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Story: Waikato region

Kahupeka

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Kahupeka

Kahupeka was a Tainui woman who travelled around the Waikato region after the death of her husband. She named many landscape features, including Pirongia and Te Aroha mountains. This image by Cliff Whiting shows her naming the land.

Using this item

New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa

Reference: He korero purakau mo nga taunahanahatanga a nga tupuna: place names of the ancestors, a Maori oral history atlas. Wellington: New Zealand Geographic Board, 1990.

by Cliff Whiting

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How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, Waikato region – Māori settlement, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/27068/kahupeka (accessed 20 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 26 May 2010, updated 1 July 2015.