Nelson New Zealand Nelson Mandela Nelson Rockefeller

Nelson

Urban Area	Population	57,700
Extent	from Glenduan to the Wairoa River
Unitary authority	Name	Nelson City
Population	44,400
Extent	from Rai Saddle to Stoke
See also	Tasman District

The city of Nelson stands on the eastern side of Tasman Bay at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The hinterland formed the traditional province of Nelson, now incorporated into the Tasman District. Nelson received its name in honour of the 1st Viscount Nelson. Nelson is one of the regions of New Zealand and is administered as a unitary authority.

Many people believe Nelson has the best climate in New Zealand, in that it regularly tops the national statistics for sunshine hour s, with an annual average total of over 2400 hours.

Nelson has good beaches and a sheltered harbour. The harbour entrance is protected by a natural breakwater known as Boulder Bank, which also reduces the effects of the tide on Nelson's wide beaches. This allows for some of the safest sea bathing in the country.

Nelson lies close to mountains, and to Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa in the Nelson Lakes National Park, and functions as the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park and to the Kahurangi National Park. It is a centre for both ecotourism and adventure tourism , and has a high reputation among caving enthusiasts due to several prominent cave systems around Takaka HillTakaka Hill is located in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand. It rises to 760 metres, and separates the coastal communities of Golden Bay from those of the more populous Tasman Bay to the southeast, and to most intents isolate Golden Bay fro and Mount OwenMount Owen is in the Tasman district of the South Island of New Zealand. It stands at 1875 metres above sea level. There are a number of caves in the marble karst areas on the flanks of the mountain, including New Zealand's longest cave system, Bulmer Cav.

The geographical "Centre of New Zealand" allegedly lies in Nelson; on a hilltop suspiciously convenient to the centre of the city. This supposed "centre" in fact simply marks the point deemed the "centre" for the purposes of early geographical surveys. The *true* geographical centre lies in a patch of unremarkable dense scrubScrub has a number of meanings: to rub a surface hard, especially with a brush. low lying vegetation or an area containing this vegetation. This term is commonly used in New Zealand for the early stages of a regenerating forest ( bush), sub-alpine scrub o in a forest on the Spooner Range near TapaweraTapawera is a small town in New Zealand's South Island. It is located 30 kilometres southwest of Nelson by the banks of the Motueka River. The geographic centre of New Zealand is located close to Tapawera, in the nearby Spooner Hills. Nelson, New Zealand, 35 kilometres southwest of Nelson.

Nelson serves as a centre for arts and crafts, and each year hosts popular events such as the Nelson Arts Festival , and, in previous years, the annual Wearable ArtWearable Art also known as Artwear describes the making of individually designed pieces of usually hand-made clothing as artistic expressions. Pieces may be sold and/or exhibited. Artists may use purchased finished fabrics, making them into unique garment Awards, although these have now moved to Wellington.

Nelson Province is the birthplace of Ernest Rutherford, and he attended Nelson CollegeNelson College is the oldest state secular secondary school in New Zealand founded on April 7, 1856 in Nelson, New Zealand. It is a mixed day and boarding school for boys aged 13 (Form III/Year 9) to 18 (Form VII/Year 13), and also runs a small Preparator.

The first rugby match in New Zealand took place at the Botanic Reserve in Nelson on May 14, 1870, between the Nelson Football Club and Nelson College.

The Nelson urban area, which includes the adjacent town of Richmond, has a population of approximately 50,000 - and has recently increased in population more rapidly than any other region in New Zealand.

1 Early History of Nelson

The New Zealand Company in London planned the settlement of Nelson. They intended to buy cheaply from the Maori some 200 00 acres (800 km²) which they planned to divide into one thousand lots and sell (at a considerable profit) to intending settlers. The Company earmarked future profits to finance the free passage of artisans and labourers and their families, and for the construction of public works. However by September 1841 only about one third of the lots had sold. Despite this the Colony pushed ahead.

Three ships sailed from London under the command of Captain Arthur Wakefield. Arriving in New Zealand, they discovered that the new Governor of the colony, William Hobson would not give them a free hand to purchase vast areas of land from the Maori or indeed to decide where to site the colony. However, after some delay, Hobson allowed the Company to investigate the Tasman Bay area at the north end of the South Island. The Company selected the site now occupied by Nelson City because it had the best harbour in the area. But it had a major drawback: it lacked suitable arable land; Nelson City stands right on the edge of a mountain range while the nearby Waimea Plains amount to only about 60 000 acres (243 km²), less than one third of the area required by the Company plans.

The Company purchased from the Maori for eight hundred pounds a vague and undetermined area, but including Nelson, Waimea, Motueka, Riwaka and Whakapuaka. This allowed the settlement to begin, but the lack of definition would prove the source of much future conflict. The three colony ships sailed into Nelson Haven during the first week of November 1841. When the first immigrant ships arrived three months later they found the town already laid out with streets, some wooden houses, tents and rough sheds. Within eighteen months the Company had sent out eighteen ships with 1052 men, 872 women and 1384 children. However less than ninety of the settlers had the capital to start as landowners.

Notably, the early settlement of nelson Province included a proportion of German immigrants, who arrived on the ship Sankt Pauli and formed the nucleus of the villages of Sarau ( Upper Moutere ) and Neudorf.

After a brief initial period of prosperity the inherent problems, the lack of land and the lack of capital caught up with the settlement and it entered a prolonged period of relative depression. Organised immigration ceased until the 1850s and the laborers had to accept a cut in their wages by a third. By the end of 1843 artisans and laborers began leaving Nelson and by 1846 some twenty five percent of the immigrants had moved away.

The pressure to find more arable land became intense. To the south-east of Nelson lay the wide and fertile plains of the Wairau Valley. The New Zealand Company tried to claim that they had purchased the land. The Maori owners stated quite adamantly that the Wairau Valley had not formed part of the original land sale and made it clear they would resist any attempts by the settlers to occupy the area. The Nelson settlers led by Arthur Wakefield and Henry Thompson attempted to do just that. This resulted in the Wairau Massacre (euphemistically: the Wairau affray; even more euphemistically: the Wairau Incident) wherein twenty-two settlers died. The subsequent Government enquiry exonerated the Maori and found that the Nelson settlers had no legitimate claim to any land outside Tasman Bay.

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Regions of New Zealand
North Island: Northland \| Auckland \| Waikato \| Bay of Plenty \| Gisborne* \| Hawke's Bay \| Taranaki \| Manawatu-Wanganui \| Wellington
South Island: Tasman* \| Marlborough* \| Nelson* \| West Coast \| Canterbury \| Otago \| Southland
* unitary authorities

Territorial Authorities of New Zealand
Cities:
North Shore \| Waitakere \| Auckland \| Manukau \| Hamilton \| Tauranga \| Napier \| Palmerston North \| Porirua \| Upper Hutt \| Lower Hutt \| Wellington \| Nelson* \| Christchurch \| Dunedin \| Invercargill
Districts:
North Island: \| Far North \| Whangarei \| Kaipara \| Rodney \| Papakura \| Franklin \| Thames-Coromandel \| Hauraki \| Waikato \| Matamata-Piako \| Waipa \| South Waikato \| Otorohanga \| Rotorua \| Waitomo \| Taupo \| Western Bay of Plenty \| Whakatane \| Kawerau\| Opotiki \| Gisborne* \| Wairoa \| Hastings \| Central Hawke's Bay \| New Plymouth \| Stratford \| South Taranaki \| Ruapehu \| Wanganui \| Rangitikei \| Manawatu \| Tararua \| Horowhenua \| Kapiti Coast \| Masterton \| Carterton \| South Wairarapa
South Island: Tasman * \| Marlborough* \| Buller \| Grey \| Westland \| Kaikoura \| Hurunui \| Waimakariri \| Banks Peninsula \| Selwyn\| Ashburton \| Timaru \| Mackenzie \| Waimate \| Waitaki \| Queenstown-Lakes \| Central Otago \| Clutha \| Gore \| Southland
Territory: Chatham Islands
* unitary authorities

Nelson, New Zealand Cities and towns of New Zealand

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1 Early History of Nelson

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