One of the most widely adopted of the various approaches to historical geography is the reconstruction of past geographies at various periods in time.Some geographers believe that a study of changing landscapes is more satisfying. In this thesis an attempt has been made to combine these two different methods of approach to historical geography, in a region of Hawke's Bay. The emphasis has been laid on areal description of the landscape at three different dates, 1840, 1856 and 1890• The descriptions do not refer exactly to these three dates, for some of the source material precedes or follows after the,se dates, hence the titles 'Hawke's Bay about 1840', or '1856'. As far as possible data relating to these three dates has been used. In the three intervening chapters, stress has been laid on factors and events such as changes in land tenure and sheep breeding, political changes and other phenomena that have caused changes in the landscape, distribution of population, communications and size and distribution of farms. Though no attempt has been made to continue these period studies beyond 1914, conclusions have tried to be drawn relating to the human occupancy of the land at these three different periods.