- Christchurch
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/kruyst"cherrch'/, n.a city on E South Island, in New Zealand. 325,710.
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Founded in 1850 as a model Church of England settlement, it was the last and most successful colonizing project inspired by Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his New Zealand Co. It is the country's second largest city and an important industrial centre; its port is Lyttelton. Called the "Garden City of the Plains" for its numerous parks and gardens, it is home to the University of Canterbury, Christ's College, and Lincoln University.* * *
town and borough (district), administrative county of Dorset, historic county of Hampshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the Rivers Stour and Avon and adjoins the English Channel resort of Bournemouth. The site was significant during prehistoric times; Late Bronze–Early Iron Age trade with the European continent apparently focused on nearby Hengistbury Head and Christchurch. The town's original name, Twineham, long survived in the form Cristechurch Twynham. Its first charter was granted about 1150. A Norman constable's house has been restored. The town's huge Augustinian priory church, one of the largest parish churches in England, dates from the 12th century and contains Norman elements of architecture.Largely residential in character, modern Christchurch is also a seaside resort with a small harbour. The Red House is an art gallery and museum. Apart from its fisheries, the borough has light industries and aircraft manufacture, maintenance, and repair. Area borough, 20 square miles (52 square km). Pop. (2001) town, 40,208; borough, 44,869.city, Canterbury regional council, eastern South Island, New Zealand, on the Avon River. It was the last and most successful colonizing project inspired by Edward Gibbon Wakefield (Wakefield, Edward Gibbon) and his New Zealand Company. Christchurch was founded by the Canterbury Association, which was formed in 1848 largely through the efforts of John Robert Godley and which planned to establish a model Church of England settlement. The original immigrants arrived on five ships in 1850–51. Their settlement, known as Canterbury, was renamed for Christ Church College, Oxford, which Godley had attended. Proclaimed a city in 1862 and made a borough in 1868, it was expanded in 1903; it is now the most populous city on South Island and the second largest city (after Auckland) in New Zealand.Once dependent primarily on its rich agricultural environs, Christchurch expanded in the latter half of the 20th century to become New Zealand's second most important industrial centre, aided by good transportation facilities, adequate supplies of artesian water, and plentiful, inexpensive hydroelectric power. To its traditional meat-freezing works and woolen and agricultural-implement production have been added the manufacture of clothing, carpets, rubber, wood and cork goods, transportation equipment, tires, soap, fertilizers, glass, footwear, and flour.The city's port is Lyttelton, a natural deepwater anchorage (7 miles [11 km] southeast) to which it is linked by rail and road tunnels through the Port Hills. The port's chief exports include coal, wool, meat, dairy products, and wheat; chief imports are petroleum products, fertilizers, iron, and steel. Christchurch is also served by an international airport and the South Island Main Trunk Railway.Because much of the city's land is devoted to parks, public gardens, and other recreation areas, Christchurch has earned the nickname “Garden City of the Plains.” One of the nation's principal educational centres, it has Lincoln University (1990; originally established in 1878 as a constituent agricultural college of the University of Canterbury), Christ's College, and the University of Canterbury (1873). Other notable institutions are the Anglican cathedral and Roman Catholic procathedral, botanical gardens, planetarium, Canterbury Museum, and Yaldhurst Museum of Transport and Science, as well as several galleries, including the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery, and Centre of Contemporary Art. Pop. (2006) 348,435.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
