 "Long long ago, Maui, a mischievous demigod, went fishing one day with his brothers deep in the southern ocean. Using his grandmother's jawbone for a hook, he caught a huge fish and hauled it out of the sea. His brothers were jealous and fought over the fish for tasty pieces. The fish became the North Island of New Zealand, and the landforms were created by their actions, the sea flowing into the gaps left by the hungry brothers. The resulting narrow Auckland isthmus was surrounded by water, between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea."
The iwi, or tribes, of the Auckland area descend from those who arrived in the original waka (canoes) from Hawaii about 800 years ago. They brought with them the dog and native rat and food plants such as taro, gourd, yam and kumara. Their descendents include Tainui, Hauraki and Kawerau iwi, and Ngati Whatua from the north, considered to be the official tangata whenua, (people of the land), of Auckland today.
Auckland is built on an active field of 48 volcanoes, dating back 150,000 years. The youngest, Rangitoto, blew up just 600 years ago, and stands like a guardian over the city. The isthmus, Tamaki Makaurau, was fertile with plant, tree, fish and bird life and blessed with a mild climate. Early coastal settlements show evidence of fishing and seasonal food gathering. Later, large-scale agriculture was practised and archaeological sites frequently show seashell middens and terraces for housing or gardens. There are still many tapu (sacred) places, associated with important events, ancestors and graves of these early inhabitants. The volcanic cones offer the greatest evidence of old Maori settlements and were probably developed as fortified pa during the 17th century, when intertribal conflict increased. The volcanoes remain the most distinctive feature of Auckland's landscape and, like most landforms, had great symbolic and spiritual importance to the Maori.
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