Ranana is a settlement up the
Whanganui River
The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...
from
Whanganui
Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
.
Originally known as Kauika, it grew after 1848 as local Māori moved out of fortified pā settlements in peacetime. It was renamed by the
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
Richard Taylor in 1856 for ''Rānana'', a
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
transliteration
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...
of
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
The town's Catholic church, built in the 1880s for the
hapū
In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally opera ...
Ngāti Ruakā of the
iwi
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...
Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, is still in use.
Nearby is
Moutoa Island
Moutoa Island is an island of shingle approximately long, up the Whanganui River, New Zealand between the towns of Rānana and Hiruharama.
Surrounded by rapids, it has been the site of many battles, the most famous being on 14 May 1864, betwe ...
, site of a famous battle in 1864.
Ngāti Ruakā and
Ngāti Hine Korako have two traditional meeting grounds in Ranana: the
Rānana or Ruakā Marae and
Te Morehu meeting house, and
Te Pou o Rongo Marae and
Tūmanako meeting house.
Education
Te Wainui a Rua is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students,
with a roll of as of .
References
Whanganui River
Populated places in Manawatū-Whanganui
Settlements on the Whanganui River
Whanganui District
{{ManawatuWanganui-geo-stub