Cambridge (Māori: Kemureti)[3] is a town in the Waipā District of the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand.

Situated 24 kilometres (15 mi) southeast of Hamilton, on the banks of the Waikato River, Cambridge is known as "The Town of Trees & Champions".

[7] In the 1850s missionaries and farmers from Britain settled in the area and introduced modern farming practices to local Maori, helping them set up two flour mills and importing grinding wheels from England and France.

[8] During the 1850s, wheat was a profitable crop but when merchants in Auckland began purchasing cheaper grain from Australia the market went into decline.

[23] Cambridge's main sources of employment and income come from dairy farming, tourism, the equine industry and sport.

[27] Cambridge lies adjacent to State Highway 1, which connects the town with Hamilton in the northwest and Tauranga, Rotorua and Taupō in the southeast.

Prior to the Waikato Expressway extension opening in December 2015, SH 1 ran through the centre of Cambridge, though in 1985 it had been diverted from the main shopping street, to run via Carters Flat.

[29] A public bus service connects Cambridge with central Hamilton via Tamahere and Waikato University several times daily.

[33] Cambridge and nearby Lake Karapiro have become the homes for national sports organisations such as cycling (track, road, mountain biking and BMX), rowing, triathlon and as high performance centres for kayaking and canoeing.

The 60 km (37 mi) Te Awa River Ride,[37] from Ngāruawāhia to Karapiro, is planned to be fully open by the end of 2021.

[40] Internationally known thoroughbred studs in the area include: Lake Karapiro, recognised as one of the premium rowing lakes in the world, is close by, producing several world rowing champions, notably Rob Waddell, Robbie Manson, the Evers-Swindell twins, Georgina and Caroline, Mahé Drysdale and James Dallinger.

More than 120,000 visitors attend the National Agricultural Fieldays[43] every year at the Mystery Creek Events Centre between Cambridge and Hamilton.

Every summer, Lake Karapiro hosts the Waka Ama Sprint National Championships and the hydroplane racing as part of the New Zealand Grand Prix Circuit.

[68] Past or present residents include: Cambridge was also the birthplace of All Black Sir Colin Meads KNZM MBE; George Albert Tuck (1884–1981), a notable New Zealand builder, soldier and diarist; artist Frances Irwin Hunt 1890–1981) and educationalist Blanche Eleanor Carnachan, MBE, (1871–1954).