First settlements

Nelson's view from "Central New Zealand".

Māori started to settle in Nelson about 1,100 years ago. There is evidence that New Zealand's first human settlements were located around the regions of Nelson and Marlborough. The oldest tribes registered in Nelson District are the iwi of Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Tumatakokiri, Ngāti Apa and Rangitane.

Northern tribal attacks in the 1820s, led by Te Rauparaha and Ngāti Toa, decimated and displaced the local population.

New Zealand Company

Christ Church Cathedral on Church Hill, Church Hill, downtown Nelson.

The New Zealand Company in London planned the settlement of Nelson. They intended to buy the Māori about 800 km², which they wanted to divide into a thousand lots and sell (with considerable profit) to the potential villagers. The Company wanted to finance with the profits the passage of artisans and workers and their families as well as the construction of public works. However, as of September 1841, only one third of the lots had been sold. Despite these circumstances, the colony could begin.

Three ships left London under Captain Arthur Wakefield. Upon their arrival in New Zealand, they discovered that the new colony governor William Hobson would not agree to his plans to buy land from Maori or decide the place of the colony. However, after some delay, Hobson allowed the Company to explore Tasman Bay at the northern end of the South Island. The Company selected the place that would occupy Nelson City, because it had the best natural port in the area. The main drawback is that it did not have arable land; Nelson sits on the edge of a mountain range and in the nearby plains of Waimea there were only about 240 km², less than one third of the area needed according to the Company's plans.

The Company obtained from Māori a vaguely determined area that included Nelson, Waimea, Motueka, Riwaka and Whakapuaka for which they paid 800 pounds. This allowed the settlements to start, but the lack of definition would be a source of new conflicts. The three boats entered the port of Nelson in the first week of November 1841. When the first four immigrant ships arrived, three months later, they encountered the city already sketched with streets, some wooden houses, tents, and sheds. These ships were called Fifeshire, Mary-Ann, Lord Auckland and・Lloyds・. Over an 18-month period, the Company sent 18 boats with 1,052 men, 872 women and 1,384 children. However, less than ninety of the residents had the capital to start as landowners.

It is worth mentioning that the first settlement in Nelson province was made by a high proportion of German immigrants, who arrived on the ship Sankt Pauli and formed the core of the towns of Sarau (Upper Moutere) and Neudorf. Most of these Germans were Lutheran Protestants, with a small group of Bavarian Catholics.

After an initial period of brief prosperity, the lack of land and capital left the settlement facing a prolonged period of relative depression. Organized immigration stopped until the 1850s and workers had to accept cuts of one-third of their wages. At the end of 1843 craftsmen and day laborers began to leave Nelson and by 1846 about 25 percent of the immigrants had left.

The pressure to find more arable land became more intense. Southeast of Nelson were the fertile plains of the Wairau Valley. The New Zealand Company stated that it had acquired the land. The Maori owners stated that the Wairau Valley had not been part of the original acquisition and made it clear that they would resist any attempt by the villagers to occupy the area. Nelson's residents, led by Arthur Wakefield and Henry Thompson, attempted to do so, resulting in the Wairau Affray clash, which killed 22 villagers. The following government investigation exonerated Maori and found that Nelson villagers had no legitimacy to claim any land outside Tasman Bay.

Nelson Province

From 1853 to 1876, when provincial governments were abolished, Nelson was the capital of Nelson province. The date of the provincial anniversary of Nelson is February 1, which is a holiday celebrated next Monday. ​

The Nelson-Tasman region is administered as two unit authorities by the Nelson Nelson City Council City Council and the adjacent Tasman District Council (Tasman District Council), which is based in Richmond 15 kilometers southwest. It is located between Marlborough, another unit authority to the east, and the West Coast Regional Council to the west.

National parks

Nelson is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with Tasman Bay on the other. The region is the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park, Kahurangi National Park, Rotoiti Lakes and Rotoroa within the Nelson Lakes National Park. It is a center of green and adventure tourism and maintains a reputation for cave lovers, thanks to the important cave systems near Takaka Hill and the Owen and Arthur Mountains, which have the largest caves explored in the southern hemisphere.

Climate

It is often said that Nelson has the best weather in New Zealand, as he is often at the forefront of national statistics on sun hours, with an annual average of more than 2,400 hours. ​

Nelson's average climate parameters
Month	Jan.	Feb.	Sea.	Apr.	May.	Jun.	July.	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. mean (°C)	10	11	13	15	17	19	20	19	17	15	13	11	15
Temp. min. mean (°C)	0	3	3	5	7	9	10	9	7	5	3	3	5
Total precipitation (mm)	78	69	68	72	75	80	82	84	88	89	83	80	948
Source: NIWA Climate Data ​ 1971 - 2000

Average climatic parameters of Nelson, New Zealand
Month	Jan.	Feb.	Sea.	Apr.	May.	Jun.	July.	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. mean (°C)	18	18	16	14	11	8	9	10	12	13	15	17	13.4
Temp. min. mean (°C)	9	8	6	4	3	-2	-1	0	2	3	5	7	3.5
Total precipitation (mm)	89	88	86	78	66	53	59	52	63	75	77	85	871
Source: Weatherbase ​ Aug 2007

Geographic Center of New Zealand

"Center of New Zealand" indicator

The Center of New Zealand is located in Nelson, ​ on a hilltop near the city center. However, this supposed "center" was simply the conventional starting point for the trigonometric topography of the South Island. The real geographic center is located in a forest on Spooners Range, near Tapawera, 22 miles southwest of Nelson: 41°30′S 172°50′E / -41,500, 172,833 (Geographical Center of New Zealand) . ​

Population

The total population of Nelson rose from 41,568 inhabitants in 2001 to 42,888 inhabitants in 2006, while the population of Tasman District rose from 41,352 inhabitants to 44,625, surpassing the population of Nelson City for the first time. ​

Statistics published by Statistics New Zealand in 2007 showed that 3774 persons born in the United Kingdom and Ireland lived in the Nelson City Council area and constituted 9.1 % of the population, [1] - the highest proportion of residents in the United Kingdom and Ireland throughout New Zealand - with another 9.5 % of foreign-born. Although Statistics New Zealand no longer statistics the number of residents born in German-speaking countries, the German Federal Embassy in Wellington has stated that there is a greater proportion of Germans in the Nelson area than anywhere else in New Zealand.

Architecture

Unlike many towns and cities in New Zealand, Nelson maintains many Victorian buildings in his historic center and there is an entire street that has been declared of historic value: South Street.

Historical buildings

Amber House.

• Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson
• Amber House
• Broadgreen House
• Cabragh House
• Chez Eelco
• Founders Park Windmill
• Isel House
• Melrose House
• Nelson Central School Renwick House
• Victorian Rose Pub
• Redwood College (Founders Park)

Museums

The Nelson region has several museums:

• The Nelson Nelson Provincial Museum Provincial Museum houses a collection of artifacts of local importance.
• The "World of Ponible Art" World of Wearable Art contains a collection of cars and works from the Ponible Art Awards.

Parks and zoo

Nelson has a large number of public parks and reserves maintained by Nelson City Council. ​

Natureland Zoo Park is a small facility near Tahunanui Beach. It's successful among children, who can approach wallaby, monkeys, flames, alpacas, pigs, otters and peacocks. There are also turtles, tropical fish and a bird. ​

The city has several sports clubs. Among the main ones are:

• Tasman United, a football franchise contesting the Football Championship.
• Nelson Cricket Association, Hawke Cup participant.
• Nelson Giants, National Basketball League team.
• Nelson Suburbs, a football club playing at the Mainland Premier League.
• Tasman Makos, Rugby Team at the National Province Championship.
• Tasman Titans, Rugby League Cup rugby team.

•   Miyazu, Kyoto, Japan
•   Huangshi, People's Republic of China
•   Eureka, California, United States of America

• Nelson Airport