Christchurch, known in Maori as Otautahi, is the largest city on New Zealand's South Island and the country's second-largest urban area, sitting in the Canterbury Region near Pegasus Bay. It was settled by British colonists chartered by the Canterbury Association who arrived on the First Four Ships in 1850, and it became a city by letters patent in 1856, making it the oldest formally established city in New Zealand. Known as the Garden City for its parks and architecture, Christchurch also serves as one of the world's Antarctic gateway cities, and as of June 2025 its territorial population was about 419,200.
Facts
Area (sq km) Founding Year Population Estimate Year Elevation (m) Elevation Band Climate Zone In the Other Atlases
Site Of
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Source Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch (Wikipedia)Lead [place]Quote, Lead [place]
on Barbadoes Street in central Christchurch, New Zealand.
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Source Durham Street Methodist Church (Wikipedia)Lead [place]Quote, Lead [place]
located in Christchurch, New Zealand
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Source Wikipedia: Heartland Banktier 2
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Source Wikipedia: KMD Brandstier 2
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Source High Court of New Zealand (Wikipedia)Infobox: locationQuote, Infobox: location
Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and other main centres
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Source Mainland Tactix (Wikipedia)Lead, home cityQuote, Lead, home city
Mainland Tactix are a New Zealand netball team based in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Sources
1. Christchurch (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationInfobox: area_total_km2
1,426
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch infobox, elevation_m field
elevation_m = 6
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch lead extract
The First Four Ships were chartered by the Canterbury Association and brought the Canterbury Pilgrims from Britain to Lyttelton Harbour in 1850.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch infobox (rendered), Population section, Territorial field, June 2025
Population (June 2025) Territorial 419,200
MediaWiki API prop=coordinates for Christchurch
"lat":-43.5311,"lon":172.6361,"primary":"","globe":"earth"
- In Group: Cities of Australia and New Zealand (World), Wikipedia; part-of country and UN M49 subregion
View the Source 2. GeoNames: Christchurch - GeoNames
GeoNamescities500 record 2192362
-43.53333 172.63333 P PPLA NZ E9 060 419200 14 Pacific/Auckland
Place record, elevation
Elevation ca. 14 m
View the Source 3. Koeppen-Geiger map (Kottek et al., University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna): World Map of the Koeppen-Geiger Climate Classification, present climate data
Koeppen-Geiger map (Kottek et al., University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna)Koeppen-Geiger-ASCII.txt grid cell -43.75, 172.75Quote, Koeppen-Geiger-ASCII.txt grid cell -43.75, 172.75
-43.75 172.75 Cfb
Wikidata: Christchurch
Wikidata Q79990, class allow-list match verified against P17/real-world identity (w-geo-qidcite-0926).View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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