The area was developed into farmland in the 1840s, and the town of Howick was established as a defensive outpost by fencibles (retired British Army soldiers) to protect Auckland.

[1][2][3][4] Sometimes suburbs of the eastern Auckland isthmus are included in the definition, such as Glen Innes, Panmure and Point England,[5][6] and the Pōhutukawa Coast.

[5][2] Other areas occasionally referred to as East Auckland include Saint Heliers,[7][8] Ellerslie,[9][10] Mission Bay,[11][12] Mount Wellington[13][14] and Remuera.

[24] Because of these eruptions, significant areas of Half Moon Bay and East Tāmaki are formed from basalt tuff and lava flows.

[26] Prior to human settlement, the area was primarily a broadleaf podocarp forest, home to tree species such as tōtara, mataī, tawa, pōhutukawa, rewarewa, māhoe and taraire.

[27] The Tāmaki Strait was visited by the Tainui migratory waka around the year 1300, and members of the crew settled around modern East Auckland and the Pōhutukawa Coast.

Tāiki settled with his followers along the eastern shores of the Tāmaki River, alongside the descendants of Huiārangi of the early iwi Te Tini ō Maruiwi.

[29] The upper reaches of the river near modern Pakuranga is traditionally known as Te Wai Mokoia, referring to Mokoikahikuwaru, a protector taniwha of the Tainui waka who is described in legends as taking up residence at the Panmure Basin.

[32] Ngāi Tai centred life in the area between the Tāmaki and Wairoa rivers, settling in an annual cycle of encampments based on what resources were seasonally available.

Volcanic soils, especially those found at Ōtara Hill and the Pakuranga Creek, were home to the most extensive stonefield gardens,[31][28] most of which have since been destroyed.

Pā sites were constricted to the east: Paparoa at Waipaparoa / Howick Beach and Tūwakamana at Cockle Bay, to protect the exposed cultivations of the area.

Not long after this time, members of Ngāitai from the Bay of Plenty who had shared ancestry with Ngāi Tai migrated to the region.

Their arrival was celebrated, and the lands near Umupuia became a shared gift for Ngāitai and Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki peoples.

[28] From the 1790s, Te Rangitāwhia was the paramount chief of Ngāi Tai, whose principal residences were at Waiārohia and to the south at Ōhuiarangi / Pigeon Mountain.

[29] After the village was attacked by Kapetaua of the related iwi Te Patukirikiri, Ngāi Tai built a smaller pā on the mountain.

[28] By the mid-18th century, Ngāti Pāoa, a Marutūāhu tribe with close relationships to Ngāi Tai, established themselves on the western shores of the river at Panmure, at Mokoia pā and the Mauināina kāinga.

[35][36] By the time missionaries Samuel Marsden and John Gare Butler visited the isthmus in 1820, there were thousands of inhabitants living along the shores of the Tāmaki River.

[39] The settlements of Mokoia, Mauināina and Te Waiārohia became tapu for Ngāti Pāoa and Ngāi Tai due to the large number of deaths, and were not resettled.

[36][28][34] In 1836, English Missionary William Thomas Fairburn brokered a land sale between Tāmaki Māori chiefs, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero and Turia of Ngāti Te Rau, covering the majority of modern-day South Auckland, East Auckland and the Pōhutukawa Coast.

[43] Fairburn established a mission at Maraetai in 1837, where he taught reading, writing and spread Christianity among Ngāi Tai and Ngāti Pāoa.

[46] The New Zealand Government began selling sections around Pakuranga in 1843,[47] some of which were farmed by Joseph Hargreaves, who bought 82 acres in 1843 and constructed the first European house in the area,[48] and by Hemi Pepene, a Ngāpuhi orphan who grew up at the Paihia Mission Station and was taken care of by the Fairburns.

It was allegedly chosen to protect Auckland against potential invasion from Marutūāhu tribes to the east, but the site was too far inland to serve this purpose.

While Māori of South Auckland such as Te Ākitai Waiohua were forced to leave, Ngāi Tai were designated as a "friendly" people by the Crown, and remained neutral in the fighting.

This caused major financial problems for the residents of Howick, as income from butter dropped and land prices plummeted.

[66] During World War II, pillboxes and defenses were built along the coastline and major roadways of the area by the Home Guard.

[71] Major suburban growth occurred in East Auckland from the 1950s to the 1970s, including the development of many new suburbs surrounding Howick and Pakuranga.

[84] In the mid-2000s, new large-scale housing subdivisions were constructed to the south, including Flat Bush, Dannemora and East Tāmaki Heights.

[71] The Pakuranga, Howick Township, Paparoa, East Tamaki and Turanga highway boards were established to administer upkeep for major arterial connections.