Hamilton

Sister cities

• Wuxi
• Chengdu
• Sacramento
• Chillán
• Saitama

History

The area now covered by the city was originally the site of several Māori villages (kāinga), including Te Parapara, Pukete, Miropiko and Kirikiriroa ("long stretch of gravel'), from which the city takes its Māori name. Local Māori were the target of raids by Ngāpuhi during the Musket Wars, and several pā sites from this period can still be found beside the Waikato River. In December 2011,, several rua, or food storage pits, were found near the Waikato River bank, close to the Waikato Museum. In 1822, Kirikiriroa Pa was briefly abandoned to escape the Musket Wars. However, by the 1830s Ngāti Wairere's principal pa was Kirikiriroa, where the missionaries, who arrived at that time, estimated 200 people lived permanently. presumably after Benjamin Ashwell established his mission near Taupiri. Between 1845 and 1855, crops such as wheat, fruit and potatoes were exported to Auckland, with up to 50 canoes serving Kirikiriroa. Imports included blankets, clothing, axes, sugar, rum, and tobacco. Magistrate Gorst, estimated that Kirikiriroa had a population of about 78 before the Invasion of Waikato via the Waikato Wars of 1863–64. The government estimated the Waikato area had a Māori population of 3,400 at the same time. After the war in the Waikato, large areas of land (1.2 Million Acres), including the area of the present city of Hamilton were confiscated by the Crown under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863. Over the next year, most of these villages were abandoned as a result of the land confiscation, also known as Raupatu. After the Invasion of the Waikato and confiscation of the invaded land, militia-settlers were recruited in Melbourne and Sydney. Hamilton was settled by the 4th Waikato Regiment Militia, led by Captain William Steele. The 1st Regiment was at…

Geography

Hamilton's geography is largely the result of successive volcanic ash falls, plus debris, which swept down the Waikato River in at least two massive floods, created by ash blocking the outlet of Lake Taupō. In its present form the landscape originated around 20,000 years ago (20 kya), after the Oruanui eruption of the Taupō Volcano. The dates given for the eruption vary. A 2007 study said it was between 22.5 and 14 kya. Another in 2004 put it 26.5 kya. After the eruption Lake Taupō rose to about above the present lake. Around 20 kya. the ash dam eroded and the lake rapidly fell some , creating massive floods. The ash they carried formed the main Hinuera Surface into an alluvial fan of volcanic ash, which extends north of Hamilton and drops about from Karapiro. The Waikato changed its course from flowing into the sea at Thames at about that time, possibly just because sediment built up. The peat lakes and bogs also formed about that time; carbon dating gives maximum ages of 22.5 to 17 kya. Due to an ice age, vegetation was slow to restabilise the ash, so dunes formed up to above the local Hinuera surface. The current Waikato valley had cut into the debris by about 12 kya. and was further modified by the 181 CE Hatepe eruption, when again Lake Taupō level fell , generating a flood, equivalent to 5 years' normal flow in just a few weeks. About 800 years ago, aggradation began raising the river bed by about . The total area of peat bog was about 655 km2. Early photos of Hamilton East show carts buried up to their axles in thick mud. Up until the 1880s it was possible to row and drag a dinghy from the city to many outlying farms to the North East. This swampy, damp environment was at the time thought to be an ideal breeding ground for the TB bacillus, which was a…

Most-observed species

• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,125
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,983
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,250
• Silver-eye

  Zosterops lateralis (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  4,073
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,766
• New Zealand Fantail

  Rhipidura fuliginosa (Sparrman, 1787) · Aves
  3,499
• European Goldfinch

  Carduelis carduelis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,407
• Tui

  Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae (J.F.Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  3,260

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2026-01-08
  9 km ESE of Tauranga, New Zealand
• M 4.4 — 2025-10-21
  2 km S of Tauranga, New Zealand
• M 4.1 — 2025-10-02
  34 km WNW of Acacia Bay, New Zealand
• M 4.3 — 2025-09-22
  9 km WNW of Maketu, New Zealand
• M 4 — 2025-09-19
  37 km SSW of Tokoroa, New Zealand
• M 4.4 — 2025-06-12
  12 km WSW of Rotorua, New Zealand