|Native name: Te Wai Pounamu (Māori) Nickname: The Mainland
Satellite view of the South Island |Area||150,437 km2 (58,084.1
sq mi)| |Length||840 km (522 mi)| |Coastline||5,842 km (3,630.1
mi)| |Highest elevation||3,754 m (12,316 ft)| |Highest
point||Aoraki/Mount Cook| |Largest city||Christchurch (pop.
375,900)| |Population||1,038,600 (as of June 2012 estimate)|
|Density||6.9 /km2 (17.9 /sq mi)| |Ethnic groups||European,
Māori| The South Island (Māori: Te Wai Pounamu) is the larger of
the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more
populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook
Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by
the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers 150,437 square
kilometres (58,084 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate
climate. The South Island is sometimes called the "Mainland".
While it has a 33% larger landmass than the North Island, only
23% of New Zealand's 4.4 million inhabitants live in the South
Island. In the early stages of European (Pāk