Editing Canterbury Region (section)

=== Colonisation  ===
In 1848, [[Edward Gibbon Wakefield]], a Briton, and [[John Robert Godley]], an [[Anglo-Irish]] aristocrat, founded the [[Canterbury Association]] to establish an [[Church of England|Anglican]] colony in the [[South Island]]. The colony was based upon theories developed by Wakefield while in prison for eloping with a woman not-of-age. Due to ties to the [[University of Oxford]], the Canterbury Association succeeded in raising sufficient funds and recruiting middle-class and upper-class settlers.<ref name="frontierofdreams">John Parker, ''Frontier of Dreams: From Treaty to Nationhood (1830–1913)'', Auckland, NZ: Scholastic (NZ) Ltd, 2005 ({{ISBN|978-1-86943-681-0}}), pp. 58–59</ref> In April 1850, a preliminary group led by Godley landed at Port Cooper – modern-day [[Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō]]<ref>{{LINZ|id=7354|name=Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō|access-date=21 October 2021}}</ref> – and established a port, housing and shops in preparation for the main body of settlers. In December 1850, the first wave of 750 settlers arrived at Lyttelton in a [[First Four Ships|fleet of four ships]].<ref name="frontierofdreams" />

Following 1850, the province's economy developed with the introduction of sheep farming. The Canterbury Region's tussock plains in particular were suitable for extensive sheep farming. Since they were highly valued by settlers for their meat and wool, there were over half a million sheep in the region by the early 1850s. By the 1860s, this figure had risen to three million.<ref name="frontierofdreams" /> During this period, the architect [[Benjamin Mountfort]] designed many civic and ecclesiastical buildings in the [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic Revival]] style.