A small harbor town on the Banks Peninsula in New Zealand, historic for early French settlement and Māori culture.
From Māori 'Ōkāro' meaning 'resting place of the sea', the traditional name for this location. The European name 'Akaroa' represents a phonetic approximation.
Akaroa almost became a French colony in New Zealand—it's the only place in New Zealand with French street names, showing how close history came to creating a very different South Pacific.
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