The Bay of Plenty Region, often abbreviated to BOP, is a region in the North Island of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name. The bay was named by James Cook after he noticed the abundant food supplies at several Māori villages there, in stark contrast to the earlier observations he had made in Poverty Bay.
Bay of Plenty farmlands
Satellite photo of the Bay of Plenty (top half of image)
Geothermal activity at Whakarewarewa
The Port of Tauranga is the largest port in the country by cargo volume.
Māori, or te reo Māori, commonly shortened to te reo, is an Eastern Polynesian language and the indigenous language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. A member of the Austronesian language family, it is closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian. The Maori Language Act 1987 gave the language recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages alongside New Zealand Sign Language which was added as an Official language in New Zealand in 2006. There are several regional dialects of the language.
Prior to contact with Europeans, Māori lacked a written language or script. Written Māori now uses the Latin script, which was adopted and the spelling standardised by high-ranking Northern Māori in collaboration with English Protestant clergy in the 19th century.
Bilingual sign at railway station in Auckland, New Zealand
"First Lessons in the Maori Language", 1862, by W. L. Williams, third Bishop of Waiapu
He Taonga Te Reo – a celebration of Maori Language poster, Wellington Public Library (1995)
Bastion Point land rights activists with Māori-language signs