Wellington

Māori oral tradition tells that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century. The area was initially settled by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa in the early 19th century.

Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840. Smith's plan included a series of interconnected grid plans, expanding along valleys and lower hill slopes, but without actually taking the terrain into account. The Wellington urban area, which only includes urbanised areas within Wellington City, has a population of 209,800 as of June 2025. The wider Wellington metropolitan area, including the cities of Lower Hutt, Porirua and Upper Hutt, has a population of 433,900 as of June 2025.