Geography of the North Island
overview of the Geography of North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is 113,729 square kilometres (43,911 sq mi), making it the world's 14th-largest island. It has a population of 4,067,400 (June 2025), accounting for approximately 76% of the total residents of New Zealand.
Twelve main urban areas (half of them officially cities) are in the North Island. From north to south, they are Whangārei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Hastings, Whanganui, Palmerston North, and New Zealand's capital city Wellington, which is located at the south-west tip of the island. Wellington is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state.
Overview
During the Last Glacial Period when sea levels were over 100 metres lower than present day levels, the North and South islands were connected by a vast coastal plain which formed at the South Taranaki Bight. During this period, most of the North Island was covered in thorn scrubland and forest, while the modern-day Northland Peninsula was a subtropical rainforest. Sea levels began to rise 7,000 years ago, eventually separating the islands and linking the Cook Strait to the Tasman Sea.
Bays and coastal features
Bay of Islands
Bay of Plenty
Hauraki Gulf
Hawke Bay
Ninety Mile Beach
North Taranaki Bight
South Taranaki Bight
Lakes and rivers
Lake Taupō
Waikato River
Whanganui River
Capes and peninsulas
Coromandel Peninsula
Northland Peninsula
Cape Palliser
Cape Reinga
East Cape
North Cape
Forests and national parks
Egmont National Park
Tongariro National Park
Waipoua Kauri Forest
Whanganui National Park
and many forest parks of New Zealand
Volcanology
Mount Ruapehu
Mount Taranaki (Taranaki Maunga)
North Island Volcanic Plateau
Other
Waitomo Caves
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu
Climate
The climate of North Island is mainly temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb).
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This entry incorporates text from “Geography of the North Island” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.