Before the new settlement of New Plymouth began to be planned it had been home for many years to several families from hapuu of Te Atiawa.
By 1840 there was cleared and cultivated land for several kilometers back from the coast wherever the land would support crops. And there were a number of villages scattered across the area which later became the city.
Prominent among these was Puke Ariki, where the building of that name now stands. On the opposite bank of the Huatoki Stream was another settlement, Kawau, where the Centre City shopping centre is now.
There were several villages around the mouth of the Henui River, and more scattered along its banks further inland.
On the higher ground between the two rivers there were a couple of villages within the Pukekura Park area, and west of the Huatoki a village on what the Europeans named Marsland Hill.
A further village, called Wharepapa stood on the hill known now as Fort Niger, and several others between there and the bends in the Henui River to the southeast.
Some of these are marked now with signs or information boards; I believe it is important for present city-dwellers to try to imagine just what the area looked and felt like before1841.
Fortunately there are materials at Puke Ariki to help us to do that. The map above is a good start.
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