Māngere (Māori pronunciation: [ˈmaːŋɛɾɛ]) is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand, located on mainly flat land on the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of Manukau City Centre and 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) south of the Auckland city centre.

Te Ākitai Waiohua communities in Māngere thrived in the 1840s and 1850s after the establishment of a Wesleyan Mission and extensive wheat farms, until the Invasion of the Waikato in 1863.

[3][4] The spelling of the area was inconsistent in English in the 19th century, with Māngere variously spelt Mangere, Mangerei or Mangare.

[16] Pukaki Creek formed an important part of the Waokauri / Pūkaki portage, connecting the Manukau Harbour and Tāmaki River via Papatoetoe, and was often used by Tāmaki Māori to avoid the Te Tō Waka and Karetu portages, controlled by the people who lived at Ōtāhuhu / Mount Richmond.

[18] In the early 18th century, Te Pane o Mataaho / Māngere Mountain was a major pā for the Waiohua, a confederacy of Tāmaki Māori iwi.

[20]: 63  Paramount chief Kiwi Tāmaki stayed at Māngere seasonally, when it was the time of year to hunt sharks in the Manukau Harbour.

Originally the iwi were based on Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill, but after the death of paramount chief Tūperiri (circa 1795), the Māngere Bridge area and Onehunga became permanent kāinga (settlements) for Ngāti Whātua.

The location was chosen because of the good quality soils for gardening, resources from the Manukau Harbour, and the area acting as a junction for surrounding trade routes.

[24] When the Waiohua people began to re-establish themselves in the Tāmaki Makaurau area in the latter 18th century, most settled around the Manukau Harbour and South Auckland.

[25] By the 19th Century, most Tāmaki Māori peoples moved away from fortified pā and favoured kāinga closer to resources and transport routes.

[3] In the 1820s and early 1830s, the threat of Ngāpuhi raiders from the north during the Musket Wars caused most of the Tāmaki Makaurau area to become deserted.

[24] During this period, a peace accord between Ngāpuhi and Waikato Tainui was reached through the marriage of Matire Toha, daughter of Ngāpuhi chief Rewa was married to Kati Takiwaru, the younger brother of Tainui chief Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, and they settled together on the slopes of Māngere Mountain.

[20]: 67  Ngāti Whātua returned to the Māngere-Onehunga area by the mid-1830s,[24] re-establishing a pā on Māngere Mountain called Whakarongo.

[5] Until the 1860s, the Māori population of the Manukau Harbour and Waikato areas produced goods to sell or barter at the port of Onehunga.

Most people refused due to strong links to Tainui, leaving for the south before the Government's Invasion of the Waikato.

Six men remained in the Māngere area, in order to tend to the farms and for ahi kā (land rights through continued occupation).

[20]: 68 [33]: 4  Lieutenant-Colonel Marmaduke Nixon, who settled on the shores of Pukaki Creek in the 1850s, arrested his neighbour, the Te Ākitai Waiohua rangatira Ihaka Takanini, who later died on Rakino Island.

[38][5] Māngere East began to develop as a suburban area after the opening of the Otahuhu Railway Workshops in the late 1920s.

[5] The Pukaki Lagoon was drained and used as a speedway from 1928 until World War II, and by the 1950s Croatian immigrant Andrew Fistonich established the first vineyards in the area, which later grew to become Villa Maria Estates.

The residents of Māngere elect members of the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board, as well as two councillors from the Manukau ward to sit on the Auckland Council.

The Mangere East Hawks rugby league club is based in Māngere at the Walter Massey Park.

The Manukau Rovers RFC rugby union club is also based in Māngere and competes in the Auckland Premier Competition.

[67][68] Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Māngere is a Māori-language area school (years 1–13) with a roll of 327 students.