Otago

Otago (pronounced /ɵˈtɑːɡoʊ/, local pronunciation: [ətaːɡɐʉ]( listen)) is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. It has an area of approximately 32,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi) making it the country's second largest region. It has a population of 203,500 from the June 2008 estimate. The name "Otago" is an old southern Maori word whose North Island dialect equivalent is "Otakou", introduced to the south by Europeans in t... more

Otago (pronounced /ɵˈtɑːɡoʊ/, local pronunciation: [ətaːɡɐʉ]( listen)) is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. It has an area of approximately 32,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi) making it the country's second largest region. It has a population of 203,500 from the June 2008 estimate. The name "Otago" is an old southern Maori word whose North Island dialect equivalent is "Otakou", introduced to the south by Europeans in the 1840s. "Otago" is also the old name of the European settlement on the Otago Harbour, established by the Weller Brothers in 1831.The place later became the focus of the Otago Association, an offshoot of the Free Church of Scotland, notable for its high-minded adoption of the principle that ordinary people, not the landowner, should choose the ministers. Major centres of what is now the Otago Region of the old province include Dunedin (the principal city of the region), Oamaru (made famous by Janet Frame), Balclutha, Alexandra, and the major... less