Palmerston North

The official limits of the city take in rural areas to the south, north-east, north-west and west of the main urban area, extending to the Tararua Ranges and including the town of Ashhurst at the mouth of the Manawatū Gorge and the villages of Bunnythorpe and Longburn in the north and west, respectively. The city covers a land area of 395 square kilometres (98,000 acres).

The city's location was once little more than a clearing in a forest and occupied by small communities of Māori, who called it Papa-i-Oea, believed to mean "How beautiful it is". In the mid-19th century, it was settled by Europeans—originally by Scandinavians and, later, British settlers. On foundation, the British settlement was bestowed the name Palmerston, in honour of Viscount Palmerston, a former British Prime Minister.