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Early exploration and place naming
When the Polynesian ancestors of Māori arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, they named many places. They named landscape features which helped form oral maps, often told as a kōrero or whakapapa. Māori place names tell stories of ancestors, explorers and creation myths. They helped to record history and legends before the Māori language was written down.
Naming customs
Māori call the naming of places tapa whenua, whakaingoa whenua or whakahau whenua. Naming places involved several customs, including:
- using Polynesian names
- taunaha (naming after body parts) to emphasise personal claims to land
- naming places for their landscape features
- naming places after people
- naming for historical or spiritual reasons
- naming to celebrate cultural icons.
To name and claim
Naming places was important to Māori for recording the journeys of explorers. These early arrivals landed here in their waka from Hawaiki and named places, sometimes to claim an area. Chiefs often used personal tapu (sacred authority) by naming a part of land after part of their body. This was known as taunaha whenua or tapatapa whenua. Naming in this way would reserve land for their use and support the tribe’s rights over it. Two examples are Te Kūreitanga-o-te-ihu-o-Tama-te-kapua (the bridge of Tamatekapua’s nose – a headland), and Te Rotoruanui-a-Kahumatamomoe (the great lake of Kahumatamomoe).
Stating that ancestors created the rivers, lakes and mountains of an area would strengthen tribal claims to it. For instance, the founding ancestor Rākaihautū walked the length of the South Island, digging out and naming basins as he went. These later filled with water to become the great southern lakes, while the diggings became mountain ranges.
Explorers
Māori oral traditions record the journeys of early explorers who walked inland claiming land for their descendants. An example is the ancestor Kahupekapeka who walked from Kawhia Harbour, naming an arch of mountains from Pirongia and Kakepuku in the west to Te Aroha in the north and Tītīraupenga in the south – an area that now forms the boundary of the Tainui tribes.
Other names refer to voyaging and include possessions or parts of a waka. Ngā Rā-o-Kupe (the sails of Kupe) is a rock formation at Palliser Bay. Te Kupenga-o-Taramainuku (Taramainuku’s net) is the Manukau Harbour bar and Ngā Kurī-a-Kupe (Kupe’s dogs) is in the Hokianga.
Te taiao – the natural world and placenames
Māori place names often use natural features to describe places and identify major landmarks. These were used like maps. Common names included motu (island), maunga (mountain), puke (hill), whanga (harbour) and awa (river). Other descriptive words were added such as nui (big), roa (wide or long), iti (small), tapu (sacred).
What would the following place names mean?
- Moturoa
- Whangaroa
- Maungatapu
- Awanui
- Pukeiti
- Do you know of any others?
These Māori words are common in place names:
- ao – cloud, day
- kino – bad
- manga, ma – stream
- maunga – mountain
- nui – big
- papa – flat, open, level
- puna – spring, water
- puke – hill
- wai – water
- whanga, aka – bay, bight, stretch of water.
Try the early exploration and place naming quiz.
Maps
Te Ika-a-Māui, The Land and its People
A map of Māori place and feature names in Te Ika-a-Māui North Island circa 1840. The index on the back of the map has their meanings where known, and their equivalent contemporary names, if any.
- Map of Te Ika a Maui, The Land and its People
- Index of names for Te Ika a Maui, The Land and its People
Te Waipounamu, The Land and its People
A map of Māori place and feature names in Te Waipounamu South Island circa 1840. The index on the back of the map has their meanings where known, and their equivalent contemporary names, if any.