Hamilton

(For other meanings, see Hamilton (disambiguation).)

Hamilton City (Kirikiriroa) is one of New Zealand's "Five Main Centres", having been promoted to the top group after its urban area's population passed that of Dunedin last century.

Straddling the Waikato River, State Highway 1, and the North Island Main Trunk Railway, Hamilton is the chief town of the fertile and populous Waikato Region.

One of its claims to fame is that protesters against apartheid stopped a rugby test against the whites-only South African team there in 1981.

Its population is 170 000.

It is named, like Dunedin, after a Scottish town.