Southland Region

Southland (, "the last joint of the tail") is New Zealand's southernmost region. It consists mainly of the southwestern portion of the South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. It includes Southland District, Gore District and the city of Invercargill. Murihiku Southland is bordered by the culturally similar Otago to the north and east, and the West Coast in the extreme northwest. The region covers over 3.1 million hectares and spans over 3,400 km of coast. As of June 2022, Southland has a population of 102,400, making it the eleventh-most-populous New Zealand region, and the second-most sparsely populated. The earliest inhabitants of Murihiku were Māori of the Waitaha iwi, followed later by Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu, who were then followed by large amounts of predominantly Scottish settlers. By the 1830s, Kāi Tahu had built a thriving industry supplying whaling vessels, looked after whalers and settlers in need, and had begun to integrate with the settlers. The region maintains a strong cultural identity, including its own distinct dialect of English and a very strong Māori and Scottish heritage. Politically, Murihiku proper extends from Fiordland in the west past the Mataura River to the Catlins the east. Murihiku contains New Zealand's highest waterfall—the Browne Falls, and its deepest lake, Lake Hauroko. Fiordland's terrain is dominated by mountains, fiords and glacial lakes carved up by glaciations during the last ice age, between 75,000 and 15,000 years ago. The region's coast is dotted by several fiords and other sea inlets which stretch from Milford Sound in the north to Preservation Inlet to the south. Farther north and east in Fiordland lie the Darran and Eyre Mountains which are part of the block of schist that extends into neighboring Central Otago. The region is extremely rich in natural resources, with large reserves of forestry, coal, petroleum, and natural gas. History The earliest inhabitants of Murihiku (meaning "the last joint of the tail") were Māori of the Waitaha iwi, followed later by Kāti Māmoe and Kāi Tahu. Waitaha sailed on the Uruao waka, whose captain Rakaihautū named sites and carved out lakes throughout the area. The Takitimu Mountains were formed by the overturned Kāi Tahu waka Tākitimu. Descendants created networks of customary food gathering sites, travelling seasonally as needed, to support permanent and semi-permanent settlements in coastal and inland regions.