North Island

The North Island (also officially known as Te Ika-a-Māui) is one of New Zealand’s two main islands. It is separated from the larger but less populated South Island by Cook Strait. Covering 113,729 square kilometres, it is the world’s 14th-largest island and makes up 43% of New Zealand’s land area. As of June 2025, its population is about 4,067,400—76% of the country’s residents—making it the most populous island in Polynesia and the 28th-most-populous island globally.

Twelve main urban areas are located on the North Island. From north to south, these are: Whangārei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Hastings, Whanganui, Palmerston North, and the capital city, Wellington, at the island’s southwestern tip.

**Naming and usage** The island has long been called the North Island in English. Its official Māori name, Te Ika-a-Māui (“the fish of Māui”), is also recognised but rarely used by most residents. Other Māori names include Te Ahi no Māui (“the fire of Māui,” first recorded by Captain James Cook in 1770) and Aotearoa (“land of the long white cloud”), though the latter now more commonly refers to New Zealand as a whole. On some 19th-century maps, the North Island was labelled New Ulster, after the Irish province, and was also the name of a former province covering the island. In 2009, the New Zealand Geographic Board found that neither the North nor South Island had an official name. After public consultation, the board officially named it North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui in October 2013, choosing the Māori name based on its “most common and consistent usage in oral tradition by Māori living on the island.” In prose, the two main islands are usually referred to with the definite article (“the North Island”), but maps, headings, tables, and adjectival expressions omit “the.” The preposition “in” is standard (e.g., “Hamilton is in the North Island”).

**Māori mythology** According to Māori tradition, the demigod Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe (the South Island) when he caught a great fish and hauled it from the sea. While he was distracted, his brothers fought over the fish and chopped it up. This fish became the North Island, hence its name Te Ika-a-Māui. The island’s mountains and valleys are said to have formed from the brothers’ hacking. During Captain James Cook’s 1769–1770 voyage, the Tahitian navigator Tupaia accompanied the circumnavigation of New Zealand, and maps from that time labelled the North Island as “Ea Heinom Auwe” and “Aeheinomowe,” reflecting the “Fish of Māui” concept. Tribal names such as Muaūpoko (“front of the head”) and Muriwhenua (“backland”) also reference locations on this fish and indicate levels of seniority among tribes. Another Māori name, Aotearoa, was once used for the North Island but fell out of favour by the early 20th century; it is now the collective Māori name for all of New Zealand.

**Geography** During the Last Glacial Period, when sea levels were more than 100 metres lower, the North and South Islands were connected by a vast coastal plain at the South Taranaki Bight. Most of the North Island was then covered in thorn scrubland and forest, while the modern Northland Peninsula was subtropical rainforest. Sea levels began rising 7,000 years ago, eventually separating the islands and linking Cook Strait to the Tasman Sea.

Key coastal features include the Bay of Islands, Bay of Plenty, Hauraki Gulf, Firth of Thames, Hawke Bay, Ninety Mile Beach, North Taranaki Bight, and South Taranaki Bight. Major lakes and rivers are Lake Taupō, the Waikato River, and the Whanganui River. Notable capes and peninsulas include the Coromandel Peninsula, Northland Peninsula, Cape Palliser, Cape Reinga, East Cape, and North Cape. National parks and forests include Egmont National Park, Tongariro National Park, Waipoua Kauri Forest, Whanganui National Park, and many forest parks. Volcanic features include the Auckland Volcanic Field, Mount Ruapehu, Mount Taranaki (Taranaki Maunga), Mount Tarawera, Whakaari / White Island, and the North Island Volcanic Plateau. Other notable sites are the Waitomo Caves and the long place name Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.

**Demographics** The North Island’s estimated population in June 2025 is 4,067,400. At the 2023 census, it had 3,808,005 people, an increase of 213,453 (5.9%) from 2018 and 570,957 (17.6%) from 2013. Of that total, 733,893 (19.3%) were under 15, 743,154 (19.5%) were 15–29, 1,721,427 (45.2%) were 30–64, and 609,534 (16.0%) were 65 or older. Since the end of the Otago gold rush in the 1860s, New Zealand’s European population has experienced a steady “Northern drift,” with North Island population centres growing faster than those in the South Island. This trend has continued into the 21st century, though more slowly. While the North Island’s population still grows faster than the South Island’s, this is due solely to higher natural increase (births minus deaths) and international migration; since the late 1980s, internal migration has flowed from the North Island to the South Island. In the year to June 2020, the North Island gained 21,950 people from natural increase and 62,710 from international migration.