Rift . The northern part of the Waihi South fault which is about 18 kilometres (11 mi) long is just to the west of the recently active vents of Mount Tongariro so there is the potential for both active faulting and magmatic processes to trigger earthquakes. Some northern fault strands also pass through
336-411: The circumnavigation of New Zealand. The maps described the North Island as " Ea Heinom Auwe " and " Aeheinomowe ", which recognises the "Fish of Māui" element. Another Māori name that was given to the North Island, but is now used less commonly, is Aotearoa . Use of Aotearoa to describe the North Island fell out of favour in the early 20th century, and it is now a collective Māori name for New Zealand as
357-447: The conclusion of the Otago gold rush in the 1860s, New Zealand's European population growth has experienced a steady 'Northern drift' as population centres in the North Island have grown faster than those of New Zealand's South Island. This population trend has continued into the twenty-first century, but at a much slower rate. While the North Island's population continues to grow faster than
378-648: The islands and linking the Cook Strait to the Tasman Sea . The North Island has an estimated population of 4,077,800 as of June 2024. The North Island had a population of 3,808,005 at the 2023 New Zealand census , an increase of 213,453 people (5.9%) since the 2018 census , and an increase of 570,957 people (17.6%) since the 2013 census . Of the total population, 733,893 people (19.3%) were aged under 15 years, 743,154 (19.5%) were 15 to 29, 1,721,427 (45.2%) were 30 to 64, and 609,534 (16.0%) were 65 or older. Ever since
399-465: The plurality in the Auckland region (49.8%) and are the majority in the remaining 39 districts. The proportion of North Islanders born overseas at the 2018 census were 29.3%. The most common foreign countries of birth were England (15.4% of overseas-born residents), Mainland China (11.3%), India (10.1%), South Africa (5.9%), Australia (5.5%) and Samoa (5.3%). The North Island has a larger population than
420-401: The presumed extinct Kakaramea-Tihia Massif volcano, although this is still associated with geothermal activity at the Hipaua Steaming Cliffs . The fault zone has the potential to be associated with up to 7.2 magnitude earthquakes with recurrence intervals of mean 6.6 magnitude earthquakes between every 490 and 1380 years. There is now good evidence from LiDAR that it extends to the north in
441-480: The sea. While he was not looking, his brothers fought over the fish and chopped it up. This great fish became the North Island, and thus a Māori name for the North Island is Te Ika-a-Māui ("The Fish of Māui"). The mountains and valleys are believed to have been formed as a result of Māui's brothers' hacking at the fish. During Captain James Cook 's voyage between 1769 and 1770 , Tahitian navigator Tupaia accompanied
SECTION 20
#1732852426627#626373