A nation of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand is known for its isolation and its natural beauty. The country's culture shows the strong influence of the Maori people, who arrived in the region hundreds of years before Europeans first sighted the islands in the 17th century. New Zealand became a fully independent country in 1947. The capital is Wellington.
New Zealand lies about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) southeast of Australia, its nearest neighbor. It is the southernmost nation in the Pacific Ocean island region called Oceania. The Tasman Sea lies off the west coast of the country, and the South Pacific is to the east.
Two long islands called the North Island and the South Island make up almost all of New Zealand. The Cook Strait separates these two islands. The country also includes a number of small islands, some of them hundreds of miles from the main group. New Zealand covers an area of 104,454 square miles (270,534 square kilometers).
For a country so small in land area, New Zealand has an amazingly varied landscape. Both the North and South islands have central mountain ranges. The South Island is more than 70 percent mountainous. The Southern Alps contain the country's highest peak, Mount Cook, which rises 12,316 feet (3,754 meters). The Southern Alps also have more than 360 glaciers. East of the Southern Alps is the flatter terrain of the Canterbury Plains. The southwestern part of the South Island is rugged, with lakes and steeply banked ocean inlets called fjords. The North Island is much less mountainous than the South. Its highest point is the active volcano Mount Ruapehu, which stands 9,176 feet (2,797 meters) tall. The longest of New Zealand's many rivers is the Waikato on the North Island. The country has many earthquakes, but few are large enough to cause damage.
New Zealand has a temperate climate, meaning that it has few extremes of heat and cold. Most of the country receives rainfall steadily throughout the year. Snow is common only in the mountains.
Much of New Zealand was once forested. After European settlers arrived in the 19th century, however, many of the islands' original trees were cut down for timber and to make farmland. Today, original forests survive mainly in unpopulated areas, reserves, and national parks. Beginning in the 20th century new forests were created by planting the radiata (or Monterey) pine, a tree originally from California. Many of New Zealand's native plants are found nowhere else in the world.
Because New Zealand is far from other large bodies of land, animals cannot reach the islands from other places on their own. Therefore, before New Zealand was settled by humans, it had only a few reptiles, frogs, and bats. One of the reptiles, the lizardlike tuatara, had been extinct elsewhere for 100 million years. The tuatara still exists in New Zealand, though only in isolated parts of the country and on outlying islands. The early Maori settlers of the islands brought the dog and the rat with them. Later, European settlers introduced a number of animals to New Zealand, including red deer, opossums, and rabbits. Many of these animals caused extensive damage to plants and soil.
New Zealand has long been home to many types of birds. Flightless birds thrived on the islands because there were no large animals to prey upon them. Several types of flightless birds are left in New Zealand, including the rare takahe and the kiwi, New Zealand's beloved national symbol. New Zealand's other birds include the parrot known as the kakapo, the fish-eating cormorant, and the penguin.
The Maori are a Polynesian people. Their population may have reached as high as 200,000 before Europeans began settling on the islands in the 19th century. Warfare and diseases brought by the Europeans reduced the Maori population to about 42,000 by the end of the 19th century. Even so, the Maori are a larger element in New Zealand's population today than are aboriginals in Australia or Native Americans in the United States. At the start of the 21st century about 10 percent of New Zealanders claimed to have Maori ancestors. The great majority of the population, however, is made up of Europeans, mostly of British origin. They are called pakeha by the Maori. The country also has small groups of Chinese, Indians, and people from other Pacific islands.
English is the main language of New Zealand. Both English and Maori are official languages. The majority of New Zealanders are Christians. Anglicans form the largest group, followed by Presbyterians and Roman Catholics. Some Maori religions have elements of Christianity.
The North Island has about three times the population of the South Island. About 85 percent of New Zealanders live in cities and towns. The largest cities are Auckland, Christchurch, Manukau, North Shore, Wellington, and Waitakere. All except Christchurch are on the North Island. Manukau, North Shore, and Waitakere are part of the Auckland metropolitan area.
The culture of New Zealand is mainly European, but Maori artistic and cultural traditions have been revived. Many people now practice traditional Maori crafts such as wood carving and weaving. Maori songs and dances have become increasingly popular, especially among the young. The cultural life of the European New Zealanders has developed rapidly since the early 20th century. The country has been home to such authors as the short-story writer Katherine Mansfield and the novelist Janet Frame. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who has European and Maori ancestors, was one of the world's leading opera singers.
Agriculture is not as important to New Zealand's economy as it once was, but it still the country's leading source of exports. The raising of sheep and cattle is the major agricultural activity. New Zealand's sheep population is about 12 times its human population. Apples, barley, wheat, and corn (maize) are among the main crops. Fishing and forestry are also important in New Zealand's economy. The country's main exports include meat, wool, dairy products, fish, and wood products such as paper.
Industry in New Zealand depends heavily on the processing of agricultural products. The country's factories also manufacture chemicals, beverages, textiles, shoes, carpets, and other goods. New Zealand's mineral resources include iron ore, gold, coal, limestone, and natural gas. Service industries employ more people than any other part of the economy. The major services include banking, insurance, and tourism.
According to the traditional beliefs of the Maori, they arrived on the islands of present-day New Zealand in the 14th century AD. They say that they had sailed from a mythical Pacific homeland called Hawaiki. Researchers agree that the Maori came to New Zealand from other Pacific islands, and Hawaiki is usually identified as Tahiti. Based on archaeological evidence, however, they believe that the Maori actually had reached New Zealand by AD 800.
In 1642 the Dutch sailor Abel Tasman became the first European to see New Zealand. He sailed along much of the western coast. He once tried to land, but he was driven away by Maori warriors. No other European visited New Zealand until the British explorer Captain James Cook did so in 1769. He returned on two later voyages. Cook sailed around both main islands and made good maps of them. He also established friendly relations with the Maori.
Cook's journal of his travels inspired colonists and other explorers to go to the islands. The first Europeans in New Zealand were whale and seal hunters. Beginning in the late 18th century whaling companies based in Australia, which Britain had begun to colonize, set up small stations on the main islands. The next people to come to New Zealand were missionaries, who arrived in the early 19th century. They eventually converted most of the Maori to Christianity.
In 1840 the Maori and the British signed the Treaty of Waitangi. In this agreement the Maori accepted British rule in exchange for protection of their land rights. Relations between settlers and the Maori turned bitter, however, as the Europeans demanded that the Maori sell their land. The British settlers and the Maori fought in the 1840s and again for most of the 1860s. Eventually British forces and Maori allied to the government defeated the Maori who were opposed to selling land.
In the 1880s New Zealand farmers began to ship butter, cheese, and meat to Britain. This established the country's agriculturally based economy and strengthened its economic ties to Britain. Nevertheless, many New Zealanders began to think of themselves as a new nation separate from Britain.
In 1907 New Zealand became a dominion, or a self-governing state within the British Empire. New Zealanders fought alongside British and other Allied forces in both World War I and World War II. These experiences caused their feelings of national unity to grow. In 1945 New Zealand became one of the founding members of the United Nations (UN). Two years later New Zealand gained full independence from Britain. New Zealand remained a member of the Commonwealth, meaning that it kept friendly ties with Britain.
Much of New Zealand's modern history has centered on the economy. For many years the country had relied heavily on agricultural exports to Britain. In the early 1970s, however, Britain joined the European Economic Community and began trading more with other European countries and less with New Zealand (see European Union). This helped cause serious economic problems in New Zealand. In response, the country had to make its economy more diverse and increase trade with other countries.
At the end of the 20th century the New Zealand government began to deal with complaints of the Maori regarding their treatment. Maori demands included the use of the Maori language in education, broadcasting, and official settings and the preservation of Maori arts and culture. They also called for the return of land that had been purchased from them through unfair deals in the 19th century. These issues continued to be discussed into the 21st century. Population (2001 estimate), 3,880,500.
