Waikato

Waikato, regional council, northern North Island, New Zealand. It includes the mountainous Coromandel Peninsula and adjacent Hauraki Plains in the northeast; the fertile Waikato River valley in the northwest; the hills, limestone crags, and canyons of King Country in the southwest; and much of the island’s rugged central volcanic plateau and Lake Taupo, the country’s largest lake, in the southeast. The region is bordered by the Tasman Sea to the west and by the South Pacific Ocean to the east.

The Coromandel Peninsula, some 70 miles (110 km) long and about 20 miles (30 km) wide, is formed by the Coromandel Range, which rises to more than 2,900 feet (880 metres) above sea level. The mountainous peninsula is bounded by the Firth of Thames and Hauraki Gulf to the west. Its extensive forests were exploited by the British for ship timber in the second half of the 19th century. Sheep and dairy cattle are now raised in the region, which is also a resort area.

The valley of the northwestward-flowing Waikato River lies west of the Coromandel Peninsula. The valley was densely populated by Maori originally and was swampy until drained by Europeans in the 19th century. The Waikato River valley now consists mostly of lush pasturelands that support dairy and beef cattle as well as thoroughbred horses. Hamilton, located in the Waikato River valley about 70 miles (113 km) south of Auckland, is New Zealand’s largest inland city and is a noted centre of agricultural research.

King Country, which extends south of the Puniu River (an upper tributary of the Waikato), is a relatively isolated farming and timber-producing area of poor soils, forested hills and mountains, and seascapes along the Tasman Sea. To the southeast, North Island’s central plateau rises above the Rangipo Desert to three snow-clad volcanoes: Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and Ruapehu (the highest; 9,176 feet [2,797 metres]), all in Tongariro National Park. Lake Taupo, in the centre of the plateau region, covers an area of 234 square miles (606 square km) and was first seen by Europeans in the 1930s. Both the national park (which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990) and the lake are major centres of tourism; sheep rearing and timber production are also economically important. Area 9,276 square miles (24,025 square km). Pop. (2006) 382,713; (2012 est.) 416,200.