Auckland is the largest
city and seaport of New Zealand. It lies on an isthmus, or narrow neck of land, that connects the
North Auckland peninsula with the rest of the North Island. To the north and east the city looks over the deep and sheltered Waitemata
Harbour, and the extinct volcano Rangitoto, 260 metres (853 feet) high, to the Hauraki Gulf beyond; to the
south and west it borders on the large and relatively shallow Manukau Harbour, which leads to the Tasman Sea.
Auckland’s chief shopping and business thoroughfare is Queen Street. The suburbs spread around its port, on Waitemata Harbour, and up the slopes of cone-shaped hills found in the
area, such as Mount Eden, Mount Albert, and One Tree Hill, which were once volcanoes. There has also been rapid suburban growth to the west and the south of the city, and along the North
Shore, across the Waitemata Harbour. The North Shore is linked to the city by ferries and a busy six-lane harbour bridge, built in 1959.
The rapidly growing urban area has a
population of about 900,000. For administrative purposes it is divided into separate cities and boroughs, of which the largest are Manukau to the south, Takapuna on the North Shore, central Auckland City, and Waitemata. A feature of the population growth has been the influx of Maoris from elsewhere in New Zealand and of other Polynesians from the Pacific Islands, so that Auckland now has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world. It is probable that the Auckland area has always been the most densely populated region of New Zealand. More than 20,000 people lived there before the Europeans arrived. Rapid population growth has brought the city great prosperity and diversity, but it has also brought such problems as traffic congestion, pollution, poverty, housing shortages, crime, and racial tension.
Auckland’s parks and public gardens include the Domain, which is an area of gardens and sports fields and contains the War Memorial Museum, which has the finest collection of Maori art in the world. The City Art Gallery has many fine paintings. Auckland has New Zealand’s largest university as well as numerous schools and colleges.
The city is the chief industrial centre of New Zealand. Industries include car assembly, engineering, meat freezing, sugar refining, and the production of chemicals, foodstuffs, beer, clothing, leather, plastics, steel, bricks, and cement. About one-third of New Zealand’s exports and half its imports, which include petroleum, fertilizers, iron and steel, and wheat, pass through Auckland. International air services use Mangere airport, 22 kilometres (14 miles) south of the city. On the North shore at Devonport is the chief base of the Royal New Zealand Navy.
In 1840 Auckland was chosen to be the capital of New Zealand by the first British governor, Captain William Hobson. It remained the capital until 1865, when Wellington took its place because of its more central position, on the south coast of the North Island.
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