North Island

North Island , also officially named Te ika a maui) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, the other being the South Island. Several important cities are in the North Island, notably New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, and Wellington, the capital, located near the southern extremity of the island. Around 76% of New Zealand's population lives in the North Island.

Linguistic niceties

While people in other countries (e.g. on BBC News) refer to the North Island as "on North Island", to a New Zealander this sounds strange, as the North and South Islands take up so much of the country that they are more thought of as two places or regions or parts of the country rather than just islands. This means that to a South Islander someone from a small island close to the North Island is still a "North Islander" even though they're not actually from the North Island itself. (The same terminology applies to the South Island as well.) Accordingly, Kiwis refer to it using "In the North Island" - i.e. with "the" in front, and "in" is used rather than "on North Island" as would be used to refer to a smaller island.

From 2014 it can also be called as Te Ika-a-Maui. Maui's fish.