Dunedin, known in Māori as Ōtepoti, serves as the principal city of the Otago region on the central-eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is the second-most populous urban area in the South Island after Christchurch and functions as a major administrative and cultural centre for the region. The city lies surrounding the head of Otago Harbour, with its suburbs extending into surrounding valleys, onto the Otago Peninsula isthmus, and along the Pacific Ocean shores.