New Zealand becomes a separate British colony…
May 1841 CE
New Zealand becomes a separate British colony on May 3, 1841, with William Hobson as governor.
After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840, the new Governor of New Zealand, Hobson had chosen the area of Auckland, once a principal Maori settlement, as his new capital, and named it after George Eden, Earl of Auckland, at this time Viceroy of India.
The land on which Auckland is established had been given to the Governor by local Maori iwi Ngāti Whātua, as a sign of goodwill and in the hope that the building of a city would attract commercial and political opportunities for the iwi.
Auckland is officially declared New Zealand's capital in 1841.
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