For other mountains named Edgecumbe, see Mount Edgecumbe

Mount Edgecumbe

-Mountains:* Mount Edgecumbe , a dormant volcano located on Kruzof Island in Alaska, USA* Putauaki or Mount Edgecumbe, a volcanic cone in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand* Mount Edgecumbe a mountain in Fiordland, New Zealand...

.

Putauaki, also known as Mount Edgecumbe, is a dacite

Dacite

Dacite is an igneous, volcanic rock. It has an aphanitic to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. The relative proportions of feldspars and quartz in dacite, and in many other volcanic rocks, are illustrated in the QAPF diagram...

 volcanic cone

Volcanic cone

Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic formations. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and size of the fragments ejected during the eruption...

 in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. Located 50 km east of Rotorua

Rotorua

Rotorua is a city on the southern shores of the lake of the same name, in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. The city is the seat of the Rotorua District, a territorial authority encompassing the city and several other nearby towns...

 and three kilometres east of Kawerau, it is the easternmost vent of the Okataina volcanic centre, within the Taupo Volcanic Zone

Taupo Volcanic Zone

The Taupo Volcanic Zone is a highly active volcanic V shaped area in the North Island of New Zealand that is spreading east -west at the rate of about 8mm per year...

. The mountain rises to 820 m above sea level, and is visible from the waters of the Bay of Plenty

Bay of Plenty

The Bay of Plenty , often abbreviated to BOP, is a region in the North Island of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name...

, 30 km to the north. Every year a King of the Mountain race is run on Putauaki as part of the international King of the Mountain series, and proceeds are donated to charity.

History

The last substantial volcanic eruption occurred around 300 BCE, producing a cubic kilometre of lava.

Its English name was given by Captain James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

 in October 1769 after Sergeant Edgecombe who was the sergeant of marines on his vessel, the Endeavour

HMS Endeavour

HMS Endeavour may refer to one of the following ships:In the Royal Navy:, a 36-gun ship purchased in 1652 and sold in 1656, a 4-gun bomb vessel purchased in 1694 and sold in 1696, a fire ship purchased in 1694 and sold in 1696, a storeship hoy purchased in 1694 and sold in 1705, a storeship...

. The mountain's official name was changed back to Putauaki in 1925, and it is now sometimes spelled with a macron (Pūtauaki).

Part of the mountain was taken from the Ngāti Awa

Ngati Awa

Ngāti Awa is a Māori iwi centred in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand.Ngāti Awa comprises 22 hapu , with 15,258 people claiming affiliation to the iwi in 2006. The Ngāti Awa people are primarily located in towns on the Rangitaiki Plain, including Whakatane, Kawerau, Edgecumbe, Te...

 people in the 1880s as part of a series of North Island land confiscations

New Zealand land confiscations

The New Zealand land confiscations took place during the 1860s to punish the Kingitanga movement for attempting to set up an alternative, Māori, form of government that forbade the selling of land. The confiscation law targeted Kingitanga Māori against whom the government had waged war to restore...

, supposedly for the purposes of military settlement. In a 1999 report the Waitangi Tribunal

Waitangi Tribunal

The Waitangi Tribunal is a New Zealand permanent commission of inquiry established under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975...

 declared the confiscation illegal because there was no prospect of placing settlers on the mountain.

Legendary source of name

Māori legend tells of a love affair that Pūtauaki had with Whakaari/White Island

Whakaari/White Island

Whakaari/White Island is an active andesite stratovolcano, situated from the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, in the Bay of Plenty. The nearest mainland towns are Whakatane and Tauranga....

.
Another version of the legend is that Pūtauaki was lonely after losing a fight for Pīhanga (another mountain) so when he met Tarawera he decided to start a relationship with her. After raising a son and years of a troubled marriage, Pūtauaki cast his eye out towards the sea, where the very beautiful Whakaari was. The two would call out to each other at night while Tarawera slept. One night Pūtauaki could not contain his love any longer and decided to travel out to be with Whakaari. It is said that a mountain can only move once in their life and only at night so Pūtauaki had to travel across the land fast. Little did he know, his son had awoken and was following him. He heard the little whimper from his son and turned around. He tried to tell his son to stay with Tarawera but the little mountain would not leave his father. Then the sun rose and froze the two mountains where they were. When Tarawera awoke she saw that her husband had left and she started to weep, thus creating the Tarawera Falls

Tarawera Falls

Tarawera Falls is a 35 m high waterfall on the Tarawera River in the Bay of Plenty region in New Zealand's North Island.The Tarawera River flows out of Lake Tarawera and across a rhyolitic lava flow that erupted from Mt Tarawera about 11,000 years ago. The river disappears into flooded caves in...

 and river

Tarawera River

The Tarawera River is in the Bay of Plenty Region in the North Island of New Zealand.It flows from Lake Tarawera, northeastwards across the northern flanks of the active volcano Mount Tarawera, and past the town of Kawerau before turning north, reaching the Bay of Plenty six kilometres to the west...

. Until this day Tarawera still cries and Whakaari still calls out for her lover, who is frozen to the spot near Kawerau.

External links

• Walking up Mount Edgecumbe - at peakbagging.co.nz