Located in the south-west corner of South Island, Te Wähipounamu (Māori for "the place of greenstone") covers 10% of New Zeland’s landmass, and exhibits many examples of the tectonic, climatic, and glacial processes that have shaped the earth, but is also the largest and least modified area of New Zealand's natural ecosystems. Inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990, the site incorporates several national parks: Aoraki / Mt Cook, Fiordland, Mt Aspiring and Westland. A Maori association with the area falls into three broad categories: mythological, traditional history and ethnological. All these values are contained within the tradition of the Ngai Tahu tribe, whose ancestral territories cover all except the extreme northern parts of South Island.
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