North Auckland is the region that runs about 320 km from the northern margin of the greater Auckland area to the extreme north of the country. It is a peninsula about 80 km across at its widest point, hilly and has an indented shoreline. It is now more commonly called Northland. Its major city is Whangarei.
Because of its climate and the broken shoreline with its rich marine life, the North Auckland peninsula was a region favoured by the pre-European Maori. It was also the focal point, in the Bay of Islands, for the earliest sustained contact between Pakeha and Maori, and the first European settlement was established there.