Wellington (area)

Geography

The area occupies the southern point of the island of North] and is bordered in the west, the south, and is by water. In the west one finds the Mer of Tasman and in the east the Pacific Ocean. In the south these two stretch of water meet with the Détroit of Cook, short and turbulent; with its narrowest part it measures only 28 km of width, between the Cape Terawhiti and the headland of Perano, in the Marlborough Sounds .

The area recovers: 7860, extending from Otaki in the west until almost with Eketahuna in the east. Physically and topographically the area has four areas parallel on a driving axis of the North-East in south-west.

The first of these areas is narrow and on the coast, of the coastal plains going to north since Paekakariki. It is the Kapiti Coast , which contains several small communities and several beaches.

A little inside one finds an area with hills on the same geological fault responsible for the the Alps for the South for the island for the South. Though much less broken than those, the mounts Rimutaka and Tararua is still of difficult access and shelter only little world. It is however in the coastal and flat valleys with the southern point of these mounts that one finds Wellington and the Vallée of Hutt.

The third parallel area is the area of hills, Wairarapa, around the river Ruamahunga. It becomes less and less high with the latitude and finishes in the Marais around the Lac Wairarapa with a rural landscape and agriculturel.

The fourth and last area are full with hills less high than the Tararua mounts but more difficult to cultivate than the grounds around Ruamahanga.

The two areas with hills or mounts nowadays are still largely covered with forests.

Government

The area, as managed by the District council of Wellington, recovers the neighborhoods of the capital of the country, Wellington, and the towns of Lower Hutt, Porirua, and Upper Hutt, each one surrounded by a rural régione. It is located on a peninsula; the coast of the area is thus east coast and west of the island of North. It includes/understands the cities of the District of Kapiti Coast, included there the Horowhenua, as well as the rural districts in the east of the chain of the mounts Rimutaka and the majority of the area called Wairarapa (of which towns of Masterton and Carterton).

According to some, the term Wellington Area would cover an area much smaller. For some, it includes neither Kapiti Coast nor Wairarapa, which have all both of the identities and distinct communities. It would thus be centered on the four cities in the south-west of the area. To add to this confusion, old the Province of Wellington extended much more to north that the current area, including/understanding the towns of Palmerston North and Wanganui (which is in the area of Manawatu-Wanganui).

History

The Māori which were établissèrent in the area it called Te Upoko O you Ika has Māui , meaning the head of fish of Māui . A legend tells that Kupe would have discovered and explored the area around the 10th century.

The area was colonized by Europeans in 1839, with the New Zealand Company . The town of Wellington became capital old province of the same name during its creation in 1853 until the abolition of the provinces in 1876. The city became capital country in 1865, the third and last to have this statute (after Auckland and Russell).

Demography

More three-quarter of: 464700 inhabitants of the area (at the time of the census of 2006) resident in the four cities with the south-western corner. The other great urban centres are on the Kapiti Coast and the fertile grounds of Wairarapa, close to high Ruamahanga.

On the Kapiti Coast one finds several small towns, of which much on the beach. North in the south, they are Otaki, Waikanae, Paraparaumu, Raumati Beach and Raumati South, Paekakariki and Pukerua Bay, the latter being a septentrional suburbe of Porirua. Each one counts between: 2000 and: 10000 inhabitants.

In Wairarapa the largest establishment is Masterton, with a population of almost: 20000 inhabitants. Among the other cities one finds Featherston, Martinborough, Carterton and Greytown.

Appendices

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