town, northeastern South Island, New Zealand, on the Wairau Plain at the confluence of the Omaka and Opawa rivers. About 1830 the entire plain was sold by the local Maoris to a whaling captain. First settled in 1847, it grew rapidly following the discovery of gold (1864) and was made capital of Marlborough province (1865–76). It was proclaimed a town in 1866. It was named after the European Battle of Blenheim (1704), in which the Duke of Marlborough defeated the French. A junction of several major highways and of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, Blenheim uses the port of Picton (17 miles 【27 km】 north). Serving an area of sheep, dairy, seed-crop, and cereal farming, the town has light-engineering, motor-body, food-processing, furniture, flax-milling, and animal-feed plants. Pop. (2001) 26,547.