Banks Peninsula
Banks Peninsula is located in the Canterbury region on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, partly surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, and adjacent to the largest city in the South Island, Christchurch, which has approximately 340,000 residents. The peninsula has a land area of approximately 100,000 hectares.
History
There were three phases of Maori settlement on the peninsula. Waitaha were the earliest inhabitants, followed by Kati Mamoe. Ngai Tahu took over in the 17th century.
The first European sighting of the peninsula was by captain James Cook during his first circumnavigation of New Zealand in 1769, and he named it in honour of the Endeavour's botanist, Joseph Banks. It is famous as one of his two cartographical errors - unable to see the low plains adjoining the peninsula he charted it as an island. Distracted by a phantom sighting of land to the Southeast, he sailed away before exploring any closer and never discovered the two good harbours.
Geology
Banks Peninsula is the main volcanic feature of the South Island. Geologically, the Peninsula is the eroded remnants of two large stratovolcanoes (Lyttelton first, then Akaroa). These were formed by intraplate volcanism between approximately eleven and eight million years ago (Miocene) on a continental crust. The Peninsula formed as offshore islands, with the volcanoes reaching to about 1,500 m above sea level. Two dominant valleys formed Lyttelton and Akaroa Harbours. The Canterbury Plains formed from the erosion of the Southern Alps (an extensive and high mountain range caused by the meeting of the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates) and from the alluvial fans created by large braided rivers, and are at their widest point where they meet the hilly sub-region of Banks Peninsula. The northern and western flanks of the peninsula are covered with a layer of Loess, a layer of rather unstable fine silt deposited by the föhn winds which bluster across the plains.
Statistics
- Highest point: Mount Herbert (919m)
- Permanent population : 7600