Nelson, New Zealand
Encyclopedia : N : NE : NEL : Nelson, New Zealand
| Nelson | |
 | |
| Population: | 57,700 (urban) 44,500 (unitary) |
| Mayor: | Paul Matheson |
| Urban Area | |
|---|---|
| Extent: | from Glenduan to the Wairoa River |
| Unitary authority | |
| Name: | Nelson City |
| Extent: | from Rai Saddle to Stoke |
| Regional Council: | Nelson Province |
Nelson's Māori name, Whakatū, means "a place to stand", literally meaning "home".
Nelson Province is one of the regions of New Zealand and is administered as a unitary authority. It is positioned between Marlborough to the east and Tasman District to the west
Many people believe Nelson has the best climate in New Zealand, in that it regularly tops the national statistics for sunshine hours, with an annual average total of over 2400 hours.
Nelson Province has good beaches and a sheltered harbour. The harbour entrance is protected by a natural breakwater known as The Boulder Bank, which also reduces the effects of the tide on Nelson city's beach, Tahunanui. This allows for some of the safest sea bathing in the country.
Nelson is surrounded by mountains on three sides with Tasman Bay on the other. It functions as the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park, the Kahurangi National Park, and Rotoiti and Rotoroa in the Nelson Lakes National Park. It is a centre for both ecotourism and adventure tourism, and has a high reputation among caving enthusiasts due to several prominent cave systems around Takaka Hill and Mount Owen.
Nelson serves as a centre for arts and crafts, and each year hosts popular events such as the Nelson Arts Festival, and, in previous years, the annual Wearable Art Awards, although these have now moved to Wellington.
Nelson Province is the birthplace of Ernest Rutherford.
The Nelson urban area, which includes the adjacent town of Richmond, has a population of approximately 50,000 - and has recently increased in population more rapidly than any other region in New Zealand.
Early history of Nelson
The early history of Nelson begins with the settlement about 1100 years ago by the original Polynesian settlers of New Zealand; known today as Moa-Hunters. The period of the Moa-Hunters is known as the Archaic Phase of Māori culture.There is evidence the earliest settlements in New Zealand are around the Nelson-Marlborough regions.
The earliest recorded iwi in the Nelson district are the Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Tumatakokiri, Ngāti Apa and Rangitane tribes.
Raids from northern tribes in the 1820's, led by Te Rauparaha and his Ngāti Toa, soon decimated the local population and quickly displaced them.
The New Zealand Company
The New Zealand Company in London planned the settlement of Nelson. They intended to buy cheaply from the Māori some 200 000 acres (800 km²) which they planned to divide into one thousand lots and sell (at a considerable profit) to intending settlers. The Company earmarked future profits to finance the free passage of artisans and labourers and their families, and for the construction of public works. However by September 1841 only about one third of the lots had sold. Despite this the Colony pushed ahead.Three ships sailed from London under the command of Captain Arthur Wakefield. Arriving in New Zealand, they discovered that the new Governor of the colony, William Hobson would not give them a free hand to secure vast areas of land from the Māori or indeed to decide where to site the colony. However, after some delay, Hobson allowed the Company to investigate the Tasman Bay area at the north end of the South Island. The Company selected the site now occupied by Nelson City because it had the best harbour in the area. But it had a major drawback: it lacked suitable arable land; Nelson City stands right on the edge of a mountain range while the nearby Waimea Plains amount to only about 60 000 acres (243 km²), less than one third of the area required by the Company plans.
The Company secured from the Māori for £800 a vague and undetermined area, but including Nelson, Waimea, Motueka, Riwaka and Whakapuaka. This allowed the settlement to begin, but the lack of definition would prove the source of much future conflict. The three colony ships sailed into Nelson Haven during the first week of November 1841. When the first immigrant ships arrived three months later they found the town already laid out with streets, some wooden houses, tents and rough sheds. Within eighteen months the Company had sent out eighteen ships with 1052 men, 872 women and 1384 children. However, fewer than ninety of the settlers had the capital to start as landowners.
Notably, the early settlement of Nelson province included a proportion of German immigrants, who arrived on the ship Sankt Pauli and formed the nucleus of the villages of Sarau (Upper Moutere) and Neudorf.
After a brief initial period of prosperity the inherent problems, the lack of land and the lack of capital caught up with the settlement and it entered a prolonged period of relative depression. Organised immigration ceased until the 1850s and the laborers had to accept a cut in their wages by a third. By the end of 1843 artisans and laborers began leaving Nelson and by 1846 some twenty five percent of the immigrants had moved away.
The pressure to find more arable land became intense. To the south-east of Nelson lay the wide and fertile plains of the Wairau Valley. The New Zealand Company tried to claim that they had purchased the land. The Māori owners stated quite adamantly that the Wairau Valley had not formed part of the original land sale and made it clear they would resist any attempts by the settlers to occupy the area. The Nelson settlers led by Arthur Wakefield and Henry Thompson attempted to do just that. This resulted in the Wairau Affray, wherein twenty-two settlers died. The subsequent Government enquiry exonerated the Māori and found that the Nelson settlers had no legitimate claim to any land outside Tasman Bay.
Sister cities
External links
- [Wikitravel Nelson page]
- [The Harlequin Guide to Nelson]
- [Latitude Nelson]
- [Nelson City Council]
- [Nelson Marlborough Institue of Technology]
- [Nelson Ports]
| Regions of New Zealand |
|---|---|
| North Island: | Northland | Auckland | Waikato | Bay of Plenty | Gisbourne¹ | Hawke's Bay | Taranaki | Manawatu-Wanganui | Wellington |
| South Island: | Tasman¹ | Marlborough¹ | Nelson¹ | West Coast | Canterbury | Otago | Southland | Fiordland² |
| Unitary authority>Unitary authorities ² Informal only; not an officially-recognised entity | |
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