Otago is a region of New Zealand, located southeast of the South Island. Covering approximately 32 000 km ², it is the second largest region of the country. It has 193 800 inhabitants. The name of Otago is a Maori name of Anglicization, Ōtākou. The village of Otakou on the Otago Peninsula served as a whaling base during the early years of European settlement on the east coast of Murihiku, around 1840. The main cities are Dunedin, Oamaru, Balclutha, Alexandra, Queenstown and Wanaka. Kaitangata in the southern region, is an important source of coal.

The establishment of Otago, one of the regions of New Zealand funded by the Free Church of Scotland, was founded in March 1848 with the arrival on the coast of the region of two ships (the John Wickliffe and the Philip Laing) full of immigrants from Greenock on the Firth of Clyde. Captain William Cargill, a veteran of the Spanish War of Independence, was the first head of the colony. Citizens elect the Otago later Superintendent.