-
1000
First Inhabitants
The first people to live in the place now known as Christchurch were moa hunters, who probably arrived there as early as AD 1000 -
1500
Movement to the South island/ Te Waipounamu
North Island Māori (Ngati Māmoe and later Ngāi Tahu) arrived in Canterbury between 1500 and 1700. -
Kaiapoi Established as a central region
By 1800 the Ngāi Tūāhuriri sub-tribe of Ngāi Tahu were in control of the coast from the Hurunui River in the north to Lake Ellesmere in the south. Their largest settlement was a fortified pā at Kaiapoi. -
Tracks developed in Ōtautahi between Kaiapoi and Rāpaki
The main track between Kaiapoi and another settlement at Rāpaki followed a path between the swamps and the two rivers, Ōtākaro (Avon) and Ōpāwaho (Heathcote). One of the two remaining patches of forest or bush was at Pūtaringamotu (later Riccarton), and was an important place for food gathering (birds, eels, fish and freshwater crayfish).