Mount Taranaki is the second highest peak of the North Island but only the 65th highest of all New Zealand. Its elevation is 2518 m and it is considered to be one of the most symmetrical volcanoes on earth. South of its main peak lies the secondary cone called Fanthams Peak (ca. 2000 m).
Maori legends tell the story of the God Taranaki, formerly known as Pukeonaki, who once joined the three volcanoes Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro in the centre of the North Island. It is said that the nearby standing peak, Mount Pihanga, was of such beauty that all mountain Gods fell for her, as did Taranaki and Tongariro. In a battle between the two, Pihanga decided to stay with Tongariro. Full of anger and disappointment, Taranaki left westwards until he reached the Tasman Sea. From here, he moved up north to the Pouakai Ranges where he stayed to become Mount Taranaki. Along his way to the sea, Taranaki had carved long and winding trenches that were then filled with water arising from Tongariro - creating the Whanganui River.
Other stories refer to Rua Taranaki, a forefather of the Taranaki iwi (tribe), who is believed to had travelled from Lake Taupo to the Stony River (Hangatahua). The river flows between Mount Taranaki and the Pouakai Range westwards into the Tasman Sea. Rua Taranaki may had originally come to bury the bones of his ancestors in a cave called "Te Ana a Tahaiti" near the source of the Stony River. It is said that a descendant of Taranaki, a tribe chief named Tahurangi, later climbed to the mountain top to start a fire that would grant his ancestor's name to the mountain.
Captain James Cook first arrived on the North Island's east coast near Gisborne in 1769. He was on his way down south but due to conflicts at the first contact with indigenous Maori, he decided to turn his ship around. Cook then circumnavigated New Zealand's northern tip to reach the western shore in the beginning of 1770. Sighting the pre-eminent Mount Taranaki, he named it after John Perceval, the second Earl of Egmont in Ireland. The first European to climb to Taranaki's peak was Ernst Dieffenbach in 1839, even though the summit was regarded to be a sacred place (tapu).