Editing Banks Peninsula (section)

== History ==

=== Prehistory - Māori period===
According to tradition, the first [[Māori people|Māori]] settlers of the area now known as Banks Peninsula were the [[Waitaha (South Island iwi)|Waitaha]], led by their founding ancestor [[Rākaihautū]]. The Māori name for the peninsula is Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū (The Storehouse of Rākaihautū) in recognition of his deeds and the abundance of mahinga kai (foods of the forests, sea, rivers and skies). They were followed by [[Kāti Māmoe]], and then the [[Ngāi Tahu]] [[hapū]] Ngāi Tūhaitara, who arrived in the 1730s.<ref name=teara-ngaitahu>{{cite web |url= https://teara.govt.nz/en/ngai-tahu/page-2|title= Ngāi Tahu – The move south|last= Tau|first= Te Maire|date= 1 March 2017|publisher=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand|access-date= 25 December 2020}}</ref>

===1770–1832 – Captain Cook; limited European interest; [[Te Rauparaha]] and Māori massacres===

The first European sighting of the peninsula was on 17 February 1770 by Captain [[James Cook]] and crew during Cook's first circumnavigation of New Zealand. Cook described the land as "of a circular figure ... of a very broken uneven surface and [having] more the appearance of barrenness than fertility."<ref name="Beaglehole"/> Deceived by the outline of higher land behind the peninsula, Cook mistook it for an island and named it "Banks Island" in honour of {{HMS|Endeavour||2}}{{'}}s botanist, [[Joseph Banks]].<ref name="Beaglehole">{{cite book |title =The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery, vol. I:The Voyage of the Endeavour 1768–1771 | pages=253–257 |editor=Beaglehole, J.C. |editor-link=John Cawte Beaglehole| year =1968 | publisher =Cambridge University Press | oclc=223185477}}</ref>  Distracted by a phantom sighting of land to the southeast, Cook then ordered ''Endeavour'' away to the south without exploring more closely.

In 1809, Captain Samuel Chase, in the sealer ''Pegasus'', corrected Cook's charts by determining that "Banks Island" was in fact a peninsula.<ref>{{cite book |title= Taka: a vignette life of William Tucker 1784–1817 |last= Entwisle |first= Peter | author-link=Peter Entwisle |year= 2005 |publisher=Port Daniel Press |isbn= 0-473-10098-3 |page= 49 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ELYS5ftt7NgC&q=%22The+pegasus%22+captain+samuel+chase&pg=PA49 |access-date= 19 August 2010}}</ref> His first officer, William Stewart, charted this area of the coast.<ref>{{cite journal |editor1-last=Marshall |editor1-first=Brian |title=From Sextants to Satellites: A Cartographic Time Line for New Zealand |journal=New Zealand Map Society Journal |date=2005 |issue=18 |page=9 |url=https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/2292/261/Marshall2005.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=12 February 2021 |publisher=The New Zealand Map Society |issn=0113-2458 |quote=William Stewart, on board the Pegasus, surveys ... and to affirm that Banks Peninsula is a peninsula and not an island as Cook had suggested.}}</ref> Pegasus Bay is named after their vessel.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Robert |title=Murihiku: A History of the South Island of New Zealand and the Islands Adjacent and Lying to the South, from 1642 to 1835 |date=1909 |publisher=Whitcombe & Tombs Limited |location=Wellington |page=160 |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-McNMuri-t1-body-d1-d13.html |access-date=12 February 2021 |chapter=CHAPTER XIII. — Stewart Island Exploited, 1809 and 1810}}</ref>

In 1830, the Māori settlement at [[Takapūneke]] was sacked, and the local Ngāi Tahu chief, [[Tama-i-hara-nui]] captured, by [[Ngāti Toa]] war-chief, [[Te Rauparaha]], with the assistance of the captain of the British brig ''Elizabeth,'' John Stewart.<ref name=NZH>{{cite web |url= https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-european-contact-pre-1840/captain-stewart-and-the-elizabeth|title= A frontier of chaos? Page 5 – Captain Stewart and the Elizabeth|author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=New Zealand History|access-date= 25 December 2020}}</ref> This revenge attack for the killing of several Ngāti Toa chiefs at [[Kaiapoi Pā]] in 1829. Ngāti Toa returned in 1832 to sack [[Kaiapoi Pā]] and [[Ōnawe Peninsula|Ōnawe Pā]]. It was partly as a result of these massacres that the British authorities sent [[James Busby]], as official British Resident, to New Zealand in 1832,<ref name=NZH/> and one of the factors that led to the [[Treaty of Waitangi]]. <ref>{{Cite web |date=26 May 2015 |title=Treachery started path to treaty |url=https://waateanews.com/2015/05/26/treachery-started-path-to-treaty/ |access-date=22 March 2025 |website=Waatea News}}</ref>

===1830–1848 – Whalers, the French, Britain asserts sovereignty=== 

During the 1830s, a few vagrant settlers from Britain and America lived on and near the peninsular, with some taking Māori wives.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cholmondeley |first1=Thomas |title=Ultima Thule; or, Thoughts Suggested by a Residence in New Zealand |p=8 |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Ulima+Thule%3B+or%2C+thoughts+suggested+by+a+residence+in+New+Zealand&btnG=  |date=1854}}</ref>  Several European [[whaling]] bases were established on Banks Peninsula. In 1838, Captain [[Jean François Langlois]], a French whaler, decided that [[Akaroa]] would make a good settlement to service whaling ships and made a provisional purchase of land in "the greater Banks Peninsula" from 12 [[Ngāi Tahu|Kāi Tahu]] chiefs.<ref name="history-nz.org">{{cite web|title=French colonists in Akaroa, South Island |url= http://history-nz.org/colonisation4.html |website=New Zealand in History|access-date=23 May 2018}}</ref> A deposit of commodities in the value of £6 was paid and a further £234 worth of commodities was to be paid at a later period.<ref name=MB>{{cite web |last1=Andersen |first1=Johannes C. |title=The Mission of the ''Britomart'' at Akaroa, in August, 1840 |url=http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Publications/Akaroa/MissionoftheBritomart/MissionoftheBritomart.pdf |publisher=The New Zealand Institute |access-date=23 May 2018}}</ref><ref name="history-nz.org"/> He returned to [[France]], advertised for settlers to go to New Zealand, and ceded his interest in the land to the [[Nanto-Bordelaise Company]], of which he became a part-owner. On 9 March 1840 he set sail for New Zealand with a group of French and German families aboard the ship {{ship||Comte de Paris|ship|2}}, with the intention of forming a [[French colony]] on a French South Island of New Zealand. By the time Langlois and his colonists arrived at Banks Peninsula in August 1840, many Māori had already signed the Treaty of Waitangi (the signatories including two chiefs at Akaroa in May) and New Zealand's first British Governor, [[William Hobson]], had declared British sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand. On hearing of the French plan for colonisation, Hobson quickly dispatched [[HMS Britomart (1820)|HMS ''Britomart'']] from the [[Bay of Islands]] to Akaroa with police magistrates on board.<ref name=MB>{{cite web |last1=Andersen |first1=Johannes C. |title=The Mission of the ''Britomart'' at Akaroa, in August, 1840 |url=http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Publications/Akaroa/MissionoftheBritomart/MissionoftheBritomart.pdf |publisher=The New Zealand Institute |access-date=23 May 2018}}</ref> While Langlois and his colonists sheltered from unfavourable winds at Pigeon Bay on the other side of the peninsula, the British raised their flag at Greens Point between Akaroa and Takapūneke and courts of law convened to assert British sovereignty over the South Island.<ref>{{cite web |title=A race to Akaroa? 10 August 1840 |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/french-pipped-at-akaroa-british-sovereignty-proclaimed-over-the-south-island-again |website=NZ History |access-date=18 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1-last=Anderson |author1-first=Johannes C. |title=Mission of the Britomart at Akaroa |date=1920 |publisher=  |pages=80–81 |url= https://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Publications/Akaroa/MissionoftheBritomart/}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hight |editor1-first=James |title=A HISTORY of Canterbury Volume I: To 1854. |date=1957 |publisher=Whitcombe and Tombs}}</ref>{{efn|Actions of authority are used to cement a claim of sovereignty. Here, this included the presence of a British ship in the harbour with flag raised, police officers, and the sitting of a magistrates court (however basic) in Akaroa. This was a conscious effort taken by Hobson, the NZ governor}} The French colonists arrived in Akaroa Harbour on 18 August and established a settlement centred on the present-day site of Akaroa.<ref>{{Cite book|last=King|first=Michael|title=The Penguin History of New Zealand|publisher=Penguin|year=2003|location=New Zealand|pages=170–1}}</ref> Given that the French colonists had set out for New Zealand on the assumption that they owned the land, the New Zealand authorities made a grant of 30,000 acres to the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, which ceded all rights to the peninsula for £4,500.<ref name=MB/>

===1848–1876 – The Canterbury Association and the Canterbury Province===

During the 1840s, the peninsula and the Canterbury Plains beyond were considered for colonisation, but it took until 1848 for the [[Canterbury Association]] chief surveyor, [[Joseph Thomas (surveyor)|Captain Joseph Thomas]] to survey the surrounding plains and prepare for the arrival of the [[First Four Ships|Canterbury pilgrims]] in December 1850.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021|reason=Placeholder statement that needs expanding on, including the Kemp Deed signed at Akaroa, as well as early peninsula run-holders, such as the Rhodes brothers.}}

The [[Canterbury Province]] was abolished as the clock struck midnight on 31 December 1876, ushering in the new year.{{cn|date = April 2025}}

===1877–2006 – Akaroa County and Banks Peninsula District=== 

[[Akaroa County]], which covered most of Banks Peninsula was one of the [[counties of New Zealand]] established in 1877. The council first met in [[Akaroa]] courthouse on 4 January 1877.<ref>{{Cite web|title=AKAROA COUNTY COUNCIL. AKAROA MAIL AND BANKS PENINSULA ADVERTISER, VOLUME I, ISSUE 49, 5 JANUARY 1877|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AMBPA18770105.2.9|access-date=30 January 2022|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=5 January 1877|title=AKAROA COUNTY COUNCIL. AKAROA MAIL AND BANKS PENINSULA ADVERTISER|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AMBPA18770105.2.9|access-date=30 January 2022|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}</ref> In 1880 new offices were opened at [[Duvauchelle]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=10 February 1880|title=AKAROA RAILWAY. AKAROA MAIL AND BANKS PENINSULA ADVERTISER|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AMBPA18800210.2.14|access-date=30 January 2022|website=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}</ref> An area around Lyttelton was separated off in 1902 to form Mount Herbert County.<ref>{{Cite web|date=16 April 2025 |title=Mount Herbert County Council (1902–1989) |url=https://archives.canterburystories.nz/agents/corporate_entities/337 |access-date=30 January 2022|website=Counties Archive Space}}</ref> Counties were abolished in 1989 and most of the peninsula then came within the [[Banks Peninsula District]], which was itself abolished in 2006.