Settlement
The earliest known settlers were M?ori who arrived in Tauranga from the Takitimu and the Mataatua waka in the 12th century.
European traders in flax were active in the Bay of Plenty during the 1830s; some were transient, others married local women and settled permanently. The first permanent trader was James Farrow, who travelled to Tauranga in 1829, obtaining flax fibre for Australian merchants in exchange for muskets and gunpowder. Farrow acquired a land area of 0.5 acres (2,000 m) on 10 January 1838 at Otumoetai P? from the chiefs Tupaea, Tangimoana and Te Omanu, the earliest authenticated land purchase in the Bay of Plenty.
During the 1820s, Henry Williams travelled to Tauranga from the Bay of Islands to obtain supplies of potatoes, pigs and flax. In 1835 a Church Missionary Society mission station was established at Tauranga by William Wade; Rev. Alfred N. Brown arrived at the CMS mission station in 1838.
In 1840, a Catholic mission station was established. Bishop Pompallier was given land within the palisades of Otumoetai P? for a church and a presbytery. The mission station closed in 1863 due to land wars in the Waikato district.
Land wars
The Tauranga Campaign took place in and around Tauranga from 21 January to 21 June 1864, during the land wars. The Battle of Gate Pa is the best known.
Under the Local Government (Tauranga City Council) Order 2003, Tauranga became legally a city for a second time, from 1 March 2004.
In August 2011, Tauranga received "ultra fast" broadband as part of the New Zealand Government's roll out
