Geography The mainland part of Auckland City occupied the
Auckland isthmus, also known as the Tāmaki isthmus. The
Waitematā Harbour, which opens to the
Hauraki Gulf, separated
North Shore City from the isthmus. The
Manukau Harbour, which opens to the
Tasman Sea, separated
Manukau City from the isthmus. The distance between the two harbours is particularly narrow at each end of the isthmus. At the western end, the
Whau River, an estuarial arm of the Waitematā Harbour, comes within two kilometres of the waters of the Manukau Harbour on the west coast and marks the beginning of the
Northland Peninsula. A few kilometres to the southeast at
Ōtāhuhu, the
Tāmaki River, an arm of the Hauraki Gulf on the east coast, comes just 1200 metres from the Manukau's waters. Being part of the
Auckland volcanic field, much of the isthmus is mantled with volcanic rocks and soils, and several prominent
scoria cones dot the isthmus. Many Hauraki Gulf islands were part of Auckland City. Such islands of the inner gulf included
Rangitoto, Motutapu, Browns Island, Motuihe, Rakino, Ponui and
Waiheke, while the outer gulf islands included
Little Barrier Island,
Great Barrier and the
Mokohinau Islands.
Local government In November 1989, central government
restructured local authorities throughout New Zealand. After substantial protests and legal challenges, Auckland City was merged with eight smaller local authorities to form a new
Auckland City Council. The new Auckland City had double the population of the old. However, amalgamation, forced onto local authorities often against their will, was criticised to have led to less democracy and higher rates for the same services. A further restructuring and amalgamation brought all seven councils in the area and the
Auckland Regional Council into one "SuperCity" (
Auckland Council), starting 1 November 2010.
Demography Auckland City was the most populous local authority in the country, with a population of 450,300 at 30 June 2010. In 2010 it was made up of 188 ethnic groups, making it New Zealand's most diverse city, and slightly more diverse than in 2007, when 185 ethnic groups had been counted. In 2010, the life expectancy was 83 years for women, and 79.6 years for men, while the average age of the population was 33.4 years, with 35.9 years for the whole country. as well as 65,655 businesses, making up 13.1% of New Zealand's businesses and 16.2% of New Zealand's jobs. Over 2009 to the month of March, Auckland City's unemployment rate increased to 5.6%, compared to the overall New Zealand unemployment rate of 4.5%. In addition the city's economic output declined by 2.4%. However, over the last five years of its existence, Auckland's economic growth averaged 1.4% each year, higher than the average of the region and the nation. In 2003 three of the ten largest companies in New Zealand (
Air New Zealand,
Fletcher Building, and
Foodstuffs) were headquartered in Auckland City. Many large corporations were housed within
Auckland CBD, the central part of Auckland City. the airline moved there from the Auckland CBD in 2006. All of these cities except
Hamburg (Germany) and
Galway (Ireland) are located around the
Pacific Rim. == See also ==