Tongariro National Park

Tongariro National Park, park in central North Island, New Zealand, established in 1887, the oldest national park in New Zealand and the fourth to be created anywhere in the world. It comprises a mountainous area of about 765 sq km (300 sq mi) in the Tongariro and Wanganui districts. The park takes its name from the volcano Mount Tongariro (Maori, “fire carried away”), 1,967 m (6,453 ft) high, on which some craters are still occasionally active. There are two other large volcanoes in the park—Mount Ngauruhoe, 2,291 m (7,515 ft) high, which is the most active, and Mount Ruapehu, which at 2,797 m (9,176 ft) is the highest peak in North Island and is popular with skiers—as well as three smaller volcanoes. Many of the park's mountains are forested with hardwood trees and varieties of beech. The park also contains hot springs, lakes, and waterfalls. In summer, the park is popular with climbers and walkers, and fishing also takes place.

Tongariro was the ancestral home of the people known as the Ngati Tuwharetoa, who are believed to have been the first Maori to arrive in New Zealand from Polynesia some time before the year 1300. In 1887 Te Heuheu Tukino, then chief of the Ngati Tuwharetoa, gave the three large volcanoes, long held to be sacred by his people, to the New Zealand government in order to ensure that they would be protected from development, the first example of an indigenous people seeking such protection from a modern state. The park was added to the World Heritage list of UNESCO in 1990.