North
Auckland is the region that runs about 320 km from the northern margin of
the greater Auckland area to the extreme north of the country. It is a
peninsula about 80 km across at its widest point, hilly and has an
indented shoreline. It is now more commonly called Northland. Its major
city is Whangarei.
Because
of its climate and the broken shoreline with its rich marine life, the
North Auckland peninsula was a region favoured by the pre-European Maori.
It was also the focal point, in the Bay of Islands, for the earliest
sustained contact between Pakeha and Maori, and the first European
settlement was established there.
