Christchurch

Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of . It is located in the Canterbury Region, near the centre of the east coast of the South Island, east of the Canterbury Plains. It is located near the southern end of Pegasus Bay, and is bounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean and to the south by the ancient volcanic complex of the Banks Peninsula. The Avon River / Ōtākaro winds through the centre of the city, with a large urban park along its banks. With the exception of the Port Hills, it is a relatively flat city, on an average about above sea level. Christchurch has a reputation for being an English city, with its architectural identity and nickname the 'Garden City' due to similarities with garden cities in England, but also has a historic Māori heritage. Christchurch has a temperate oceanic climate with regular moderate rainfall.

The area of modern-day greater Christchurch was first inhabited by the historic Māori iwi Waitaha in the mid-thirteenth century. Waitaha, who occupied the swamplands with patchworks of marshland, were invaded by Kāti Māmoe in the sixteenth century, and then were absorbed by Kāi Tahu a century later. Ōtautahi was inhabited seasonally, and a major trading centre was established at Kaiapoi Pā. British colonial settlement began in the mid-nineteenth century. The First Four Ships were chartered by the Canterbury Association and brought the Canterbury Pilgrims from Britain to Lyttelton Harbour in 1850. It became a city by letters patent on 31 July 1856, making it officially the oldest established city in New Zealand. Christchurch was heavily industrialised in the early 20th century, with the opening of the Main South Line railway and the development of state housing causing rapid growth in the city's economy and population.

Christchurch has strong cultural connections with its European elements and architectural identity. Christchurch is also home to a number of performing arts centres and academic institutions (including the University of Canterbury). Christchurch has hosted numerous international sporting events, notably the 1974 British Commonwealth Games at the purpose-built Queen Elizabeth II Park. The city has been recognised as an Antarctic gateway since 1901, and is nowadays one of the five Antarctic gateway cities hosting Antarctic support bases for several nations. Christchurch is served by the Christchurch Airport in Harewood, the country's second-busiest airport.

The city suffered a series of earthquakes from September 2010, with the most destructive occurring on 22 February 2011, in which 185 people were killed and thousands of buildings across the city suffered severe damage, with many central city buildings collapsing, leading to ongoing recovery and rebuilding projects. Christchurch later became the site of the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand history targeting two mosques on 15 March 2019.

Toponymy

The name Christchurch was adopted at the first meeting of the Canterbury Association on 27 March 1848. The reason it was chosen is not known with certainty, but it was most likely named after Christ Church, Oxford, the alma mater of some members of the association, including John Robert Godley. Christ Church college had similarities with the planned new city, including its own cathedral, the smallest in England. Many of the early colonists did not like the name, preferring instead the name Lyttelton, but the Colonists' Council resolved to stick with the name of Christchurch in 1851, because it had been used by surveyors and distinguished the settlement from the port.

The Māori name for Christchurch is , meaning . It was adopted as the Māori name in the 1930s. Ōtautahi precisely refers to a specific site by the Avon River / Ōtākaro in Central Christchurch. The site was a seasonal food-gathering place of Ngāi Tahu chief Te Pōtiki Tautahi. A different account claims the Tautahi in question was the son of the Port Levy chief Huikai. Prior to that, Ngāi Tahu generally referred to the Christchurch area as , a transcription of Christchurch in the Māori language.

History

250px|right|thumb|A Māori village on the [[Canterbury Plains with the surveyors Capt. Thomas, Heaphy, White and Torlesse on the left (sketched by William Fox in 1848).]]

Pre-city Māori activity

Prior to European occupation of the modern-day greater Christchurch area, the land was originally swampland with patchworks of marshland, grassland, scrub and some patches of tall forest of mostly kahikatea, mataī and tōtara. The inner coastal sand dunes were covered in hardier scrub bush, including akeake, taupata, tūmatakuru, ngaio, carmichaelia, and coprosma.

Evidence of human activity in the area begins in approximately 1250 AD, with evidence of prolonged occupation beginning no later than 1350 AD. These first occupants lived in coastal caves around modern-day Sumner, and hunted local species of moa. The early settlers and their descendants became known as the historic Waitaha Māori iwi. Around the Kāti Māmoe iwi migrated south from the east coast of the North Island and invaded the Christchurch basin, ultimately gaining control of much of Canterbury. Other areas of Christchurch were also important foraging grounds and a seasonal settlement. Several Māori settlements were within Christchurch during the early-nineteenth century, such as Pūtarikamotu in modern-day Riccarton, and Papanui. In both cases these were located in areas of surviving tall forest. In South New Brighton there was a major Māori settlement named Te Kai-a-Te-Karoro, an important food-gathering area to Ngāi Tūāhuriri. It had kelp gulls and mānuka scrub. Te Ihutai (The Avon Heathcote Estuary) was an important food source for local iwi and hapū with the estuary providing food such as flounder and shellfish. Kaiapoi Pā was the most important trading area, and the centre of a thriving economy. The pā was located at the nexus of the major rivers of Christchurch, the Avon River / Ōtākaro, Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River and the Styx River. It was likely the richest eel fishery in the country at that time. Sugar was produced from plantations of cabbage trees.

Early European presence and establishment of the city, 1830–1853

210px|thumb|right|[[John Deans (pioneer)|John Deans and his family were some of the early settlers in Christchurch, they settled by Riccarton Bush.]]

European settlement of the Canterbury region was largely influenced by brothers William and John Deans in 1843. The Deans farm located in Riccarton Bush was a crucial factor in the decision of where to place the settlement of Christchurch, as it proved that the swampy ground could be farmed. The Deans brothers named their farm after their former parish in Ayrshire, Scotland; they also named the river near their farm after the Avon Water in South Lanarkshire, which rises in the hills near to where their grandfather's farm was located. The First Four Ships were chartered by the Canterbury Association and brought the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton Harbour in 1850. These sailing vessels were the Randolph, Charlotte Jane, , and Cressy. The journey took three to four months, and the Charlotte Jane was the first to arrive on 16 December 1850. The Canterbury Pilgrims had aspirations of building a city around a cathedral and college, on the model of Christ Church in Oxford.

Transport between the port and the new settlement at Christchurch was a major problem for the early settlers. By December 1849, Thomas had commissioned the construction of a road from Port Cooper, later Lyttelton, to Christchurch via Evans Pass and Sumner. By the time John Robert Godley arrived in April 1850, all the funds for public works had been used up in constructing the road. Godley ordered all work on the road to stop, leaving the steep foot and pack horse track that had been hastily constructed over the hill between the port and the Heathcote valley as the only land-access to the area of Christchurch. This track became known as the Bridle Path. Goods that were too heavy or bulky to be transported by pack horse over the Bridle Path were shipped by small sailing vessels some by sea around the coast and up the Avon Heathcote Estuary to Ferrymead. Overturned boats at the Sumner bar were a frequent cause of new arrivals to the colony losing all their luggage. The Sumner Road was completed in 1857, though this did not alleviate the transport problems. In 1858 the provincial superintendent William Sefton Moorhouse announced that a tunnel would be dug between Lyttelton and Christchurch. While the tunnel was under construction, New Zealand's first public railway line, the Ferrymead Railway, opened from Ferrymead to Christchurch in 1863.

Period of the Canterbury Province, 1853–1876

thumb|left|[[Christ Church Cathedral, Christchurch|Christ Church Cathedral, with its Gothic Revival style]]

Between 1853 and 1876, Christchurch was the administrative seat of the Province of Canterbury. While slow at first, growth in the town began to accelerate towards the end of the 1850s, with a period of rapid growth between 1857 and 1864. Christchurch became the first city in New Zealand by letters patent on 31 July 1856, and Henry Harper was consecrated by the archbishop of Canterbury as the local Anglican bishop. He arrived in Christchurch a few months later in December 1856. In 1862 the Christchurch City Council was established. By 1874, Christchurch was New Zealand's fourth-largest city with a population of 14,270 residents. Between 1871 and 1876 nearly 20,000 immigrants arrived in Canterbury, and through the 1880s frozen meat joined wool as a primary export. The last decades of the nineteenth-century were a period of significant growth for the city, despite the national economic depression. Many of the city's stone Gothic Revival buildings by provincial architect Benjamin Mountfort date from around this period, including Canterbury University College, Christ Church Cathedral, Canterbury Museum, and the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings, among others. Mountfort oversaw construction of a prison on Lincon Road in 1874, which operated until 1999.

Christchurch experienced a number of minor natural disasters during this period. Heavy rain caused the Waimakariri River to flood Christchurch in February 1868. Victoria Square (known as Market Place at the time) was left underwater with "the whole left side of the [Avon] river from Montreal-street bridge to Worcester street was all one lake, as deep as up to a horse's belly". Christchurch buildings were damaged by earthquakes in 1869, 1881 and 1888. The 1888 earthquake caused the highest 7.8 metres of the Christ Church Cathedral spire to collapse, many chimneys were broken, and the Durham Street Methodist Church had its stonework damaged. In November 1901, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake, centred near Cheviot, caused the spire on top of Christ Church Cathedral to collapse again, but this time only the top 1.5 metres fell. On this occasion, it was rebuilt with timber and metal instead of stone.

thumb|First aerial photograph of Christchurch taken by [[Leslie Hinge in January 1918]]

The Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament was opened in February 1905. It was designed by Francis Petre with inspiration from the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in Paris. In 1906, the New Zealand International Exhibition opened in Hagley Park, which had over a million visitors. In 1908, the city experienced its first major fire which started at the Strange's Department Store and destroyed buildings in central Christchurch on High St, Cashel St and Lichfield Streets.

Christchurch was increasingly industrialised in the early 20th century, particularly in the suburbs of Woolston and Addington, with Woolston housing a large amount of New Zealand's rubber industry. Many warehouses, factories and large premises of railway workshops were built along the Main South Line. There was notable development of breweries, flour mills, and light-commercial in Christchurch. This significantly increased the population of workers in the city, which soon spread industrialisation to Sydenham. As central Christchurch grew, many cottages were demolished to make way for light-industrial and retail premises near Moorhouse Avenue as they expanded south.

City growth, 1876–2010

thumb|Post and Telegraph Department, Christchurch (1942)|alt=Refer to caption

Despite the central city remaining relatively unchanged between 1914 and 1960, Christchurch grew rapidly during the 20th century, in part due to the construction of many state houses. The earliest state houses were built in Sydenham in the 1900s, to house workers that were employed in nearby factories, with more houses built in 1909 near the Addington Railway Workshops. Part of this period of growth included the annexation of surrounding municipalities — in 1903 the boroughs of Linwood, St Albans, and Sydenham were annexed into Christchurch City. In 1921, two more boroughs were annexed: Spreydon and Woolston. In 1941, the New Brighton Borough was annexed and in 1945 the Sumner Borough was annexed. In 1953, an urban part of Heathcote County was incorporated into the city.

In November 1947, a basement fire at the Ballantynes department store on the corner of Cashel and Colombo Streets unexpectedly burned out of control, resulting in New Zealand's worst fire disaster. Despite being initially thought to be under control, the fire suddenly spread to the upper floors and consumed the entire building within minutes. The speed of the fire trapped 41 staff members on the upper floor, all of whom were killed. The department store was actually a combination of seven or eight different buildings, joined to form a "perplexing maze" with no sprinklers or alarm system. A subsequent Royal commission of enquiry resulted in changes to the building code to improve fire safety. Thousands of mourners, including the Prime Minister, attended a mass funeral in the aftermath. The Lyttelton road tunnel between Lyttelton and Christchurch was opened in 1964. Television broadcasts began in Christchurch on 1 June 1961 with the launch of channel CHTV3, making Christchurch the second New Zealand city to receive regular television broadcasts. The channel initially broadcast from a 10-kilowatt transmitter atop the Gloucester Street studios until it switched to the newly built 100-kilowatt Sugarloaf transmitter in the Port Hills on 28 August 1965. In 1969, the one-way system running through central Christchurch was established. The first two streets to be made one-way were Lichfield and St Asaph streets. They were followed by Barbadoes, Madras, Salisbury and Kilmore streets. A police station opened in 1973 on Hereford street, it was imploded and demolished in 2015.

Christchurch hosted the 1974 British Commonwealth Games at the purpose-built Queen Elizabeth II Park. The sports complex was open in 1973, one year before the games.

Earthquakes and beyond, 2010–present

thumb|Aftermath of the February 2011 earthquake in the city centre on Colombo Street

On Saturday, 4 September 2010, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Christchurch and the central Canterbury region at 4:35 am. With its hypocentre near Darfield, west of the city at a depth of , it caused widespread damage to the city and minor injuries, but no direct fatalities. This was followed by the Boxing Day earthquake a few months later, which occurred directly under the city centre and also caused widespread damage, but this was less severe.

On Tuesday, 22 February 2011, an earthquake measuring magnitude 6.3 struck the city at 12:51pm. Its hypocentre was located closer to the city, near Lyttelton, at a depth of . Although lower on the moment magnitude scale than the previous earthquake, the intensity and violence of the ground shaking was measured to be IX (Violent), among the strongest ever recorded globally in an urban area, which killed 185 people. On 13 June 2011 Christchurch was again rocked by two more large aftershocks. This resulted in more liquefaction and building damage, but no more lives were lost.

There were further earthquakes on 23 December 2011; the first, of magnitude 5.8, north-east of the city at a shallow depth at 1:58pm, followed by several aftershocks and another earthquake of magnitude 5.9 and similar location 80 minutes later.

Many heritage buildings have been demolished since the earthquakes, and so have most of the city's high-rise buildings. Over 8,000 homes in the residential red zones—areas deemed infeasible to rebuild on due to land damage—were either demolished or relocated. Several churches have also been demolished. The temporary replacement of Christ Church Cathedral, known as Cardboard Cathedral, opened in August 2013. Repair work of Christ Church Cathedral has been on hold since 2024.

210px|thumb|right|A view of the [[2017 Port Hills fires, in Cashmere, on 15 February.]]

On 13 February 2017, two bush fires started on the Port Hills. These later merged and the single large wildfire extended down both sides of the Port Hill almost reaching Governors Bay in the south-west. Eleven houses were destroyed by fire and over of land was burned.

On 15 March 2019, fifty-one people were killed in a mass shooting targeting two mosques. Just days after the attacks the live-streamed footage became classified as objectionable by the Chief Censor, making the footage illegal to possess and distribute within New Zealand. On 2 June 2020, the attacker pleaded guilty to multiple charges of murder, attempted murder, and terrorism. On 27 August, he was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole, the first time such a sentence was handed down in New Zealand.

In 2024, a second fire on the Port Hills burned . The fire was also started under similarly suspicious circumstances. Lessons from the 2017 fire contributed to a more effective emergency response, and the fire was more quickly contained.

Geography

thumb|right|A satellite image showing Christchurch and surrounding areas

Location

Christchurch is halfway along the east coast of the South Island, facing the South Pacific Ocean. With the exception of the Port Hills on Banks Peninsula to its south, the city sits on flat land, on average about above sea level.

Geology

The present land mass of New Zealand split from the super continent of Gondwana about 85 million years ago. Prior to that time, mudstone and hardened sandstones commonly known as greywacke was deposited and deformed by tectonic movement. Following the split from Gondwana, during the period between 80 and 23 million years ago, the land became eroded and subsided below sea level. Marine and terrestrial sediments were deposited, leaving the greywacke as the oldest and deepest layers (basement rock). About 11–6 million years ago, volcanic eruptions created the Banks Peninsula volcanic complex. Over the last two million years as the Southern Alps were rising, there were multiple periods of glaciation. Rivers flowing from the mountains carried alluvial gravels over the area that is now the Canterbury Plains, covering the underlying rock to depths of between 200 and 600 metres. Continuing tectonic movement created faults that penetrate from the greywacke rock into the layers above. These faults remain beneath Canterbury and Christchurch.

The glacial/interglacial cycles of the Quaternary Period led to multiple rises and falls in sea level. These sea level changes occurred over a period when there was also slow subsidence in the eastern coastal plains of Canterbury and Christchurch. The result has been the deposition of sequences of mostly fluvial gravel (occurring during periods of low sea level and glaciation), and fine deposits of silt, sand and clay, with some peat, shells and wood (occurring during interglacial periods when the sea level was similar to the present).

As a consequence of the flat terrain and spring-fed streams, large parts of the area now occupied by Christchurch City were originally a coastal wetland, with extensive swamp forests. Much of the forest was destroyed by fire, mostly likely by the earliest inhabitants, from around 1000 AD. When European settlers arrived in the 19th century, the area was a mixture of swamp and tussock grasslands, with only remnant patches of forest. An early European visitor was William Barnard Rhodes, captain of the barque Australian, who climbed the Port Hills from Lyttelton Harbour in September 1836 and observed a large grassy plain with two small areas of forest. He reported that "All the land that I saw was swamp and mostly covered with water". Most of the eastern, southern and northern parts of the city were wet areas when European settlement began.

Over the period since European settlement commenced, land drainage works have enabled development of land across the city. There are now only small remnants of wetland remaining, such as Riccarton Bush, Travis Wetland, Ōtukaikino wetland, and the Cashmere Valley.

Central City

thumb|Aerial view of [[Christchurch Central City in 2009]]

Christchurch Central City is defined as the area centred on Cathedral Square and within the Four Avenues (Bealey Avenue, Fitzgerald Avenue, Moorhouse Avenue and Deans Avenue). It includes Hagley Park, and the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. The design of the central city with its grid pattern of streets, city squares and parkland was laid out by 1850.

The central city was among the most heavily damaged areas of Christchurch in the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. Following the second earthquake, the Central City Red Zone was set up as an exclusion zone for public safety reasons, and many parts remained closed to the public until June 2013. A large number of heritage buildings were demolished following the earthquake, along with most of the city's high rise buildings. The Christchurch Central Recovery Plan was developed to lead the rebuild of the city centre, and featured 17 "anchor projects". There has been massive growth in the residential sector in the central city, particularly in the East Frame development.

Suburbs

210px|thumb|right|A typical residential street in a neighbourhood in Christchurch (photographed in St Albans)

There are no legal definition of the boundaries of suburbs in Christchurch. Statistics New Zealand and New Zealand Post maintain their own boundaries for their respective purposes. According to the city council, "A suburb is a reference to a general area of a city. The name of the suburb is usually derived from the name of a nearby school, post office or subdivision and is often used by businesses to divide the city into administrative areas."

The earliest suburbs of Christchurch were laid out with streets in a grid pattern, centred on Cathedral Square. Growth initially took place along the tramlines, leading to radial development. Major expansion occurred in the 1950s and 60s, with the development of large areas of state housing. Settlements that had originally been remote, such as Sumner, New Brighton, Upper Riccarton and Papanui eventually became amalgamated into the expanding city.

Satellite towns

The Christchurch functional urban area, as defined by Statistics New Zealand, covers . Towns and settlements in the functional urban area include:

• Leeston
• Lyttelton
• Governors Bay
• Diamond Harbour
• Tai Tapu
• Little River
• Lincoln
• Prebbleton
• Rolleston
• Templeton
• West Melton
• Rangiora
• Woodend
• Waikuku
• Pegasus
• Kaiapoi
• Kainga
• The Pines Beach
• Motukarara

Climate

Christchurch has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with a mild summer, cool winter, and regular moderate rainfall. It has mean daily maximum air temperatures of in January and in July. Summer in the city is mostly warm, but is often moderated by a sea breeze from the north-east. A notable feature of the weather is the nor'wester, a hot föhn wind that occasionally reaches storm force, causing widespread minor damage to property. Like many cities, Christchurch experiences an urban heat island effect; temperatures are slightly higher within the inner-city regions compared to the surrounding countryside. The highest temperature recorded in Christchurch was on 7 February 1973, however the highest for the Christchurch metropolitan area was recorded in Rangiora on the same day.

In winter, subfreezing temperatures are common, with nights falling below an average of 50 times a year at Christchurch Airport and 23 times a year in the city centre. There are on average 80 days of ground frost per year. Snowfall occurs on average three times per year, although in some years none is recorded. The lowest temperature recorded in Christchurch was in the suburb of Wigram in July 1945.

On cold winter nights, the surrounding hills, clear skies, and frosty calm conditions often combine to form a stable inversion layer above the city that traps vehicle exhausts and smoke from domestic fires to cause smog. While not as bad as smog in Los Angeles or Mexico City, Christchurch smog has often exceeded World Health Organisation recommendations for air pollution. To limit air pollution, the regional council banned the use of open fires in the city in 2006. <!-- In 2008, the council prohibited the use of woodburners more than 15 years old, while making funding available to upgrade domestic home heating systems. [It wasn't CCC that did this, but it was ECan. Or does my memory trick me?]-->

Demographics

Christchurch City covers a land area of and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km².

This is the second-most populous area administered by a single council in New Zealand, and the largest city in the South Island. The population comprises people in the Christchurch urban area, people in the Lyttelton urban area, people in the Diamond Harbour urban area, and people in rural settlements and areas.