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Taranaki, New Zealand

Taranaki
Region of New Zealand
Official logo of Taranaki
Logo
Location of Taranaki
Country New Zealand
Island North Island
Seat Stratford
Territorial authorities
Government
 • Chairperson David MacLeod
Area
 • Region 7,257 km2 (2,802 sq mi)
Population (June 2016)
 • Region 116,600
 • Density 16/km2 (42/sq mi)
Time zone NZST (UTC+12)
 • Summer (DST) NZDT (UTC+13)
Website www.trc.govt.nz
Largest groups of overseas-born residents
Nationality Population (2013)
 United Kingdom 5,328
 Australia 1,560
 South Africa 939
 Philippines 624
 India 579
 Fiji 483
 China 480
 Netherlands 441
 United States 351
 Canada 210

Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island, administered by the Taranaki Regional Council. It is named for its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki.

The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth District has over 65% of the population of Taranaki. New Plymouth is in North Taranaki along with Inglewood and Waitara. South Taranaki towns include Hawera, Stratford, Eltham and Opunake.

Since 2005, Taranaki has used the promotional brand "Like no other".

Taranaki is on the west coast of the North Island, surrounding the volcanic peak. The region has an area of 7258 km². The large bays north-west and south-west of Cape Egmont are the prosaically named North Taranaki Bight and South Taranaki Bight.

Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont, the second highest mountain in the North Island, is the dominant feature of the region. A Māori legend says that Taranaki previously lived with the Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu mountains of the central North Island but fled to its current location after a battle with Tongariro. A near-perfect cone, it last erupted in the mid-18th century. The mountain and its immediate surrounds form Egmont National Park.

Māori had called the mountain Taranaki for many centuries, and Captain James Cook renamed it Egmont after the Earl of Egmont, the recently retired First Lord of the Admiralty who had encouraged his expedition. The mountain has two alternative official names, "Mount Taranaki" and "Mount Egmont".


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