Near Porangahau in Hawke’s Bay, on the North Island of New Zealand, lies an unassuming, 305-metre hill, named after Tamatea – a legendary Maori explorer who traversed across the vast lands of the country.
To honour his exploits, the Maori people used an entire sentence to name the site after him.
The 85-character toponym reads: “Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu”.
This translates literally to “the summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the slider, climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his kōauau (flute) to his loved one”.
While there are many other versions of the name that are less commonly used, this hill remains the Guinness Book of World Records winner for the longest place name and has become a tourist attraction for geography and word nerds from around the world.
Tamatea-pōkai-whenua (Tamatea the explorer of the land) was the father of Kahungunu, ancestor of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi (tribe) and was a famous chief and warrior.
Legend has it that while travelling through the back of Porangahau, Tamatea encountered another tribe and had to fight them to get past. During the fight, his brother was killed.
Tamatea was so grieved over the loss that he stayed at the battle site for several days. Each morning he would sit on the hill and play a lament on what is called the koauau, or Maori flute.
The hill can be found by driving south from Waipukurau for about 34 miles and turning onto Wimbledon Road. A sign displaying the name is situated about five kilometres along this road. The actual place is on private land, so permission is required before you can walk to it.
The second longest place name in the world is awarded to the Welsh village on the isle of Anglesey, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, which has 58 characters.
It is the longest official one-word place name in Europe and is also the longest name for a settlement.
This translated to: “The church of St Mary at the pool of the white hazels near the fierce whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave”.
Not only this, the name of the railway station there is also the same, making it the railway station with the longest name in the world.
