Evidence of human activity in the area goes as far back as 1250 AD,[2] with evidence of prolonged occupation beginning no later than 1350 AD.[3] These people in the pre-historic Māori period are believed to have been
moa-hunters, who occupied coastal caves around modern-day
Sumner.[4][5] Excavations at
Moncks Cave at
Redcliffs, and the nearby Moa Bone Point Cave (Te Ana o Hineraki), have provided valuable insights into the early Māori occupation of the area. Moncks Cave is considered to be one of the greatest archaeological finds in New Zealand.[6]
The early settlers and their descendants are known from
Ngāi Tahu tradition as the
Waitaha iwi.[7] Around
c. 1500 the
Kāti Māmoe tribe migrated south from the east coast of the North Island, and gained control of much of Canterbury.[7] They were later joined by Ngāi Tahu beginning in
c. 1600,[7] who ultimately absorbed both the Waitaha and Kāti Māmoe through a mixture of conflict and marriage.[7][8]
For these early Māori, the area of Christchurch was an important foraging ground and a seasonal settlement.[9] The nearby major Ngāi Tahu
pā at Kaiapoi was dependent on food gathered from the surrounding area, and the
marshland rivers of Christchurch (the
Avon River / Ōtākaro,
Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River and the
Styx River) were one of the richest
eel-fisheries in the country,[10] with semi-permanent eel weirs dotted along them. The
cabbage trees that grew abundantly in the marshes were used to make sugar.[10]
The most notable Māori settlements within Christchurch during the early-nineteenth century were at Pūtarikamotu[a][13] in modern-day
Riccarton,[14] and
Papanui.[8] In both cases these were located in areas of surviving tall forest.[8] In
South New Brighton there was a major Māori settlement named Te Kai-a-Te-Karoro, this was an important area that had
kelp gull presence and
mānuka scrub.[15][16] Te Ihutai (The
Avon Heathcote Estuary) was an important food source for local iwi and
hapū, the estuary providing food such as, flounder and shellfish.[17][18] The
mudflats near modern-day
Sumner, were called Ohika paruparu. Shellfish was primarily gathered there.[19]North New Brighton and the Travis Wetland were originaly called Ōruapaeroa, this area previously was rich in
eels and birdlife, numerous
whare were demolished in 1862, after an early European settler acquired the land.[20][21] Pūtarikamotu in particular was an important seasonal camp and foraging ground,[22] providing birds, eels and fish.[8] The main walking track connecting the major Ngāi Tahu settlements at Kaiapoi and
Rāpaki passed through the heart of what is today the
Christchurch Central City.[8]
A significant portion of original forest cover on the northern slopes of the Port Hills was lost to fire in the period prior to European settlement, with further areas burned on the flat land.[23]
European settlement
A whaling station was established in 1839[24] by the
Weller brothers, whalers of
Otago and
Sydney, at Oashore Bay just south of
Lake Forsyth.[25][26] The Wellers believed they had purchased much of the South Island, including
Banks Peninsula from Kōrako, an Otago chief of Ngāi Tahu.[26] On this basis, they on-sold much of the land to companies in Sydney. From the station at Oashore Bay, parties of European settlers led by James Herriott and a man known as McGillivray established themselves in what is now Christchurch, early in 1840.[27][26] They found the isolated location difficult to manage in part due to the plagues of rats that destroyed their
crops.[27][26] After one season news reached them that the Weller claim was invalid and they abandoned the holdings. These were later taken over by brothers
William and
John Deans in 1843, who had more success in becoming established in the area.[27][28][26] The Deans farm was a crucial factor in the decision of where to place the settlement of Christchurch, as it proved that the swampy ground could be farmed.[27] The Deans brothers named their farm at Pūtarikamotu Riccarton after their former parish in
Ayrshire, Scotland; they also named the river near their farm after the
Avon Water in
South Lanarkshire, which rises in the hills near to where their grandfather's farm was located.[29][30][31]
The
Canterbury Association's Chief Surveyor, Captain
Joseph Thomas, surveyed the area in 1849 and 1850. Working with his assistant,
Edward Jollie, they named the various ports and settlements in the area, and chose a simple grid pattern for the streets of Christchurch.[33][34] The
First Four Ships were chartered by the Canterbury Association and brought the first 792 of the Canterbury Pilgrims to
Lyttelton Harbour in 1850.[b] These sailing vessels were the Randolph, Charlotte Jane,
Sir George Seymour, and Cressy.[37] The journey took three to four months, and the Charlotte Jane was the first to arrive on 16 December 1850.[38] They supplied local Māori with
potatoes. A local chief (rangatira) showed a drawring of his tatoos (tā moko) to the Bishop.[39] The Canterbury Pilgrims had aspirations of building a city around a cathedral and college, on the model of
Christ Church in
Oxford.[40][41] In order to establish the city, the surrounding swamps had to be drained.
Transport between the port and the new settlement at Christchurch was a major problem for the early settlers. By December 1849, Thomas had commissioned the construction of a road from Port Cooper, later
Lyttelton, to Christchurch via Evans Pass and
Sumner.[42][43][44][45] By the time that
John Robert Godley arrived in April 1850 all of the funds for public works had been used up in constructing the road.[43][44][45] Godley ordered that all work on the road should stop, leaving the steep foot and
pack horse track that had been hastily constructed over the hill between the port and the Heathcote valley as the only land-access to the area of Christchurch.[44] This track became known as the
Bridle Path because the path was so steep that pack horses needed to be led by the
bridle.[46] Goods that were too heavy or bulky to be transported by pack horse over the Bridle Path were shipped by small sailing vessels some 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) by sea around the coast and up the
Avon Heathcote Estuary to
Ferrymead.[47][45] Overturned boats at the
Sumner bar were a frequent cause of new arrivals to the colony losing all their luggage.[48] The Sumner Road was completed in 1857, though this did not alleviate the transport problems.[49] In 1858 the provincial
superintendentWilliam Sefton Moorhouse announced that a tunnel would be dug between Lyttelton and Christchurch.[49][50] While the tunnel was under construction, New Zealand's first public railway line, the
Ferrymead Railway, opened from Ferrymead to Christchurch in 1863.[51][52] After some delays the tunnel opened at the end of 1867.[51][53][54] This was the world's first tunnel driven through the wall of an
extinct volcano,[51][55][54] and is considered to be nineteenth-century New Zealand's greatest engineering achievement.[56][57][54]
Provincial growth
Between 1853 and 1876 Christchurch was the administrative seat of the
Province of Canterbury.[58] While slow at first, growth in the town began to accelerate towards the end of the 1850s, with a period of rapid growth between 1857 and 1864.[59] Christchurch became the first city in New Zealand by
royal charter on 31 July 1856, and
Henry Harper was consecrated by the
archbishop of Canterbury as the local Anglican
bishop. He arrived in Christchurch a few months later in December 1856.[60][61] In 1862 the
Christchurch City Council was established.[62][63] By 1874, Christchurch was New Zealand's fourth-largest city with a population of 14,270 residents.[64] Between 1871 and 1876 nearly 20,000 immigrants arrived in Canterbury,[65] and through the 1880s frozen meat joined wool as a primary export.[66] The last decades of the nineteenth-century were a period of significant growth for the city, despite the national economic depression.[67] Many of the city's stone
Gothic Revival buildings by provincial architect
Benjamin Mountfort date from around this period, including
Canterbury University College,[68]ChristChurch Cathedral,[69]Canterbury Museum,[70] and the
Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings,[71] among others. Mountfort oversaw construction of a
prison on Lincon Road in 1874, which operated until 1999.[72]
Christchurch experienced a number of minor natural disasters during this period. Heavy rain caused the
Waimakariri River to flood Christchurch in February 1868.[73][74]Victoria Square (known as Market Place at the time) was left underwater with "the whole left side of the [Avon] river from Montreal-street bridge to Worcester street was all one lake, as deep as up to a horse's belly".[75][76][77] Christchurch buildings were damaged by earthquakes in
1869,
1881 and
1888.[78] The 1888 earthquake caused the highest 7.8 metres of the
Christchurch Cathedral spire to collapse, many
chimneys were broken, and the
Durham Street Methodist Church had its stonework damaged.[79][80] In November 1901,
a magnitude 6.9 earthquake, centred near
Cheviot, caused the spire on top of ChristChurch Cathedral to collapse again, but this time only the top 1.5 metres fell. On this occasion, it was rebuilt with timber and metal instead of stone.[79][81] The first
fire brigade was established in Market Square 1860.[82]
Christchurch had a steam and horse-drawn tram network as early as the 1880s.[83][84][85][86]Spreydon,
Beckenham,
Linwood,
Woolston and
New Brighton experienced rapid growth in the 1890s, which was enabled by public transport access.[87][88] The tram network expanded in 1894, providing access to the suburb of North New Brighton.[c] The tram network began to be electrified at the start of the 20th century, with the first electric tram operating in 1905.[85][86] The city started to receive a regular supply of electricity from the
Lake Coleridge hydroelectric scheme in April 1915 and, as a result, the first electric lights became operational in Christchurch in May 1915.[91][92][93]
Christchurch was heavily industrialised in the early 20th century, particularly the suburbs of
Woolston and
Addington, with Woolston housing a large amount of New Zealand's rubber industry. Many warehouses, factories and large premises of railway
workshops were built along the
Main South Line.[108][109] There was notable development of breweries,
flour mills, and light-commercial in Christchurch.[110][111] This significantly increased the population of workers in the city, which soon spread industrialisation to
Sydenham.[112] As central Christchurch grew, many cottages were demolished to make way for light-industrial and retail premises near Moorhouse Avenue as they expanded south.[113] Many churches were also built to compensate for its growing Christian population.[114] The population of Christchurch exceeded 100,000 for the first time in 1919.[115]
Mid-to-late 20th century
The intersection of High Street, Manchester Street and Lichfield Street in Christchurch, 1923. The
Victoria Clock Tower (right) was moved to the present location on
Victoria Street in 1930.
Despite the central city remaining relatively unchanged between 1914 and 1960,[116] Christchurch grew rapidly during the 20th century in part due to the construction of many
state houses. The earliest state houses were built in Sydenham in the 1900s, to house workers that were employed in nearby factories, with more houses built in 1909 near the Addington Railway Workshops.[117] The building programme continued during the middle years of the century.
The first public radio service in Christchurch —
3YA — was established in 1926;[118][119] New Zealand's first live sports radio broadcast was made from Christchurch later that year.[120][121][119] The first set of traffic lights was installed in Christchurch in 1930 at the intersection of Cashel and
Colombo Streets.[122] During the
Great Depression, Christchurch along with all of the major centres experienced widespread unemployment. Union demonstrations — most notably organised by the
Tramways Union — resulted in violence with police on several occasions.[123] The local economy bounced back during the later half of the 1930s in part thanks to textile and food exports.[124] Despite the economic downturn, in 1932 the private
New Regent Street development was opened by
Dan Sullivan. This was an entire street of terrace shops designed in the
Spanish Mission style.[125][126][127]
In November 1947, a basement fire at the
Ballantynes department store on the corner of Cashel and Colombo Streets unexpectedly burned out of control, resulting in New Zealand's
worst fire disaster. Despite being initially thought to be under control, the fire suddenly spread to the upper floors and consumed the entire building within minutes. The speed of the fire trapped 41 staff members on the upper floor, all of which were killed. The department store was actually a combination of seven or eight different buildings, joined together to form a "perplexing maze"[136] with no sprinklers or alarm system.[137] A subsequent
Royal commission of enquiry resulted in changes to the building code to improve fire safety.[138][139] Thousands of mourners, including the Prime Minister, attended a mass funeral in the aftermath.[136][140]
In 1954
Elizabeth II visited Christchurch, becoming the first and only reigning monarch to visit the city.[141] Later that year the
Parker–Hulme murder case grabbed headlines, with the youth of the murderers shocking the public.[142] The case was later adapted by
Peter Jackson into the 1994 film Heavenly Creatures, which was also filmed in Christchurch. The last electric tram route closed in 1956;[143] this would later be revived in the mid 1990s as a tourist attraction. In November 1957, a
Bristol Freighter crashed into the Russley Golf Course, killing the two crew and two passengers on board.[144][145] In December 1957, Christchurch was affected by a one in 100 year flooding event, with the
Waimakariri River bursting its stop banks near the suburb of Belfast.[146][147][148]
During the 1960s Christchurch experienced
urban sprawl, with much of the retail business of the central city moving out to urban
shopping malls. These typically included large
car parking areas to suit the growing shift towards personal car ownership, and away from public transport.[149][150]Hornby became a significant industrial suburb in the 1960s, with industrial and residential premises expanding westwards.[151] The
Lyttelton road tunnel between Lyttelton and Christchurch was opened in 1964.[152] Television broadcasts began in Christchurch on 1 June 1961 with the launch of channel CHTV3, making Christchurch the second New Zealand city to receive regular television broadcasts.[153] The channel initially broadcast from a 10-kilowatt transmitter atop the
Gloucester Street studios until it switched to the newly built 100-kilowatt
Sugarloaf transmitter in the Port Hills on 28 August 1965.[154][155] In 1969, the one-way system running through central Christchurch was established. The first two streets to be made one-way were Lichfield and St Asaph streets. They were followed by Barbadoes, Madras, Salisbury and Kilmore streets.[156]A police station opened in 1973 on Hereford street, it was imploded and demolished in 2015.[157][158]
The
Al-Noor Mosque was opened in 1985, this being the second in the country.[161] Christchurch had a small Muslim community at the time,[162] but then grew after small groups of
Iraqis and
Iranians settled in the city.[163] Christchurch saw an increasing number of immigrants in the 1990s, increasing its ethnic diversity. Most immigrants were Asian, most prominently settling in
Avonhead.[163]
Christchurch had its own regional television station
Canterbury Television. CTV was first formed in 1991 and ceased broadcasting on 16 December 2016. Christchurch was hit by
the biggest snowstorm in 30 years in August 1992, which left snow up to a foot deep in some parts of Christchurch.[164] In the wider Canterbury area, more than one million sheep had died as a result of the snow and cold conditions.[165][166]
On Saturday, 4 September 2010,
a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Christchurch and the central Canterbury region at 4:35 am. With its epicentre near
Darfield, west of the city at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi), it caused widespread damage to the city and minor injuries, but no direct fatalities.[168][169]
Nearly six months later, on Tuesday 22 February 2011,
a second earthquake measuring magnitude 6.3 struck the city at 12:51 pm. Its epicentre was located closer to the city, near Lyttelton, at a depth of 5 km (3 mi).[170]
Although lower on the
moment magnitude scale than the previous earthquake, the intensity and violence of the ground shaking was measured to be
IX (Violent), among the strongest ever recorded globally in an urban area, which killed 185 people.[171][172][173] The city's
ChristChurch Cathedral was severely damaged and lost its spire.[174][175] The collapse of the
CTV Building resulted in the majority of fatalities. Widespread damage across Christchurch resulted in the loss of homes, major buildings and infrastructure. Significant
liquefaction affected the eastern suburbs, and the total cost to insurers of rebuilding has been estimated at NZ$20–30 billion.[176][177]
There were continuing aftershocks for some time, with 4,558 above a magnitude 3.0 recorded in the Canterbury region from 4 September 2010 to 3 September 2014.[178] Particularly large events on 13 June 2011,[179] 23 December 2011,[180][181][182] and 2 January 2012,[183] caused further damage and minor injuries, but no further deaths. By September 2013, over 1500 buildings in the city had been demolished or partly demolished.[184]
2017 bushfires
On 13 February 2017,
two bush fires started on the
Port Hills. These merged over the next two days and the single very large wildfire extended down both sides of the Port Hill almost reaching
Governors Bay in the south-west, and the
Westmorland,
Kennedys Bush, and Dyers Pass Road almost down to the
Sign of the Takahe. Eleven houses were destroyed by fire, over one thousand residents were evacuated from their homes, and over 2,076 hectares (5,130 acres) of land was burned.[185]
^Often spelled "Pūtaringamotu" or uncommonly, "Potoringamotu".[11][12] The spelling with the
Kāi Tahu dialect remains the primary Māori spelling.
^Lyttelton Harbour was known as Port Cooper when the four ships arrived. This name is no longer in common use.[35] Since 1998 it has been gazetted with a dual English-Māori name, Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō.[36]
^The suburb was known as North Beach at the time,[89] North New Brighton became an official name in 1953.[90]
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