|
| image_name = NewZealand.A2002296.2220.250m North Island crop.jpg
| image_caption =
| local_name = {{native name|mi|Te Ika-a-Māui}}
| native_name_lang = mi
| image_size =
| map = Oceania
| map_caption =
| nickname =
| location = Oceania
| coordinates = {{coordCoord|38|2439|S|175|43176|E|scale:5000000|display=inline,title}}
| archipelago = New Zealand
| total_islands =
| elevation_m = 2797
| country = New Zealand
| country_admin_divisions_title = [[ISO 3166-2:NZ]]
| country_admin_divisions = NZ-N
| country_admin_divisions_title_1 = [[Regions of New Zealand|Regions]]
| country_admin_divisions_1 = 9
| country_admin_divisions_title_2 = [[Territorial authorities of New Zealand|Territorial authorities]]
| country_admin_divisions_2 = 43
| country_capital_city =
| country_largest_city = [[Auckland]]
| country_largest_city_population = {{NZ population data 2018|Auckland|y}}
| country_leader_title =
| country_leader_name =
| population = {{NZ population data 2018|North Island regions|y}}
| population_as_of = {{NZ population data 2018|||y}}
| density_km2 = {{Rnd|{{formatnum:{{NZ population data 2018|North Island regions|y}}|R}}/113729|1}}
| ethnic_groups =
| additional_info =
}}
The '''North Island''', also officially named '''''Te Ika-a-Māui''''',<ref>{{cite news |title=Two official options for NZ island names |url= https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11138153|title=Two official options for NZ island names |author=Staff Reporter |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |dateagency=OctoberAPNZ |date=10, October 2013 |access-date=December 20, December 2018}}</ref> is one of the two main [[islands of New Zealand]], separated from the larger but much less populous [[South Island]] by the [[Cook Strait]]. TheWith island'san area isof {{convertcvt|113729|km2}},<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www2.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/web/nzstories.nsf/092edeb76ed5aa6bcc256afe0081d84e/54e50d25aff60a7bcc256b1e007adcb6?OpenDocument |title=Quick Facts – Land and Environment : Geography – Physical Features |publisher=Statistics New Zealand |year=2000 |access-date=13 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130408074526/http://www2.stats.govt.nz/domino/external/web/nzstories.nsf/092edeb76ed5aa6bcc256afe0081d84e/54e50d25aff60a7bcc256b1e007adcb6?OpenDocument |archive-date=8 April 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> making it is the [[List of islands by area|world's 14th-largest island]]., Theconstituting world's [[List43% of islandsNew byZealand's population|28th-most-populousland island]],area. Te Ika-a-MāuiIt has a population of {{NZ population data 2018|North Island regions|y|y|y|(|),}} accountingwhich for approximatelyis {{Rnd|{{formatnum:{{NZ population data 2018|North Island regions|y}}|R}}/{{formatnum:{{NZ population data 2018|New Zealand|y}}|R}}*100|0}}% of theNew totalZealand's residents of New Zealand.,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-26 |title=77% of NZers live in North Island |url= https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/342419/77-percent-of-nzers-live-in-north-island |access-date=2021-11-19 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}</ref> making it the most populous island in [[Polynesia]] and the [[List of islands by population|28th-most-populous island]] in the world.
Twelve main urban areas (half of them officially cities) are in the North Island. From north to south, they are [[Whangārei]], [[Auckland]], [[Hamilton, New Zealand|Hamilton]], [[Tauranga]], [[Rotorua]], [[Gisborne, New Zealand|Gisborne]], [[New Plymouth]], [[Napier, New Zealand|Napier]], [[Hastings, New Zealand|Hastings]], [[Whanganui]], [[Palmerston North]], and New Zealand's capital city [[Wellington]], which is located at the south-west tip of the island.
==Naming and usage==
Although the island has been known as the North Island for many years,<ref> the Māori name for it is Te Ika-a-Māui. On some 19th-century maps, the North Island is named [[New Ulster]], which was also a [[Provinces of New Zealand|province of New Zealand]] that included the North Island.</ref> inIn 2009 the [[New Zealand Geographic Board]] found that, along with the South Island, the North Island had no official name.<ref name=LINZ2009>{{cite web |url=http://www.linz.govt.nz/placenames/about-geographic-board/nzgb-news-notices/2009/0421-alternative-maori-names |title=The New Zealand Geographic Board Considers North and South Island Names |date=21 April 2009 |publisher=Land Information New Zealand |access-date=28 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130214154742/http://www.linz.govt.nz/placenames/about-geographic-board/nzgb-news-notices/2009/0421-alternative-maori-names |archive-date=14 February 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After a public consultation, the board officially named the islandit North Island, or the aforementioned Te Ika-a-Māui, in October 2013.<ref>{{cite news |title=Two official options for NZ island names |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11138153 |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=10 October 2013 |date=10 October 2013}}</ref>
In prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called ''the North Island'' and ''the South Island'', with the definite article.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Williamson |first1=Maurice |title=Names of NZ's two main islands formalised |url=https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/names-nz%E2%80%99s-two-main-islands-formalised |website=Beehive.govt.nz |publisher=New Zealand Government |access-date=10 April 2020 |date=11 October 2013}}</ref> It is also normal to use the [[preposition]] ''in'' rather than ''on'', for example "Hamilton is in the North Island", "my mother lives in the North Island".<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/n ''Guardian'' and ''Observer'' style guide: N ("New Zealand")],. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121124004/http://www.theguardian.com/styleguide/n |date=21 January 2014 }}. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 15 April 2019.</ref> Maps, headings, tables, and adjectival expressions use ''North Island'' without "the".
==Māori mythology==
According to [[Māori mythology]], the North and South Islands of New Zealand arose through the actions of the [[demigod]] [[Māui (Māori mythology)|Māui]]. Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe (the South Island) when he caught a great fish and pulled it right up from the sea. While he was not looking, his brothers fought over the fish and chopped it up. This great fish became the North Island, and thus a Māori name for the North Island is Te Ika-a-Māui ("The Fish of Māui").<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-language-week/1000-maori-place-names |title=1000 Māori place names |publisher=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage |date=6 August 2019}}</ref> The mountains and valleys are believed to have been formed as a result of Māui's brothers' hacking at the fish.
During [[James Cook|Captain James Cook]]'s [[First voyage of James Cook|voyage between 1769 and 1770]], Tahitian navigator [[Tupaia (navigator)|Tupaia]] accompanied the circumnavigation of New Zealand. The maps described the North Island as "[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Cook_new_zealand.jpg Ea Heinom Auwe]" and "[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/CookchartNorthIsland.jpg Aeheinomowe]", which recognises the "Fish of Māui" element.
Another DespiteMāori thisname that was given to the North Island, revisionistbut historiansis now used less commonly, is [[Aotearoa]]. Use of Aotearoa to describe the North Island fell out of favour in the early 20th century, and Ngaiit Tahuis now a collective Māori name for New Zealand as a whole.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-02 |title=Ngāi Tahu leader: Let’sLet's not rush name change |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/452781/ngai-tahu-leader-let-s-not-rush-name-change |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}</ref> argue that, until the early 20th Century, [[Aotearoa]] was an alternative Māori name for the North Island. In present usage, Aotearoa is a collective Māori name for New Zealand as a whole.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=McLintock |first1=Alexander Hare |last2=James Oakley Wilson |first2=D. S. C. |last3=Taonga |first3=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu |title=AOTEAROA |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/aotearoa |access-date=2021-11-19 |website=An encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, 1966. |language=en}}</ref>
== Geography ==
{{main|Geography of the North Island}}
[[File:New Zealand North Island.png|thumb|The North Island, in relation to the South Island and Stewart Island]]
During the [[Last Glacial Period]] when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, the North and South islands were connected by a vast coastal plain which formed at the [[South Taranaki Bight]].<ref name="Niwa">{{Cite web | title = Estuary origins |url=https://niwa.co.nz/te-kuwaha/tools-and-resources/ng%C4%81-waihotanga-iho-the-estuary-monitoring-toolkit-for-iwi/estuary-origins | publisher = [[National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research]]| access-date = 3 November 2021}}</ref> During this period, most of the North Island was covered in [[Thorn forest|thorn scrubland and forest]], while the modern-day [[Northland Peninsula]] was a [[Laurel forest|subtropical rainforest]].<ref name="Ray">{{cite journal |last1=Ray |first1=N. |last2=Adams |first2=J.M. |title=A GIS-based Vegetation Map of the World at the Last Glacial Maximum (25,000–15,000 BP) |journal=Internet Archaeology |volume=11 |year=2001 |issue=11 |url=https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue11/2/toc.html |doi=10.11141/ia.11.2}}</ref> Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, eventually separating the islands and linking the [[Cook Strait]] to the [[Tasman Sea]].<ref name="Niwa"/>
===Bays and coastal features===
[[File:Egmont National Park, December 2015, New Zealand (42).JPG|thumb|[[Egmont National Park]]]]
[[File:Carte postale -10 (17074160108).jpg|thumb|[[Tongariro National Park]]]]
* [[Egmont National Park]]
* [[Tongariro National Park]]
* [[Waipoua Forest|Waipoua Kauri Forest]]
* [[Whanganui National Park]]
* and many [[forest parks of New Zealand]]
===Volcanology===
The North Island has an estimated population of {{NZ population data 2018|North Island regions|y}} as of {{NZ population data 2018|||y}}.{{NZ population data 2018||||y}}
The North Island had a population of 3,808,005 at the [[2023 New Zealand census]], an increase of 213,453 people (5.9%) since the [[2018 New Zealand census|2018 census]], and an increase of 570,957 people (17.6%) since the [[2013 New Zealand census|2013 census]]. Of the total population, 733,893 people (19.3%) were aged under 15 years, 743,154 (19.5%) were 15 to 29, 1,721,427 (45.2%) were 30 to 64, and 609,534 (16.0%) were 65 or older.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web |title=2023 Census population counts (by ethnic group, age, and Māori descent) and dwelling counts {{!}} Stats NZ |url=https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/2023-census-population-counts-by-ethnic-group-age-and-maori-descent-and-dwelling-counts/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=www.stats.govt.nz}}</ref>
Ever since the conclusion of the [[Otago Gold Rush|Otago Goldrush]] in the 1860s, New Zealand's European population growth has experienced a steady [[Drift to the north|'Northern drift']] as population centres in the North Island have grown faster than those of New Zealand's South Island. This population trend has continued into the twenty-first century, but at a much slower rate. While the North Island's population continues to growsgrow faster than the South Island, this is solely due to the North Island having higher natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) and international migration; since the late 1980s, the internal migration flow has been from the North Island to the South Island.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-01-26 |title=New Zealand's population is drifting north |url=http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/mythbusters/the-drift-north.aspx |access-date=2021-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150126205920/http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/mythbusters/the-drift-north.aspx |archive-date=26 January 2015}}</ref> In the year to June 2020, the North Island gained 21,950 people from natural increase and 62,710 people from international migration, while losing 3,570 people from internal migration.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Subnational population component changes and median age (RC, TA), at 30 June 2018-202018–20 (2020 boundaries) |url=http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE7510 |access-date=2021-02-18 |website=nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz}}</ref>
=== Culture and identity ===
At the [[2018 New Zealand2023 census]], 6563.71% of North Islanders identified as of[[European New Zealanders|European]] ethnicity([[Pākehā]]), 1819.58% as [[Māori people|Māori]], 1710.06% as [[AsianPasifika New Zealanders|AsianPacific peoples]], 919.73% as [[PacificAsian Islander|PacificNew IslandersZealanders|Asian]], 1.69% as Middle Eastern/Latin American/African, and 1.21% as anotherother ethnicity (mainly 'New Zealander')ethnicities. TotalsPercentages add to more than 100% sinceas people maycan identify with multiplemore ethnicitiesthan one ethnicity.<ref name=":003">{{Cite web|title=Ethnic group (detailed total response - level 3) by age and sex, for the census usually resident population count, 2006, 2013, and 2018 Censuses (RC, TA, SA2, DHB).|url=http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE8321|access-date=2020-03-03|website=nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz}}</ref>
Māori form the majority in three districts of the North Island: [[Kawerau]] (63.2%), [[Ōpōtiki District|Ōpōtiki]] (66.2%) and [[Wairoa District|Wairoa]] (68.5%). Europeans formed the plurality in the Auckland region (49.8%) and are the majority in the remaining 39 districts.<ref name=":03" />
The proportion of North Islanders born overseas is 29.3%. The most common foreign countries of birth are England (15.4% of overseas-born residents), Mainland China (11.3%), India (10.1%), South Africa (5.9%), Australia (5.5%) and Samoa (5.3%).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Birthplace (detailed), for the census usually resident population count, 2006, 2013, and 2018 Censuses (RC, TA, SA2, DHB)|url=http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE8279|access-date=2021-02-18|website=nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz}}</ref> ▼
▲The proportion of North Islanders born overseas isat the 2018 census were 29.3%. The most common foreign countries of birth arewere England (15.4% of overseas-born residents), Mainland China (11.3%), India (10.1%), South Africa (5.9%), Australia (5.5%) and Samoa (5.3%).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Birthplace (detailed), for the census usually resident population count, 2006, 2013, and 2018 Censuses (RC, TA, SA2, DHB) |url=http://nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz/wbos/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=TABLECODE8279 |access-date=2021-02-18 |website=nzdotstat.stats.govt.nz}}</ref>
===Cities and towns===
There are 30 urban areas in the North Island with a population of 10,000 or more:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;"
|-
==Economy==
The sub-national GDP of the North Island was estimated at US[[NZ$102]] 282.863355 billion in 2003,2021 79(78% of New Zealand's national GDP).<ref>{{cite web |yeardate=200724 March 2023 |title=Regional Grossgross Domesticdomestic product: Year ended March 2022 Product|url=httphttps://www.stats.govt.nz/reports/analyticalinformation-reportsreleases/regional-gross-domestic-product.aspx|url-status=dead|archiveyear-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100520133128/http://www.stats.govt.nz/reports/analyticalended-reportsmarch-2022/regional-gross-domestic-product.aspx|archive-date=20 May 2010|access-date=184 FebruaryApril 2023 2010|publisher=[[Statistics New Zealand]]|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
== Governance ==
*[[Auckland Region|Auckland]]
*[[Waikato]]
*[[Bay of Plenty Region|Bay of Plenty]]
*[[Gisborne District|Gisborne]]
*[[Taranaki]]
*[[Hawke's Bay Region]]
*[[Wellington Region]]
==Healthcare==
{{See also|Health careHealthcare in New Zealand}}
Healthcare in the North Island is provided by fifteen [[District Health Board (New Zealand)|District Health Boards (DHBs)]]. Organised around geographical areas of varying population sizes, they are not coterminous with the [[Regions of New Zealand|Local Government Regions]].
{| class=wikitable
! District Health Board !! District !! Population
|-
| [[Mid Central District Health Board]] (Te Pae Hauora o Ruahine o Tararua)
| [[Palmerston North City]], [[Horowhenua District]], [[ManawatuManawatū District]], [[Tararua District]], part of [[KapitiKāpiti Coast District]]
| 158,838
|-
|-
| [[Hutt Valley District Health Board]] (Healthy People)
| [[Lower Hutt City]], [[Upper Hutt City]]
| 145,000
|-
| [[Capital and Coast District Health Board]] (Upoko ki te Uru Hauora)
| [[Wellington City]], [[Porirua City]], part of [[KapitiKāpiti Coast District]]
| 270,000
|-
==See also==
* [[List of islands of New Zealand]]
==References==
== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|North Island, New Zealand}}
* {{Wikivoyage- inline}}
{{Regions of New Zealand}}
{{World's largest islands}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|38|24|S|175|43|E|type:isle_scale:5000000|display=title}}
[[Category:North Island| ]]
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