M?ori history
Napier has well-documented M?ori history. When the Ng?ti Kahungunu party of Taraia reached the district many centuries ago, the Whatumamoa, Rangitane and the Ng?ti Awa and elements of the Ng?ti Tara iwi existed in the nearby areas of Petane, Te Whanganui-a-Orotu and Waiohiki. Later, the Ng?ti Kahungunu became the dominant force from Poverty Bay to Wellington. They were one of the first M?ori tribes to come in contact with European settlers.
Chief Te Ahuriri cut a channel into the lagoon space at Ahuriri because the Westshore entrance had become blocked, threatening cultivations surrounding the lagoon and the fishing villages on the islands in the lagoon. The rivers were continually feeding freshwater into the area.
European settlers' history
The first European to see the future site of Napier was Captain James Cook, who sailed down the east coast in October 1769. He commented: "On each side of this bluff head is a low, narrow sand or stone beach, between these beaches and the mainland is a pretty large lake of salt water I suppose." He said the harbour entrance was at the Westshore end of the shingle beach. The site was subsequently visited and later settled by European traders, whalers and missionaries. By the 1850s, farmers and hotel-keepers arrived.
The Crown purchased the Ahuriri block (including the site of Napier) in 1851. In 1854 Alfred Domett, a futurePrime Minister of New Zealand, was appointed as the Commissioner of Crown Lands and the residentmagistrate at the village of Ahuriri. It was decided to place a planned town here, its streets and avenues were laid out, and the new town named for Sir Charles Napier, a military leader during the "Battle of Meeanee" fought in the province of Sindh, India. Mr. Domett named many streets in Napier to commemorate the colonial era of the British Indian Empire.
Napier was designated as a borough in 1874, but the development of the surrounding
