Hamilton, New Zealand's fourth-largest city, lies in the fertile plain of the Waikato River. The country's only inland city, it has developed spectacularly since 1950. It has a university and several agricultural and food-science research institutes, including the Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand.
The military settlement of
Hamilton was established in 1864, after the end of the land war in the Waikato area, on the site of an abandoned Maori village. Instead of being paid the soldiers were given land to cultivate. The town is named after Captain John Hamilton, who was killed in the Battle of Gate Pa, near Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty.