Christchurch
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of South Island, New Zealand, the capital of the province of Canterbury. It is on the Avon, and is connected with Lytriver telton, its seaport, by railway. It is the important agricultural and center of an importan grazing district and has manufactures and agriof boats, clothing, furniture, cultural implements. There is also a large export trade in mutton, wool, and timber. The city has many fine buildings, including churches, a museum, a theater, and an opera house. It is the seat of Christ College and of the bishopric of Canterbury. Pop. about 95,000. CHRIST CHURCH, COLLEGE OF, a notable institution in Oxford, England. In 1526 Wolsey obtained from Clement VII. a bull for the suppression of 22 monasteries, the site of one of which he chose for a new college, to be called Cardinal College, and which he intended to endow beyond that of any other in Oxford. On the fall of Wolsey, in 1529, the establishment came into the hands of King Henry VIII. In 1532 that prince founded it under the name of King Henry VIII.'s College, and in 1546 he once more re-established the college under the name of "Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, or the Foundation of King Henry VIII., with a dean and 8 canons, 60 students, 40 schoolboys, clerks, choristers," etc. This foundation is now subsisting. subsisting, though it has undergone considerable modifications. It is one of the most famous colleges of Oxford Univercity and counts among its former members many of the most illustrious names in English history.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's called Christchurch in 1921 the capital of the province of Canterbury, though New Zealand's provinces had in fact been abolished in 1876; the city is now the seat of a regional council and the largest urban area in the South Island, with roughly 380,000 to 400,000 people rather than the 95,000 reported. The greatest change came on 22 February 2011, when an earthquake killed 185 people and wrecked much of the central city that Collier's praised for its fine buildings; the Anglican cathedral on the square was left in ruins and its restoration was still unfinished years later. The rail link to Lyttelton described in the entry survives, joined by a road tunnel opened in 1964, and mutton and wool exports have been overtaken in importance by dairy, tourism and services. The Avon still runs through the city, now flanked in its lower reaches by a residential red zone cleared of houses after the quake.
Written for this edition, 2026.