Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the third largest urban area in the country. It is a coastal city, situated in the middle of the South Island's east coast just north of Banks Peninsula.
Named after Christ Church, a college at the University of Oxford, it was originally known as Christ Church, the name being abbreviated through common usage by the 1880s.
The pre-European (Māori) name Otautahi, is said to originate from a Māori chief named Tautahi, who is believed to have occupied a seasonal dwelling on a bank of the Avon River near to where the Barbadoes Street bridge now stands. To date there is no documentary or archaeological evidence to support this contention.