Mount Taranaki
Mount Taranaki or Taranaki Maunga, also known by its former name, Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.[4][5] It is the second highest point in the North Island, after Mount Ruapehu. The 2,518-metre (8,261 ft) mountain has a secondary cone, Fanthams Peak (Māori: Panitahi), 1,966 metres (6,450 ft), on its south side.[6]
The mountain is called Taranaki in the Māori language. The Māori word tara means mountain peak, and naki is thought to come from ngaki, meaning "shining", a reference to the snow-clad winter nature of the upper slopes. It was also named Pukehaupapa and Pukeonaki by iwi who lived in the region in ancient times.[7][8]
Captain Cook named it Mount Egmont on 11 January 1770[9] after John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, a former First Lord of the Admiralty who had supported the concept of an oceanic search for Terra Australis Incognita. Cook described it as "of a prodigious height and its top cover'd with everlasting snow," surrounded by a "flat country ... which afforded a very good aspect, being clothed with wood and verdure".[10]
When the French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne saw the mountain on 25 March 1772 he named it Pic Mascarin. He was unaware of Cook's earlier visit.[11]
It appeared as Mount Egmont on maps until 29 May 1986, when the name officially became "Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont" following a decision by the Minister of Lands.[12][13] The Egmont name still applies to the national park that surrounds the peak and geologists still refer to the peak as the Egmont Volcano.[14]
As part of the treaty settlement with Ngā Iwi o Taranaki the mountain will be officially named Taranaki Maunga.[15] As of 18 July 2021, the settlement has not yet been completed.[16][17]
.jpg/440px-2015_05_17_ewr-lax-akl-wlg_018_(17862482802).jpg)
.jpg){kind=link}