North Island

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For other uses, see North Island (disambiguation).

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island.<ref>On some 19th century maps, the North Island is named New Munster.</ref> The island is 113,729 square km in area<ref>Statistics New Zealand Geography - physical features</ref>, making it the world's 14th-largest island.

Several important cities are in the North Island, notably New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, and Wellington, the capital, located at the southern extremity of the island. Around 76% of New Zealand's population lives in the North Island.<ref>The definite article is used with the names of the North and South islands, as the North Island and the South Island, like the North Sea and the Western World, but unlike Rangitoto Island or West Point. Maps, headings or tables and adjectival expressions use North Island, whereas the North Island is used after a preposition or before or after a verb, e.g. my mother lives in the North Island, the North Island is smaller than the South Island, or I'm visiting the North Island. When specifying the island where a place, person, or object is located, it is normal to use the word in rather than on, for example Hamilton is in the North Island.</ref>

According to Māori mythology, that the North and South Islands of New Zealand came from the time of Māui, who was a demigod. Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe (the South Island) when he caught a great fish and pulled it from 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 the Māori name for the North Island is Te Ika-a-Māui (The Fish of Māui). The mountains and valleys are said to have been formed as a result of Māui's brothers' hacking at the fish.<ref>Until the early 20th Century, an alternative Māori name for the North Island was Aotearoa. In present Māori usage, Aotearoa is a collective name for New Zealand as a whole.</ref>

1 Regions of the North Island
2 Cities and towns in the North Island
3 Geographic features
4 Notes

[edit] Regions of the North Island

Nine local government regions cover the North Island and all its adjacent islands and territorial waters.

[edit] Cities and towns in the North Island

(Smaller urban areas are found on the List of towns in New Zealand.)

[edit] Geographic features

[edit] Notes

Image:Flag of New Zealand.svg	Regions of New Zealand
North Island:	Northland \| Auckland \| Waikato \| Bay of Plenty \| Gisborne¹ \| Hawke's Bay \| Taranaki \| Manawatu-Wanganui \| Wellington
South Island:	Tasman¹ \| Marlborough¹ \| Nelson¹ \| West Coast \| Canterbury \| Otago \| Southland \| Fiordland²
	¹ Unitary authorities ² Informal only; not an officially-recognised entity