New Plymouth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the place called New Plymouth in the United States, see New Plymouth, Idaho.

Urban Area
New Plymouth
Country:	New Zealand

Population:	49,500 (New Plymouth urban) 69,200 (territorial) (2005 estimate)
Extent:	Oakura to Bell Block
Territorial Authority
Name:	New Plymouth District
Mayor:	Peter Tennent
Extent:	Okato to Mokau; south to Tariki
Area:	2206 km²
Website:	http://www.newplymouthnz.com
See also:	South Taranaki, Stratford
Regional Council
Name:	Taranaki Regional Council
Websites:	http://www.trc.govt.nz

New Plymouth is the port and main city in the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

1 New Plymouth City
2 Sister Cities
3 Further reading
4 External links

[edit] New Plymouth City

The area where New Plymouth was founded had been the historic home for several Māori iwi (tribes) for centuries. Early European whalers operated in the area for some time before the ship William Bryant arrived in 1840 to disembark the first of the European settlers, with the town of New Plymouth being established in 1841. Settlers came from not only Britain (as the majority of New Zealand's settlers did) but also from Poland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, China and India. These newcomers found it easy to purchase land at first, but settlement proved increasingly difficult as the years passed, when more and more Māori-owned fertile farming land was wanted. Many Māori were not interested in selling and this led to conflict, and ten years of war in the area - see First Taranaki War and Second Taranaki War.

Today, the city is a service centre for the region's principal economic activities including intensive pastoral activities (mainly dairy farming) as well as oil, natural gas and petrochemical exploration and production. New Plymouth is also a bustling financial centre as the home of the Taranaki Savings Bank (TSB), which is the only 100% non-government New Zealand-owned bank. The population is about 49,000. Notable features are the excellent botanic gardens (eg Pukekura Park), the controversial 45 m high artwork called the wind wand designed by Len Lye, and picturesque views of Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont. [1]). It is also noted for being a coastal city with a mountain within one hour's drive away, where residents and visitors to New Plymouth can snowboard, ski, water ski and surf all in the same day.