Early exploration and place naming
When the Polynesian tūpuna | ancestors of Māori arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, they named many places. Their names for landscape features became spoken maps which were often told as a kōrero or whakapapa. Te reo Māori place names tell pūrakau | stories about ancestors, explorers, and creation.
When the Polynesian ancestors of Māori arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, they named many places. Image: Supplied.
Naming customs
Māori call the naming of places, “tapa whenua”, “whakaingoa whenua” or “whakahau whenua”.
Naming places involved 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.
Places were often named after people. Te Mata Peak and adjacent hills are believed to be the final resting place of Rongokako, grandfather of Kahungunu (founder of the Ngāti Kahungunu tribe). Called Te Mata-o-Rongokako (the face of Rongokako), from a side view of the hills it looks like he is lying down. Image: LEARNZ.
To name and claim
Naming places was an important way for Māori to record the journeys of explorers. These tūpuna | ancestors landed here in their waka from Hawaiki and named places, sometimes to claim an area. Rangatira | Chiefs often used personal tapu (sacred authority) to name a part of land after part of their body. This was known as taunaha whenua or tapatapa whenua. Naming places this way reserved land for their use and supported the tribe’s rights over it.
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.
Rākaihautū and the creation of Lake Pūkaki
Explorers
Māori oral traditions record the journeys of early explorers who walked inland claiming land for their descendants. For example, the ancestor Kahupekapeka walked from Kāwhia Harbour, naming an arch of mountains from Pirongia and Kakepuku in the west to Te Aroha in the north and Tītīraupenga in the south. This area now forms the boundary of the Tainui tribes.
Other names refer to voyaging and 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 place names
Māori often used natural features to name places and identify major landmarks. These names were used like maps. Common names included motu (island), maunga (mountain), puke (hills), whanga (harbour), and awa (river). Other descriptive words were added such as nui (big), roa (wide or long), iti (small), and tapu (sacred).
What would the following place names mean?
Moturoa
Whangaroa
Maungatapu
Awanui
Pukeiti
Do you know of any others?
Common words
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.
Words such as whanga (harbour), are common in names describing natural features. Image: LEARNZ.
