page_title: Rotorua
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Rotorua / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Māori-Versammlungshaus in Rotorua, Januar 2001 English: Māori meeting house in Rotorua, January 2001 Français&#160;: Maison de réunion maorie à Rotorua, Janvier 2001
context_page_description: Rotorua is a city on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua from which the city takes its name, located in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompassing Rotorua and several other nearby towns. The majority of the Rotorua District is in the Bay of Plenty Region, but a sizeable southern section and a small western section are in the Waikato region. Rotorua is in the heart of the North Island, 60 kilometres south of Tauranga, 80 km north of Taupō, 105 km east of Hamilton, and 230 km southeast of the nation's most populous city, Auckland.
  Rotorua has an estimated permanent population of 54,500, making it the country's 12th largest urban area, and the Bay of Plenty's second largest urban area behind Tauranga. The Rotorua District has a total estimated population of 75,100, of which 3,600 live in the Waikato section.
  Rotorua is a major destination for both domestic and international tourists; the tourism industry is by far the largest industry in the district. It is known for its geothermal activity, and features geysers – notably the Pohutu Geyser at Whakarewarewa – and hot mud pools.
context_section_description: The name Rotorua comes from Māori, the full name for the city and lake is Te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe. Roto means 'lake' and rua means 'two' or in this case 'second' – Rotorua thus meaning 'Second lake'. Kahumatamomoe was the uncle of the Māori chief Ihenga, the ancestral explorer of the Te Arawa. It was the second major lake the chief discovered, and he dedicated it to his uncle. It is the largest of a multitude of lakes found to the northeast, all connected with the Rotorua Caldera and nearby Mount Tarawera. The name can also mean the equally appropriate 'Crater lake'.
  The area was initially settled by Māori of the Te Arawa Iwi in the 14th century. During the early 1820s Ngapuhi led by chief Hongi Hika launched a series of raids into the Bay of Plenty as a part of the Musket Wars, in 1823 a Ngapuhi raiding party led by Hongi Hika attacked Te Arawa at their Pa (Fortified settlement) on Mokoia Island defeating them. The first European in the area was probably Phillip Tapsell who was trading from the Bay of Plenty coast at Maketu from 1828. He later married into Te Arawa and became highly regarded by them. Missionaries Henry Williams and Thomas Chapman visited in 1831 and Chapman and his wife established a mission at Te Koutu in 1835. This was abandoned within a year but Chapman returned in 1838 and established a second mission at Mokoia Island.
  The lakeshore was a prominent site of skirmishes during the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s. A "special town district" was created in 1883, to promote Rotorua's potential as a spa destination. The town was connected to Auckland with the opening of the Rotorua Branch railway and commencement of the Rotorua Express train in 1894, resulting in the rapid growth of the town and tourism from this time forward. Rotorua was established as a borough in 1922, elected its first mayor in 1923, and declared a city in 1962 before becoming a district in 1979.
caption: Māori meeting house in Rotorua, January 2001
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