↑ The definite article is used with the names of the North and South islands, as the North Island and the South Island, like the North Sea and the Western World, but unlike Rangitoto Island or West Point. Maps, headings or tables and adjectival expressions use North Island, whereas the North Island is used after a preposition or before or after a verb, e.g. my mother lives in the North Island, the North Island is smaller than the South Island, or I'm visiting the North Island. When specifying the island where a place, person, or object is located, it is normal to use the word in rather than on, for example Hamilton is in the North Island.
↑ Until the early 20th Century, an alternative Māori name for the North Island was Aotearoa. In present Māori usage, Aotearoa is a collective name for New Zealand as a whole.
