The culture of Auckland encompasses the city's artistic, culinary, literary, musical, political and social elements, and is well-known throughout the world. As New Zealand's largest city and one of the most important in the Southern Hemisphere, Auckland has a rich and dynamic cultural life and a long, multicultural history. Auckland's genesis as New Zealand's cultural heart began with the large-scale settlement of its fertile land by Ngāti Whātua and various Tainui hapū, before greater settlement by further iwi such as Ngāpuhi and the arrival of Pākehā. [1] Auckland's culture derives further from its multicultural demographics, thanks to large-scale Indian, Colombian, Venezuelan, Arab, Cook Islands Māori, Tongan, Tokelauan, British, Irish, Fijian, Chinese, Niuean, Samoan, Filipino, Khmer, and intertribal Māori immigration, among others. [2] [3] [4] From there, these communities established ethnic strongholds (e.g. historically Samoans in Grey Lynn and Ponsonby, Chinese in Howick, Indians in Papatoetoe, etc).
Auckland has a strong arts scene, with dozens of galleries, and also a well-established food culture. The city is regarded as a highly cosmopolitan and ethnically superdiverse city, [5] with the largest Polynesian population in the world.
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for ethnic pluralism, with the two terms often used interchangeably, and for cultural pluralism in which various ethnic and cultural groups exist in a single society. It can describe a mixed ethnic community area where multiple cultural traditions exist or a single country within which they do. Groups associated with an indigenous, aboriginal or autochthonous ethnic group and settler-descended ethnic groups are often the focus.
The culture of New Zealand is a synthesis of indigenous Māori, colonial British, and other cultural influences. The country's earliest inhabitants brought with them customs and language from Polynesia, and during the centuries of isolation, developed their own Māori and Moriori cultures. British colonists in the 19th century brought Western culture and had a dramatic effect on the indigenous inhabitants, spreading Western religious traditions and the English language. Over time, a distinct Pākehā or New Zealand European culture emerged.
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oceania.
Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is in South Auckland, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Pukekohe and nearby Bombay Hills form the natural southern limit of the Auckland region. Pukekohe is located within the political boundaries of the Auckland Council, following the abolition of the Franklin District Council on 1 November 2010.
Ngāpuhi is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland regions of New Zealand centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei.
Ngāti Whātua is a Māori iwi (tribe) of the lower Northland Peninsula of New Zealand's North Island. It comprises a confederation of four hapū (subtribes) interconnected both by ancestry and by association over time: Te Uri-o-Hau, Te Roroa, Te Taoū, and Ngāti Whātua-o-Ōrākei. The four hapū can act together or separately as independent tribes.
Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion, it also has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi, behind Ngāpuhi with an estimated 92,349 people according to the 2018 census. The traditional rohe or tribal area of Ngāti Porou extends from Pōtikirua and Lottin Point in the north to Te Toka-a-Taiau in the south. The Ngāti Porou iwi also comprises 58 hapū (sub-tribes) and 48 mārae.
South Auckland is one of the major geographical regions of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. The area is south of the Auckland isthmus, and on the eastern shores of the Manukau Harbour. The area has been populated by Tāmaki Māori since at least the 14th century, and has important archaeological sites, such as the Ōtuataua stonefield gardens at Ihumātao, and Māngere Mountain, a former pā site important to Waiohua tribes.
Māngere is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand, located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau City Centre and 15 kilometres south of the Auckland city centre. It is the location of Auckland Airport, which lies close to the harbour's edge to the south of the suburb.
New Zealand hip hop derives from the wider hip hop cultural movement originating amongst African Americans in the United States. Like the parent movement, New Zealand hip hop consists of four parts: rapping, DJing, graffiti art and breakdancing. The first element of hip hop to reach New Zealand was breakdancing, which gained notoriety after the release of the 1979 movie The Warriors. The first hip hop hit single, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang, became a hit in New Zealand when it was released there in 1980, a year after it was released in the United States. By the middle of the 1980s, breakdancing and graffiti art were established in urban areas like Wellington and Christchurch. By the early 1990s, hip hop became a part of mainstream New Zealand culture.
New Zealanders, colloquially known as Kiwis, are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common history, culture, and language. People of various ethnicities and national origins are citizens of New Zealand, governed by its nationality law.
Urban Pasifika is a New Zealand subgenre of hip hop, that developed primarily among Pasifika New Zealanders in South Auckland. Drawn from alternative hip hop and R&B influences, it was quickly blended with Pacific Island or Māori instrumentation and traditional songwriting and singing and rapping in a variety of Polynesian languages, such as Māori, Samoan, Niuean and Tongan. The genre's genesis in the 1980s blossomed into a unique, globally enrapturing cultural scene in its homeland of Auckland, especially in the next decade. Urban Pasifika is one of the most popular music genres to arise from New Zealand, and helped cement Auckland's reputation on the world stage as a major cultural centre, and the most ethnically Polynesian city in the world.
Hinduism is the second largest religion in New Zealand. It is also one of the fastest-growing religions in New Zealand. According to the 2018 census, Hindus form 2.65% of the population of New Zealand. There are about 123,534 Hindus in New Zealand.
Indian New Zealanders are persons of Indian origin or descent, living in New Zealand. The term includes Indians born in New Zealand, as well as immigrants from India, Fiji, as well as other regions of Asia, parts of Africa such as South Africa as well as East Africa, and furthermore, from other parts of the world. The term Indian New Zealander applies to any New Zealanders with one or both parents of Indian heritage. Although sometimes the Indo-Kiwi definition has been expanded to people with mixed racial parentage with one Indian parent or grandparent, this can be controversial as it generally tends to remove the ethnic heritage or identity of the foreign parent or grandparent which may be termed as insensitive to those with mixed parentage, who tend to value both their Indian and non-Indian parents and grandparents.
An ethnoburb is a suburban residential and business area with a notable cluster of a particular ethnic minority population. Although the group may not constitute the majority within the region, it is a significant amount of the population. That can greatly influence the social geography within the area because of cultural and religious traditional values exhibited. Ethnoburbs allow for ethnic minority groups to maintain their individual identity, but that may also restrict their ability to fully assimilate into mainstream culture and society.
Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed their own distinctive culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori.
West Auckland is one of the major geographical areas of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. Much of the area is dominated by the Waitākere Ranges, the eastern slopes of the Miocene era Waitākere volcano which was upraised from the ocean floor, and now one of the largest regional parks in New Zealand. The metropolitan area of West Auckland developed between the Waitākere Ranges to the west and the upper reaches of the Waitematā Harbour to the east. It covers areas such as Glen Eden, Henderson, Massey and New Lynn.
Pasifika New Zealanders are a pan-ethnic group of New Zealanders associated with, and descended from, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands outside of New Zealand itself. They form the fourth-largest ethnic grouping in the country, after European descendants, indigenous Māori, and Asian New Zealanders. Over 380,000 people identify as being of Pacific origin, representing 8% of the country's population, with the majority residing in Auckland.
Hoani Waititi Marae is an urban marae located in West Auckland, New Zealand. The marae acts as a community hub for the Urban Māori population of West Auckland, and is the site of Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi, one of the first Kura Kaupapa Māori established in New Zealand. Some of the largest annual Waitangi Day celebrations are held at the marae.
Polyfest is an annual secondary school performing arts festival celebrating Polynesian culture held in Auckland, New Zealand. It was founded in Ōtara in 1976 and is now one of the largest Polynesian festivals in the world. The festival includes a performing arts competition between secondary school students.