Mount Taranaki is the second highest mountain in the North Island, and the dominant geographical feature of the region.

[12] The way the land mass projects into the Tasman Sea with northerly, westerly and southerly exposures, results in many excellent surfing and windsurfing locations, some of them considered world-class.

[20] In March 1828 Richard "Dicky" Barrett (1807–47) set up a trading post at Ngamotu (present-day New Plymouth).

[21] Barrett and his companions, who were armed with muskets and cannon, were welcomed by the Āti Awa tribe for assisting in their continuing wars with Waikato Māori.

In late 1839 Barrett returned to Taranaki to act as a purchasing agent for the New Zealand Company, which had begun on-selling the land to prospective settlers in England with the expectation of securing its title.

Barrett claimed to have negotiated the purchase of an area extending from Mokau to Cape Egmont, and inland to the upper reaches of the Whanganui River including Mt Taranaki.

Organised European settlement at New Plymouth gathered pace with the arrival of the William Bryan in March 1841.

European expansion beyond New Plymouth, however, was prevented by Māori opposition to selling their land, a sentiment that deepened as links strengthened with the King Movement.

Although the pressure for the sale of the Waitara block resulted from the colonists' hunger for land in Taranaki, the greater issue fuelling the conflict was the Government's desire to impose British administration, law and civilisation on the Māori.

[22] The war was fought by more than 3,500 imperial troops as well as volunteer soldiers and militia against Māori forces that fluctuated from a few hundred and to 1,500.

An uneasy truce was negotiated a year later, only to be broken in April 1863 as tensions over land occupation boiled over again.

[24] The present main highway on the inland side of Mount Taranaki follows the path taken by the colonial forces under Major General Trevor Chute as they marched, with great difficulty, from Patea to New Plymouth in 1866.

A decade later, spiritual leader Te Whiti o Rongomai, based at Parihaka, launched a campaign of passive resistance against government land confiscation, which culminated in a raid by colonial troops on 5 November 1881.

The confiscations, subsequently acknowledged by the New Zealand Government as unjust and illegal,[25] began in 1865 and soon included the entire Taranaki district.

Towns including Normanby, Hāwera and Carlyle (Patea) were established on land confiscated as military settlements.

The cows produced 185,320 tonnes of milk solids, worth $1,334 million at the national average farmgate price ($7.20 per kg).

It provides heat, energy and hot water supply for over 245,000 New Zealand households as well as more than 10,000 commercial users such as restaurants, hotels, greenhouses and hospitals.

The single biggest user of natural gas is Methanex, also based in Taranaki, who use it as a feedstock to produce methanol for export.

The region is renowned for its world class engineering design and project management skills, which tackles on and off shore fabrication and construction.

Chairs Taranaki's landscape and the mountain's supposed resemblance to Mount Fuji led it to be selected as the location for The Last Samurai, a motion picture set in 19th-century Japan.

It includes one career (full time) brigade based at New Plymouth Central Fire Station and is staffed by two crews (8 firefighters) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and responds, not only to the city, but to surrounding volunteer brigades in satellite towns if needed.

Throughout the region, they have six emergency ambulances, two rapid response vehicles (one crewed by a critical care paramedic) and two operational managers during the day.

It serves as a critical service for missions relating to the region's mountain and steep inland hill country and marine areas.