Editing Wellington (section)

===Māori settlement===
[[File:Wellington.- Statue de Kupe Raiatea avec son épouse Te Aparangi (focus).jpg|thumb|Wellington – statue of [[Kupe]] Raiatea with his wife Te Aparangi]]
Legends recount that [[Kupe]] discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century. Before European colonisation, the area in which the city of Wellington would eventually be founded was seasonally inhabited by indigenous [[Māori people|Māori]]. The earliest date with hard evidence for human activity in New Zealand is about 1280.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Te Whanganui a Tara me ona takiwa : report on the Wellington District.|last=Waitangi Tribunal.|date=2003|publisher=Legislation Direct|isbn=186956264X|location=Wellington, N.Z.|pages=17|oclc=53261192}}</ref>

Wellington and its environs have been occupied by various Māori groups from the 12th century. The legendary Polynesian explorer Kupe, a chief from [[Hawaiki]] (the homeland of Polynesian explorers, of unconfirmed geographical location, not to be confused with [[Hawaii]]), was said to have stayed in the harbour from {{circa|925}}.<ref name="WCC_Māori_hist"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Te Whanganui a Tara me ona takiwa : report on the Wellington District.|last=Waitangi Tribunal|date=2003|publisher=Legislation Direct|isbn=186956264X|location=Wellington, N.Z.|pages=13|oclc=53261192}}</ref> A later Māori explorer, Whatonga, named the harbour ''[[Te Whanganui-a-Tara]]'' after his son Tara.<ref>Waitangi Tribunal, Te Whanganui a Tara me ona Takiwa, page 18, https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_68452530/Wai145.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122114129/https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_68452530/Wai145.pdf |date=22 January 2019 }}</ref> Before the 1820s, most of the inhabitants of the Wellington region were Whatonga's descendants.<ref>Waitangi Tribunal, Te Whanganui a Tara me ona Takiwa, page 18</ref>

At about 1820, the people living there were Ngāti Ira and other groups who traced their descent from the explorer Whatonga, including [[Rangitāne]] and [[Muaūpoko]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Te Whanganui a Tara me ona takiwa : report on the Wellington District.|last=Waitangi Tribunal|date=2003|publisher=Legislation Direct|isbn=186956264X|location=Wellington, N.Z.|oclc=53261192}}</ref> However, these groups were eventually forced out of ''Te Whanganui-a-Tara'' by a series of migrations by other [[iwi]] (Māori tribes) from the north.<ref name=":2" /> The migrating groups were [[Ngāti Toa]], which came from [[Kawhia Harbour|Kāwhia]], Ngāti Rangatahi, from near [[Taumarunui]], and [[Te Āti Awa|Te Ātiawa]], [[Ngāti Tama]], [[Ngāti Mutunga]], Taranaki and [[Ngāti Ruanui]] from [[Taranaki]]. Ngāti Mutunga later moved on to the [[Chatham Islands]]. The [[Waitangi Tribunal]] has found that at the time of the signing of the [[Treaty of Waitangi]] in 1840, Te Ātiawa, Taranaki, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Tama, and Ngāti Toa held [[mana whenua]] interests in the area, through conquest and occupation.<ref name=":2" />