Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

Name

The Maoris knew the strait as Raukawa. The origin and the meaning of the name are obscure.

The European name is, of course, after Captain Cook and it appears on the chart of 1770. It seems likely that the name for the strait was agreed upon by Cook only because he was pressed to do so by members of the Endeavour party, especially Joseph Banks.

by Thomas Ludovic Grant-Taylor, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.

Co-creator

Thomas Ludovic Grant-Taylor, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.