毛利人有点无礼地命名 奥克兰 "Tamaki Makau Rau", or "maiden with a hundred lovers". 在这个数字之上，它还可以再吹嘘几百万, since its development into the country's largest city and, 可以说, 它的文化和艺术之都. 

Legend has it that 奥克兰's famous volcanoes came into being as a result of a Romeo and Juliet-esque story of two lovers from rival Maori tribes, whose angry families stole the magic of the earth guardian, Mataaho, 互相发动战争. 为他们的背叛报仇, 玛塔霍和他的兄弟, Ruaumoko, opened up the earth and threw both families into hell, closing up the chasm in a firestorm of rocks and smoke, until all that was left was the volcanic field we see today.

It was the European settlers, many centuries later, however, who added yet more magic to the city. The most famous of these was probably John Logan Campbell, 和朋友一起上岸的苏格兰人, 威廉•布朗, at Commercial Bay (around modern day Swanson Street), in 1840.

只有22岁, Campbell was the first European to settle in 奥克兰, 并建造了相思小屋, a timber house which can still be seen today in Cornwall Park (although not the original site, 在肖特兰街). Campbell went on to become one of the city's most prominent businessmen, 令人敬畏的律师, and served as the Superintendent of 奥克兰 Province between 1855-56, 在1902年被封为爵士之前. The year before, at the ripe old age of 84, he was temporarily elected mayor. 现任, 禁酒倡导者大卫·戈尔迪, did not want the awkward task of toasting the visiting Duke and Duchess of Cornwall with alcohol, 这坎贝尔, 做一个真正的苏格兰人, 多高兴做什么.

Most of 奥克兰's early geography has been over-built, so it's hard to trace any kind of accurate heritage trail around the city. 许多街道, 比如皇后街和肖特兰街, 曾经是海岸线进入的地方, 或者是河流流过的沟壑, 甚至是遥远的海湾，如机械湾, 官方湾及商业湾, 要么消失了, 或者与它们的原始状态几乎没有相似之处.

One thing that hasn't changed, though, is the house prices. 一直被认为是黄金地段, even the Victorians had to have a fair few dollars in the bank to afford to buy homes here, and the inflated prices provided ample opportunity for unscrupulous speculators to buy up plots of land with laundered or stolen funds, 然后以更高的价格出售, before disappearing with the (now-legitimate) profits.

总是一个移民城市, from the earliest Maori (who came here from Polynesia) to the latest European, 亚洲和非洲移民, 奥克兰 continues to enjoy a colourful and cosmopolitan identity. 甚至在一百年前, walking down 奥克兰's streets would mean hearing dozens of different languages, and the post-war 'baby boom' of the 1950s saw a population explosion, 这反过来又见证了奥克兰扩展到更多的郊区, and furnished the city with increasing employment and trade opportunities.

奥克兰 is the home to the world's largest Polynesian urban community (particularly around South 奥克兰), with over 15% of the city's residents claiming Pacific Island or Polynesian ethnicity in the 2006 Census. 67% of residents class themselves as "New Zealand Europeans", reflecting the heritage of 奥克兰's British settlers.

This diversity is the reason why 奥克兰 can boast a high number of top-rated Restaurants 有几十种不同的菜系, 艺术家辈出, 画家, 音乐家和演员, 还有著名的宗教程度, 文化和社会的宽容, 对于许多, is the defining characteristic of this most friendly of the world's major cities.