Salsa Classes in Wellington

Wellington City is the capital of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island of New Zealand, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Mountains. Wellington City is the third largest city in Aotearoa (second largest in the North Island), and is the administrative centre of the region of Wellington. It is the world’s southern most capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a moderate maritime climate, and is the world’s windiest city by average wind speed.

Māori oral tradition tells that Kupe found and navigated the area in about the 10th century. The area was first settled by Māori tribes such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The upheavals of the Musket Wars led to them being defeated by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century.

Wellington’s current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield’s New Zealand Company, in 1840. Smith’s plan included a series of interconnected grid layouts, expanding along valleys and lower hill inclines. The Wellington area, which only includes urbanised areas within Wellington City, has a population of approximately 214,200 as of June 2024. The wider Wellington metropolitan area including the cities of Lower Hutt, Porirua and Upper Hutt, has a population of around 440,700 as of June 2024. The city has functioned as New Zealand’s capital since 1865, a status that is not defined in law, but established by convention; the New Zealand Government and Parliament, the Supreme Court and most of the public service are based in the city.

Wellington’s economy is primarily services-oriented, with an emphasis on finance, business services, government, and the film industry. It is the center of the country’s film and special effects industry, and increasingly a hub for information technology and innovation, with two public research universities. The city is one of the country’s chief seaports and serves both domestic and international shipping. The city is chiefly served by Wellington International Airport in Rongotai, the country’s ranked third in passenger traffic airport. The city’s transport network includes train and bus lines which extend as far as the Kāpiti Coast and the Wairarapa, and ferries connect the city to the South Island.

Often referred to as New Zealand’s cultural capital, the culture of Wellington is a diverse and often youth-driven one which has exerted influence across Oceania. One of the world’s most livable cities, the Global Livability Ranking of 2021 tied the city with Tokyo as fourth in the world. From 2017 to 2018, Deutsche Bank ranked it number one in the world for both livability and lack of pollution. Cultural areas such as Cuba Street and Newtown are renowned for creative innovation, “op shops”, historic character, and food. Wellington is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region, being ranked 46th place in the world by the Global Financial Centres Index of 2024 for 2024. The global city has grown from a bustling settlement of the Māori, to a colonial outpost, and from there to an Australasian capital that has experienced a “remarkable creative resurgence”.