Prior to the coming of the Europeans, the area of Christchurch had been the dwelling place of the Ngai Tahu tribe who established themselves in the form of pā settlements on the Canterbury Plains.
European settlement in Christchurch started in the middle of the 1800s when the Canterbury Association, which is a development group under the Church of England, initiated a plan for establishing a colonial town. Christchurch OX was officially founded in 1850, with its name inspired from Christ Church, Oxford.