Kaitaia
town in New Zealand
Kaitaia (Māori: Kaitāia) is a town in the Far North District of New Zealand, at the base of the Aupōuri Peninsula, about 160 km northwest of Whangārei. It is the last major settlement on State Highway 1. Ahipara Bay, the southern end of Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē / Ninety Mile Beach, is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west.
The main industries are forestry and tourism. The population is 6,170 as of June 2025, which makes it the second-largest town in the Far North District, after Kerikeri.
The name Kaitāia means 'ample food', kai being the Māori word for food.
The Muriwhenua are a group of six northern Māori iwi occupying the northernmost part of the North Island surrounding Kaitaia.
History and culture
Pre-European settlement
Kaitaia, originally known as Ōrongotea, was the site of 15th century Māori explorer Tamatea Urehaea's pā, Tinotino. It was here where his son, Kahungunu, ancestor of the Ngāti Kahungunu and Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki iwi, was born.
European settlement
The Kaitaia Mission Station was established between 1833 and 1834 after a series of visits by Church Missionary Society (CMS) representatives including Samuel Marsden, and at different times, Joseph Matthews and William Gilbert Puckey.
The public source identifies “Kaitaia” as town in New Zealand. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Kaitaia, town and Zealand.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Kaitaia”, the useful work is to connect “town in New Zealand” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q257417. VIAF identifies the subject as 268073054. The Library of Congress control number is n87846181. Authority coordinates are -35.112, 173.263. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025, 1833 and 1834.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Kaitaia” 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.