 The earliest recorded iwi in the Nelson district are the Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō and Rangitāne tribes.Raids from northern tribes in the 1820s, led by Te Rauparaha and his Ngāti Toa, soon decimated the local population and quickly displaced them.The New Zealand Company in London planned the settlement of Nelson.