Russell, New Zealand

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Russell, formerly known as Kororareka, was the first permanent European settlement and sea port in New Zealand. It is situated in the Bay of Islands, in the far north of the North Island. As at the 2001 census it had a resident population of 804

When European and American ships began visiting New Zealand in the early 1800s the indigenous Māori quickly recognised there were great advantages in trading with these strangers, who they called tauiwi.

The Bay of Islands offered a safe anchorage and had a high Māori population. To attract ships, Māori began to supply food and timber. What Māori wanted were respect, plus firearms, alcohol, and other goods of European manufacture.

Kororareka developed as a result of this trade but soon earned a very bad reputation, a community without laws, and became known as the "Hell Hole of the Pacific". European law had no influence and Māori law was seldom enforced within the town's area. Kororareka

By 1840 it was an important mercantile center and served as a vital resupply port for whaling and sealing operations. When the Colony of New Zealand was founded in that year, Governor Hobson was reluctant to choose Kororareka as his capital. Instead he purchased land at Okiato, situated seven kilometers to the south, and renamed it Russell in honour of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord John Russell. A year later he moved the capital to Auckland.

Kororareka was part of the Port of Russell and after Russell (Okiato) was virtually deserted, Kororareka gradually became known as Russell also. In January 1844 Governor Robert FitzRoy officially designated Kororareka as part of the township of Russell. Today the name Russell applies only to Kororareka while the former capital is known either by its original name of Okiato or as Old Russell.

At the beginning of the Flagstaff War in 1845, the town of Kororareka was sacked by Hone Heke.

The car ferry across the Bay of Islands, the main tourist access to Russell, runs between Okiato and Opua.

External links

http://www.russellnz.com/

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