History

From violent volcanic origins to the settlement of Māori and European people, the Taupo region has deep cultural significance. Lake Taupo was created by a massive volcanic eruption around 186AD.

For Māori, the central North Island landscape is of deep cultural and spiritual significance.

In 1887, the paramount chief of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa tribe, Horonuku Te Heuheu, gave the central North Island volcanoes to the Crown for a national park.