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Names

The Māori name of the range is Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, meaning "the Mirage of the Ocean".

The English explorer James Cook bestowed the name Southern Alps on 23 March 1770, admiring their "prodigious height". They had previously been noted by Abel Tasman in 1642, whose description of the South Island's west coast is often translated as "a land uplifted high".

Following the passage of the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, the official name of the range was updated to Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana.