Empire City: Wellington Becomes the Capital of New Zealand
- ISBN-10
- 1776920228
- ISBN-13
- 9781776920228
- Series
- Empire City
- Category
- Wellington (N.Z.)
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2022-11-10
- Author
- John E. Martin
Description
Empire City: Wellington Becomes the Capital of New Zealand takes Wellington from the first encounter between M?ori and the New Zealand Company in Te Whanganui-a-Tara in 1839 to its becoming the Empire City by the 1870s. It tells the story that began with a small and fragile New Zealand Company P?keh? settlement relying only on whaling and racked by earthquakes. The story is how Wellington created a durable economic base and became a thriving political and commercial centre and the capital of New Zealand. With a prospering rural hinterland, an energetic mercantile community and an expanding port, and the administrative structure of central government, Wellington in the 1870s could look forward with confidence to its future as Empire City - the central nexus of the country and the local nexus of empire.Empire City brings the story of Wellington to life, from the invasions of iwi from further north in the early 1800s and uneasy coexistence of different iwi to the purchase of land by the New Zealand Company and the beginnings of P?keh? settlement. Whaling was replaced by pastoralism, the mercantile community rose to prominence, and a viable town with a polyglot population was established. The tales are wide-ranging and compelling, from politicians butting heads, to merchants prospering and others going bankrupt, to earthquakes and shipwrecks, M?ori endeavouring to keep the peace or resisting the depredations of P?keh? settlement, the impact of the military in town, the citizenry's establishment of a variety of social institutions and their enjoyment of diverse entertainments and sports, tales of the distressed and unfortunate underclass as exposed in court, and prisoners escaping from gaol.
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