Otago

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Otago is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately 32,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi), making it the country's second largest local government region. Its population was 253,900 in June 2025. The name Otago is the local southern Māori dialect pronunciation of "Ōtākou", the name of the Māori village near the entrance to Otago Harbour. The exact meaning of the term is disputed, with common translations being 'isolated village' and 'place of red earth', the latter referring to the reddish-ochre clay that is common in the area around Dunedin. Otago is also the old name of the European settlement on the harbour, established by the Weller Brothers in 1831, which lies close to Ōtākou. The upper harbour later became the focus of the Otago Association, an offshoot of the Free Church of Scotland, notable for its adoption of the principle that ordinary people, not the landowner, should...

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