Nelson (Māori: Whakatū) is a consolidated city and unitary authority on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand.

[10] Raids from northern tribes in the 1820s, led by Te Rauparaha and his Ngāti Toa, soon decimated the local population and quickly displaced them.

The company earmarked profits to finance the free passage of artisans and labourers, with their families, and for the construction of public works.

However, after some delay, Hobson allowed the company to investigate the Tasman Bay area at the north end of the South Island.

But it had a major drawback: it lacked suitable arable land; Nelson City stands right on the edge of a mountain range while the nearby Waimea Plains amount to only about 60,000 acres (240 km2), less than one third of the area required by the Company plans.

The Company secured land from the Māori, that was not clearly defined, for £800: it included Nelson, Waimea, Motueka, Riwaka and Whakapuaka.

When the four first immigrant ships – Fifeshire, Mary-Ann, Lord Auckland and Lloyds – arrived three months later, they found the town already laid out with streets, some wooden houses, tents and rough sheds.

The early settlement of Nelson province included a proportion of German immigrants, who arrived on the ship Sankt Pauli and formed the nucleus of the villages of Sarau (Upper Moutere) and Neudorf.

The Māori owners stated adamantly that the Wairau Valley had not formed part of the original land sale, and made it clear they would resist any attempts by the settlers to occupy the area.

[18] The subsequent Government inquiry exonerated the Māori and found that the Nelson settlers had no legitimate claim to any land outside Tasman Bay.

In 1892, the Nelson Jubilee Celebration featured an official week-long programme with church services, sports, concerts, a ball and a grand display of fireworks.

The gun is now preserved as a historical relic and the Songer Tree[23] marks the site on Signal Hill of the original flagpole.

[28] However, an official poll conducted in April 2012 showed nearly three-quarters of those who voted in Richmond were opposed to the proposal, with a narrow majority in favour.

The Nelson territorial authority area is small (just 445 km2) and has four main waterways, the Whangamoa, Wakapuaka, Maitai and Roding Rivers.

Major tributaries of the Maitai River are: York and Brook Streams plus Sharland, Packer, Groom, Glen, Neds, Sclanders, Beauchamp and Mill Creeks.

Nelson has rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year and has fewer frosts due to the highly marine geography of New Zealand.

[41] Owing to the coarse nature of the underlying data (use of rectangular areas of 7.5 minutes of arc on each side), the centre calculated by Dr Reilly has quite large error margins.

[50] The Nelson economy (and that of the neighbouring Tasman District) is based on the 'big five' industries; seafood, horticulture, forestry, farming and tourism.

The other option permitted under the Local Electoral Act 2001, but not currently used in Nelson, is the Single Transferable Vote system.

[75] Several major events take place: The annual World of Wearable Art Awards was founded in Nelson in 1987 by Suzie Moncrieff.

[91] A local museum showcased winning designs alongside their collection of classic cars until the venture was forced to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[93][94][95] The tallest building in Nelson is the 40 m (130 feet) tall Rutherford Hotel located on the west edge of Trafalgar Square.

Unlike many towns and cities in New Zealand, Nelson has retained many Victorian buildings in its historic centre and the South Street area has been designated as having heritage value.

The city was connected to the newly commissioned Cobb hydroelectric power station in 1944 and to the rest of the South Island grid in 1958.

In February 2018, the approach road to the airport was flooded when the adjoining Jenkins Creek burst its banks during a storm that brought king tides and strong winds.

[112] In 2022, the NZ SeaRise programme identified Nelson airport as one area of particular vulnerability to sea level rise, with a projected subsidence of 5 millimetres (0.20 in) per year.

The following shipping companies call at Port Nelson: In the mid-1994, a group of local businessmen, fronted by local politician Owen Jennings proposed building a deep-water port featuring a one-kilometre-long wharf extending from the Boulder Bank into Tasman Bay, where giant ships could berth and manoeuvre with ease.

Known as Port Kakariki, the $97 million project was to become the hub to ship West Coast coal to Asia, as well as handling logs, which would be barged across Tasman Bay from Mapua.

The highway travels through the city and nearby town of Richmond, continuing southwest across the plains of the Wairoa and Motueka Rivers.

WildTomato was a glossy monthly lifestyle magazine, focused on the Nelson and Marlborough regions – the Top of the South Island of New Zealand.