Mount Taranaki

Mount Taranaki, also called Mount Egmont, volcano located near the western coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The volcano’s last major eruption occurred during the late 1600s. Mount Taranaki rises 2,518 m (8,261 ft) in Egmont National Park. Mount Taranaki’s cone, made up of volcanic rock and ash, is covered with snow and ice all year long. Dense forests cover its lower slopes. Mount Taranaki is a popular resort area, where people ski during the winter and hike during the summer.

Mount Taranaki gets its name from the Maori word for barren mountain. British explorer Captain James Cook named it Mount Egmont in 1770 in honor of a commander of the British Royal Navy. In 1839 the German geologist and explorer Ernst Dieffenbach became the first European to reach the volcano’s summit.