The last substantial volcanic eruption occurred around 300 BCE, producing a cubic kilometre of lava. Its English name was given by Captain James Cook on 2nd November 1769 after Sergeant Edgecumbe who was the sergeant of marines on his vessel, the Endeavour. The mountain's official name was changed back to Putauaki in 1925, and it is now sometimes spelled with a macron (Putauaki).
Part of the mountain was taken from the Ngati Awa people in the 1880s as part of a series of North Island land confiscations, supposedly for the purposes of military settlement. In a 1999 report the Waitangi Tribunal declared the confiscation illegal because there was no prospect of placing settlers on the mountain.