This 120,000-Year-Old Volcano in New Zealand Is Now Granted the Same Rights as a Human Being

It has been sitting there, on the Northern tip of New Zealand, towering and looming high in the sky. You may not notice it at first, for it remains shrouded in milky mist and dense cloak of ashy haze throughout the day. It has been sitting here for the past 120,000 years, not showing any signs of agitation. Yet deep within it unfolds a furious mix of fire and lava, which becomes apparent on the surface sometimes as it spews volcanic bursts inside the Ring of Fire. It was way back in 1775 when it last exploded, after losing a battle in a love triangle, per AWAYinNZ. The heartbreak jolted it into high aggression, so much so that it moved to the western corner for exile, carving a river along the way.

A representative from NASA’s Earth Observatory added, “The status is an acknowledgment of the Indigenous Māori people's relationship to the mountain and means that harming the mountain has the same legal implications as harming the tribe.” The mountain will no longer be known as “Egmont,” the name given to it by the British explorer James Cook in the 18th Century. Instead, it will continue to remain “Taranaki,” a portmanteau of the words tara, implying a “mountain,” and naki, implying “glistening,” referring to its glistening white snow-capped peak.

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