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Story: Beach culture

Landing places – upper North Island

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Landing places – upper North Island

This map shows those beaches where the major Māori canoes landed and the sites where James Cook stepped ashore on his first voyage to New Zealand in 1769–70. Many of these places have become well known, either through the oral history traditions of Māori or through stone markers subsequently erected.

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How to cite this page

Jock Phillips, Beach culture – Travellers on the beach, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/9096/landing-places-upper-north-island (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 2 March 2009.