New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is a small country, similar in size to Great Britain or Japan. With a population of only four million people it’s also gloriously uncrowded.

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 Culture!

New Zealand's friendly and down-to-earth people will be one of the things you treasure most about your visit

 With a patchwork history of Māori, European, Pacific Island and Asian cultures, New Zealand has become a melting-pot population - but one with some uniting features that make it unique in the world.

 Today, of the 4.4 million New Zealanders (informally known as Kiwis), approximately 69% are of European descent, 14.6% are indigenous Māori, 9.2% Asian and 6.9% non-Māori Pacific Islanders.

 Geographically, over three-quarters of the population live in the North Island, with one-third of the total population living in Auckland. The other main cities of Wellington, Christchurch and Hamilton are where the majority of the remaining Kiwis dwell.

 Climate and weather

 New Zealand has mild temperatus, moderately high rainfall, and many hours of sunshine.

 While the far north has subtropical weather during summer, and inland alpine areas of the South Island can be as cold as -10°C (14°F) in winter, most of the country lies close to the coast, which means mild temperatures.

Is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses – that of the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu – and numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, andTonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.




The majority of New Zealand's population is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language are the official languages, with English predominant. Much of New Zealand's culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. Early European art was dominated by landscapes and to a lesser extent portraits of Māori. A recent resurgence of Māori culture has seen their traditional arts of carving, weaving and tattooing become more mainstream.


New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes; these have less autonomy than the country's long defunct provinces did. Nationally, legislative authority is vested in a unicameral Parliament, while executive political power is exercised by the Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister. Queen Elizabeth II is the country's head of state and is represented by a Governor-General.





New Zealand, originally part of the colony of New South Wales, became a separate Colony of New Zealand on 1 July 1841.The colony gained arepresentative government in 1852 and the 1st New Zealand Parliament met in 1854.In 1856 the colony effectively became self-governing, gaining responsibility over all domestic matters other than native policy. (Control over native policy was granted in the mid-1860s.)





In 1907, at the request of the New Zealand Parliament, King Edward VII proclaimed New Zealand a dominion within the British Empire, reflecting its self-governing status. In 1947 the country adopted the Statute of Westminster, confirming that the British parliament could no longer legislate for New Zealand without the consent of New Zealand.New Zealand was involved in world affairs, fighting alongside the British Empire in the First and Second World Wars and suffering through the Great Depression.






New Zealand is made up of two main islands and a number of smaller islands, located near the centre of the water hemisphere. The two main islands (the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, orTe Waipounamu) are separated by the Cook Strait, 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide at its narrowest point.




New Zealand is long (over 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) along its north-north-east axis) and narrow (a maximum width of 400 kilometres (250 mi)), with approximately 15,000 km (9,300 mi) of coastlineand a total land area of 268,000 square kilometres (103,500 sq mi) Because of its far-flung outlying islands and long coastline, the country has extensive marine resources. Its Exclusive Economic Zone, one of the largest in the world, covers more than 15 times its land area.





The South Island is the largest landmass of New Zealand, and is divided along its length by the Southern Alps.There are 18 peaks over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), the highest of which is Aoraki / Mount Cook at 3,754 metres (12,316 ft). Fiordland's steep mountains and deep fiords record the extensive ice age glaciation of this south-western corner of the South Island.The North Island is less mountainous but ismarked by volcanism.


The country owes its varied topography, and perhaps even its emergence above the waves, to the dynamic boundary it straddles between the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates. New Zealand is part of Zealandia, a microcontinent nearly half the size of Australia that gradually submerged after breaking away from the Gondwanan supercontinent. About 25 million years ago, a shift in plate tectonicmovements began to contort and crumple the region. This is now most evident in the Southern Alps, formed by compression of the crustbeside the Alpine Fault. Elsewhere the plate boundary involves the subduction of one plate under the other, producing the Puysegur Trench to the south, the Hikurangi Trench east of the North Island, and the Kermadec and Tonga Trenches further north.

Most of the major sporting codes played in New Zealand have British origins. Rugby union is considered the national sport and attracts the most spectators. Golf, netball, tennis and cricket have the highest rates of adult participation, while soccer is top among young people. Victorious rugby tours to Australia and the United Kingdom in the late 1880 and the early 1900s played an early role in instilling a national identity.