The Aotea was one of the seven great canoes that brought the first Māori settlers to New Zealand. It landed at Kawhia Harbour on the west coast of the North Island, and later, a group from the Aotea canoe journeyed to the Tamaki Estuary and established a settlement there.
While other canoes might have also visited the Tamaki Estuary, the Aotea is the one most closely associated with the founding of the region.