The human history of the Auckland () metropolitan area stretches from early Māori settlers in the 14th century to the first European explorers in the late 18th century, over a short stretch as the official capital of (European-settled) New Zealand in the middle of the 19th century to its current position as the fastest-growing and commercially dominating metropolis of the country.
Māori occupation
Pre-European occupation
Māori people settled the Auckland isthmus around 1350, calling it or , meaning "Tāmaki desired by many", in reference to the desirability of its natural resources and geography. The narrow isthmus was a strategic location with its two harbours providing access to the sea on both the west and east coasts. It had fertile soils that facilitated horticulture and the two harbours provided plentiful kai moana (seafood). Māori constructed terraced pā (fortified villages) on the volcanic peaks. However, for most of the period it was rare for Māori to live in defended pā, with most people living in undefended villages or kāinga.
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. From early occupation until European contact, the economy of the region was centred around horticulture (mostly root vegetables such as kūmara (sweet potato)), fishing and shellfish gathering. However, some areas such as Motutapu Island and the Ōtāhuhu/Mount Wellington area had specialised areas to produce toki (stone adzes).
The Ngāi Tai tribe, descended from the people of the Tainui canoe, settled in Maraetai. Other Tainui descendants were Te Kawerau ā Maki, who lived under forest cover in the Waitākere Ranges and controlled land as far north as the Kaipara, across to Mahurangi and down to Takapuna. The Ngāti Te Ata tribe was based south of the Manukau Harbour at Waiuku. Along the coast from Whangaparāoa to the Thames estuary was Ngāti Pāoa, a Hauraki tribe. The dominant power on the Tāmaki isthmus was Waiohua, a federation of tribes formed under Te Hua-o-Kaiwaka.
From 1600 to 1750 the Tāmaki tribes terraced the volcanic cones, building pā. Across the isthmus they developed 2,000 hectares of kūmara gardens. At the peak of prosperity in 1750, the population numbered tens of thousands. It was pre-European New Zealand's most wealthy and populous area. However, from the early 18th century the Ngāti Pāoa people edged their way into the Hauraki Gulf and as far north as Mahurangi. Between 1740 and 1750 Ngāti Whātua-o-Kaipara moved south, invading the isthmus and killing Kiwi Tāmaki, paramount chief of Waiohua. They then took his last pā at Māngere. Ngāti Whātua secured their dominance of the isthmus by intermarrying with descendants of the Waiohua. There followed a period of cautious peace in which Ngāti Pāoa's conflict with Ngāpuhi tribes in the north made the Tāmaki tribes vulnerable to attack.
Arrival of Europeans
Ngāti Whātua and Tainui tribes were the main groups living in the area when Europeans arrived in New Zealand. European settlement to the north enabled traditional rivals Ngāpuhi and allied northern iwi to acquire muskets by trade. Initially no military advantage accrued; despite lacking muskets, Ngāti Whātua defeated a Ngāpuhi force, who had a few muskets, in the battle of Moremonui north of the Kaipara Harbour (in 1807 or 1808), killing at least 150.
Apihai Te Kawau, leader of the Ngāti Whātua hapū (sub-tribe) Te Taoū, was a good friend of Samuel Marsden. Over a ten-month period in 1821–1822 he played a principal part in the Amiowhenua expedition. This series of battles raged through much of the central and southern North Island.
As the Musket Wars drew to a close, pressure for British intervention to quell lawlessness, in large part driven by missionary pressure to protect Māori, led to the annexation of New Zealand and the despatch of Lt Governor Hobson to create the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
On 20 March 1840 in the Manukau Harbour area where Ngāti Whātua farmed, now paramount chief Apihai Te Kawau signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the te reo Māori translation of the Treaty of Waitangi). Ngāti Whātua sought British protection from Ngāpuhi as well as a reciprocal relationship with the Crown and the Church. Soon after signing Te Tiriti, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, the primary hapū and landowner in Tāmaki Makaurau, made a tuku (strategic gift) of 3,500 acres (1,400 hectares) of land on the Waitematā Harbour to Hobson, the new Governor of New Zealand, for the new capital.
As the Māori population declined for nearly a century, so did the quantity of land held by Ngāti Whātua. Within 20 years, 40% of their lands were lost, some through government land confiscation. At close to the lowest level of population, Ngāti Whātua land holding was reduced to a few acres at Ōrākei, land which Te Kawau had declared "a last stand". By the end of the 1840s, Māori were a minority in the Auckland area. Despite scares during the New Zealand wars, Māori re-emerged as a cultural and political force only after the Bastion Point occupation and Māori cultural revival of the late 20th century.Ngati Whatua (from Te Ara: The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, 1966)Ngāti Whātua history (from the Auckland City Council website)
Birth of the city
Capital of New Zealand
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, the main European settlements were in the Bay of Islands and the Otago Harbour in the South Island. However, the Bay of Islands' geographical position made it very remote, inaccessible and off-centre from the rest of the New Zealand archipelago.
On the initial recommendation of the missionary Henry Williams, supported by the Surveyor General, Felton Mathew, and the offer of land from Ngāti Whātua, Hobson selected the south side of Waitematā Harbour as his future capital, while setting up a temporary capital at Okiato (also known now as Old Russell) in the Bay of Islands. The first purchase ran along the northern shoreline from Westmere (Opou Creek in modern-day Coxs Bay) to Hobson Bay in the east, and at both ends the boundaries ran south until they converged at Maungawhau / Mount Eden. The Chief Magistrate, Captain William Cornwallis Symonds, would later purchase further land from Ngāti Whātua.
Ngāti Whātua would certainly have expected increased security and trading benefits from British colonialism. 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.
Hobson's barque, the Anna Watson, arrived in Auckland Harbour on 15 September 1840. By coincidence, three days before the Platina had arrived looking for Hobson. This ship carried 130 colonists and a prefabricated Governor's residence, which was similar to the house built to house Napoleon Bonaparte on St Helena during his exile.
A foundation ceremony took place on 18 September 1840, at Point Britomart (Rerenga Ora Iti). Hobson named the new settlement Auckland in honour of George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, a patron and his friend. The New Zealand Government Gazette announced royal approval of the name on 26 November 1842.
Auckland was officially declared New Zealand's capital in 1841.
From the outset, a steady flow of new arrivals from within New Zealand and from overseas came to the new capital. The first European settlers in Auckland, William Brown and Logan Campbell, had arrived a month earlier on a hunch about Hobson's intentions and bought Browns Island. Soon after Hobson founded Auckland, they built the city's first house, Acacia Cottage, which can still be seen on the side of One Tree Hill, in the park that Campbell donated to the city in his old age.
Initially, settlers from New South Wales predominated. Amongst the first settlers were some Catholics and in 1841 they established a school for boys, which was Auckland's first school of any sort.A. G Butchers, Young New Zealand, Coulls Somerville Wilkie Ltd, Dunedin, 1929, pp. 124 – 126.Auckland's First Catholic School – And its Latest", Zealandia, Thursday, 26 January 1939, p. 5E.R. Simmons, In Cruce Salus, A History of the Diocese of Auckland 1848 – 1980, Catholic Publication Centre, Auckland 1982, pp. 53 and 54.
The city's first church, St Paul's and the Fort Britomart army barracks, were built on Point Britomart in 1841. When St Paul's was founded by Governor Hobson on 28 July 1841, hundreds attended the ceremony including Ngāti Whātua chiefs Āpihai Te Kawau, Te Keene and a young Pāora Tūhaere, accompanied by over one hundred Māori warriors. The Bishop of New Zealand, Bishop George Selwyn opened St Paul's in 1843, serving both Māori and European congregations, with two services conducted in te reo Māori and two in English, every Sunday. Known as the 'Mother Church' of Auckland, St Paul's served as the Anglican Cathedral for over 40 years. The original Emily Place St Paul's was demolished in 1885, when Point Britomart was quarried away for waterfront reclamations, and the third and current St Paul's building on Symonds Street was built to replace it.
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, in areas like Freemans Bay. This social division still persists somewhat in modern Auckland, with the eastern suburbs generally being more upscale.
From the late 1840s, settlers attending Anglican chapels built in the then-rural communities of West Tamaki, Epsom and Remuera were ministered to by the staff and students of St John's Theological College which was established in 1843. Auckland's first Catholic church opened in 1843, later to become St Patrick's Cathedral.