23-755: The Northland Peninsula , called the North Auckland Peninsula in earlier times, is in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is joined to the rest of the island by the Auckland isthmus , a narrow piece of land between the Waitematā Harbour and the Manukau Harbour in the middle of the Auckland metropolitan area. The peninsula is not conterminous with the local government area of Northland Region , which occupies
46-709: 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
69-465: 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
92-474: 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
115-516: Is the smaller Hokianga harbour, which has historic and cultural significance, especially to the Māori people . On the eastern coast, another historically significant site is Waitangi and the surrounding Bay of Islands . This was a major settlement area in early colonial New Zealand , and was the site of the first signing (February 1840) of the Treaty of Waitangi , which is seen in the national mythos as
138-448: 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
161-506: 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
184-682: The founding document of New Zealand's nationhood . The largest settlement on the peninsula (other than parts of the Auckland conurbation) is Whangārei , on a harbour opening on the Pacific Ocean close to the peninsula's widest point. 35°23′13″S 173°48′36″E / 35.387°S 173.810°E / -35.387; 173.810 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 )
207-590: 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
230-535: The Aupōuri Peninsula includes a number of capes: Cape Maria van Diemen , Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua , North Cape / Otou , and the Hikurua / de Surville Cliffs , the northernmost point, at latitude 34° 23' 47" South. The Kaipara Harbour , part way along the peninsula's western ( Tasman Sea ) shore, is one of the largest harbours in the world, stretching some 65 kilometres from north to south. Further north
253-617: 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 . List of islands by area This list includes all islands in the world larger than 1,000 km (390 sq mi). For size and location reference, the four continental landmasses are also shown. Continental landmasses are not usually classified as islands despite being completely surrounded by water. However, because
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#1732772710851276-519: 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
299-437: 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
322-462: 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
345-411: 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
368-451: 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
391-568: The deep sea floor. The peninsula stretches northwest for about 330 kilometres from the Auckland isthmus (or Tamaki isthmus), reaching a maximum width of 85 kilometres. It has a convoluted coastline, with many smaller peninsulas branching off it. The northernmost 100 kilometres of the Northland Peninsula forms the Aupōuri Peninsula – a peninsula on a peninsula – narrowing to only some 10 kilometres in width. At its northern end,
414-463: The definition of continent varies between geographers, the Americas are sometimes defined as two separate continents while mainland Australia is sometimes defined as an island as well as a continent. Nevertheless, for the purposes of this list, mainland Australia along with the other major landmasses have been listed as continental landmasses for comparison. The figures are approximations and are for
437-660: 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
460-467: The land of Northland is an allochthon , a large block of land formed elsewhere and moved into its current position. When Northland was uplifted, much of the land that would form the central Auckland Region was subsided 2-3,000 metres to the sea floor. The Waitemata Group sedimentary rock found in the Northland and Auckland Regions is material which was eroded from the Northland island and deposited on
483-656: The northern 80% of the peninsula, as the southern section is administratively part of the Auckland Region . The peninsula formed as an island 22 million years ago, when the area was uplifted due to interactions between the Pacific Plate and Australian Plate . Between 25 and 22 million years ago, Northland and the East Cape were adjacent, with the East Cape moving south-east due to tectonic forces. Much of
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#1732772710851506-414: 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
529-486: 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
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