The legal recognition of New Zealand’s second tallest mountain also affirms the Maori view that the mountain is sacred, and that many elements of the natural world are ancestors and living beings.

Mount Taranaki — now known as Taranaki Maunga, its Māori name — is the latest natural feature to be granted personhood in New Zealand.

Wellington, New Zealand - A mountain in New Zealand considered an ancestor by Indigenous people was recognized as a legal person on Thursday after a new law granted it all the rights and ...