New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington Wellington, city (1996 pop. 157,647; urban agglomeration 334,051), capital of New Zealand, extreme S North Island, on Port Nicholson, an inlet of Cook Strait.
..... Click the link for more information. ; the largest city and leading port is Auckland Auckland (ôk`lənd), city (1996 pop. 345,768; urban agglomeration pop. 991,796), N North Island, New Zealand.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Land and People

New Zealand comprises the North Island North Island (1996 pop. 2,718,188), 44,702 sq mi (115,777 sq km), New Zealand. It is the smaller but more populous of the two principal islands of the country. The principal cities are Wellington , capital of New Zealand, and Auckland .
..... Click the link for more information. and the South Island South Island (1996 pop. 900,114), 58,093 sq mi (150,461 sq km), New Zealand. It is the larger but less populous of the two principal islands of the country. It is separated from the North Island by Cook Strait and from Stewart Island by Foveaux Strait.
..... Click the link for more information. (the two principal islands), Stewart Island Stewart Island, island, 674 sq mi (1,746 sq km), S New Zealand, 20 mi (32 km) S of the South Island across Foveaux Strait. Halfmoon Bay is the main settlement. A mountainous and scenic island, it is a summer resort. Frozen fish and granite are exported.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the Chatham Islands Chatham Islands, island group, 373 sq mi (966 sq km), South Pacific, c.500 mi (800 km) E of New Zealand, to which it belongs. The two largest islands are Chatham Island, which has a large central lagoon, and Pitt Island. The chief town is Waitangi, on Chatham Island.
..... Click the link for more information. . Small outlying islands belonging to New Zealand include the Auckland Islands, the Kermadec Islands, Campbell Island, the Antipodes, Three Kings Island, Bounty Island, the Snares Islands, and the Solander Islands. Dependencies are Tokelau Tokelau (tōkəlou`, tōkĕlä`
..... Click the link for more information. and Ross Dependency. The Cook Islands Cook Islands, island group (2006 pop. 19,569), 90 sq mi (234 sq km), S Pacific, SE of Samoa; a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand. It consists of 15 small islands and is comprised of two main groups, the Southern (or Lower) Cook islands (
..... Click the link for more information. and Niue Niue (nē`ā), coral island (2004 pop. 1,761), c.
..... Click the link for more information. , both internally self-governing, are in free association with New Zealand.

The North Island is known for its active volcanic mountains and its hot springs. The country's longest river (the Waikato) and largest lake (Taupo) are both on the North Island. On the South Island, the massive Southern Alps extend almost the length of the island, and in the southwest are beautiful fjords. The largest areas of virgin forest are in the southern and northern extremities of the South Island. Among the unusual animals native to New Zealand are the kiwi, certain species of parrot, the tuatara (survivor of a prehistoric order of reptiles), and various frogs and reptiles. New Zealand has no native land mammals other than bats. Large oyster beds are found in the Foveaux Strait between Stewart Island and the South Island. Extensive areas of New Zealand have been set aside as national parks, including the Fiordland, Mt. Aorangi-Cook, and Tongariro parks.

More than 85% of the population lives in urban areas. In addition to Wellington and Auckland, the principal cities are Christchurch Christchurch, city (1996 pop. 309,027), E South Island, New Zealand, on the Avon River. It is the third largest city in New Zealand and the commercial center of the productive Canterbury Plains.
..... Click the link for more information. , Dunedin Dunedin (dənē`dĭn), city (1996 pop. 118,143), SE South Island, New Zealand, at the head of Otago Harbor.
..... Click the link for more information. , Hamilton Hamilton, city (1996 pop. 108,429), N central North Island, New Zealand, on the Waikato River. Situated between Auckland and Wellington, Hamilton is the transportation and industrial center of a densely populated dairy area. The Univ.
..... Click the link for more information. , Palmerston North Palmerston North, city (1996 pop. 73,095), S North Island, New Zealand. It is a transportation and farm-marketing center with diverse industries. The city's agricultural college, founded in 1926, became Massey Univ. in 1964.
..... Click the link for more information. , Hutt City Hutt City, city (1996 pop. 95,871), S North Island, New Zealand, in the Hutt River valley, part of the greater Wellington urban area; formerly called Lower Hutt. Industries in the area include metalworking, engineering, textiles, and consumer products manufacturing.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Invercargill Invercargill (ĭnvərkär`gĭl), city (1996 pop. 53,208), extreme S South Island, New Zealand, on the Southland Plain.
..... Click the link for more information. . People of European background constitute almost 80% of the population. The Maori Maori (mä`ōrē), people of New Zealand and the Cook Islands, believed to have migrated in early times from other islands of
..... Click the link for more information. , New Zealand's indigenous inhabitants, now make up about 14% of the population, with most living on the North Island. There are also small minorities of Pacific Islanders and Asians. Both English and Maori are official languages. New Zealand has no established religion; the three largest faiths are Anglican, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic. There are universities at Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Palmerston North, Christchurch, and Dunedin.

Economy

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, although industry employs more people. The agricultural sector has diversified from a reliance on sheep raising to such additional enterprises as dairying, forestry, and horticulture. The principal exports are wool, meat, dairy products, fish, fruit, and timber products. Small amounts of coal, gold, iron, and natural gas are also produced. Food processing is the largest manufacturing industry; and there is a variety of small light-manufacturing industries. Beginning in the 1980s, New Zealand transformed its highly protected and regulated economy into one that was much more privatized, market oriented, and deregulated.

Government

New Zealand's government consists of the governor-general (representing the British crown), a prime minister and cabinet (the effective executive), and a 120-seat unicameral parliament (the House of Representatives) whose members are elected for three-year terms. The chief political parties are Labor, the National party, and the New Zealand First party. In 1993 a system of mixed constituency and proportional representation was introduced, giving smaller parties a greater chance to win seats. Administratively, New Zealand is divided into 93 counties, nine districts, and three town districts. New Zealand is a member of the Commonwealth and the United Nations.

History

New Zealand has been inhabited since at least A.D. 1000 by Polynesian Maoris. The first European to visit was the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman Tasman, Abel Janszoon (ä`bəl yän`sōn tä`smän), 1603?–1659, Dutch navigator.
..... Click the link for more information. , who stopped there during his voyage of 1642–43. New Zealand was charted by Capt. James Cook Cook, James, 1728–79, English explorer and navigator. The son of a Yorkshire agricultural laborer, he had little formal education. After an apprenticeship to a firm of shipowners at Whitby, he joined (1755) the royal navy and surveyed the St.
..... Click the link for more information. on his three voyages (1769–78). Between 1792 and 1840, sealing, whaling, and trading led to European settlement. In a series of intertribal wars between 1815 and 1840, tens of thousands of Maoris died.

In 1840 the first settlement was made at Wellington by a group sent by the New Zealand Company, founded by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. In that year the Treaty of Waitangi Waitangi, Treaty of (Feb. 6, 1840), a pact between some Maori tribes of New Zealand and the British Governor William Hobson. The treaty protected Maori land interests in exchange for recognition of British sovereignty.
..... Click the link for more information. guaranteed to the Maoris the full possession of their land in exchange for their recognition of British sovereignty. But as European settlement increased, Maori opposition to land settlement resulted in continuing conflict from 1860 to 1872.

Originally part of New South Wales (Australia), New Zealand became a separate colony in 1840 and received a large measure of self-government after 1852. In 1907 it assumed complete self-government as the Dominion of New Zealand, but, preferring that Great Britain handle most of its foreign affairs, did not confirm the Statute of Westminster (1931) until 1947.

New Zealand has been a leader in progressive social legislation. It was the first country to grant (1893) women the right to vote. A comprehensive social security system was begun in 1898 with the enactment of an old age pension law.

During World War I and World War II, New Zealand fought on the side of the Allies, and it joined the UN forces in the Korean War. New Zealand also sent troops to aid U.S. forces in South Vietnam in the 1960s. In 1951, New Zealand joined in a mutual defense treaty with the United States and Australia. This pact was suspended in 1986 after David Lange Lange, David Russell (lăng), 1942–2005, New Zealand politician. After receiving his law degree (LL.M.
..... Click the link for more information. 's Labor government refused to let U.S. ships with nuclear arms enter its ports. In 1997, Jenny Shipley of the National party, which had been in power since 1990, became New Zealand's first woman prime minister.

The Labor party, led by Helen Clark Clark, Helen, 1950–, New Zealand politician, prime minister (1999–), b. Hamilton, N.Z. A graduate of the Univ. of Auckland (B.A., 1971; M.A., 1974), she taught political science there (1973–81).
..... Click the link for more information. , and its center-left coalition defeated the National party in the 1999 elections and formed a minority government. Clark's coalition retained power, again as a minority government, after the 2002 elections. After the court of appeals ruled in 2004 that Maoris could pursue land claims to New Zealand's beaches and seabed, the government passed legislation that nationalized the contested areas in an effort to prevent Maoris from gaining an exclusive legal title to them. The law alienated the government's Maori supporters and prompted the establishment of a Maori political party. Parliamentary elections in Sept., 2005, resulted in a narrow victory for Labor, which secured a plurality of the seats. Clark formed a government with the support of three smaller parties, including the anti-immigration New Zealand First party.

Bibliography

See K. B. Cumberland and J. W. Fox, New Zealand: A Regional View (1964); A. H. McLintock, ed., An Encyclopedia of New Zealand (3 vol., 1966); G. R. Hawke, The Making of New Zealand (1985); G. McLauchlan, ed., Encyclopedia of New Zealand (52 vol., 1986–87); K. Sinclair, A History of New Zealand (4th rev. ed. 1991); G. W. Rice, ed., Oxford History of New Zealand (2d ed. 1992).

New Zealand

Island country, South Pacific Ocean. Area: 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 4,096,000. Capital: Wellington. Most of the people are of European origin; about one-tenth are Maori, and some are Pacific Islanders and Chinese. Languages: English, Maori (both official). Religions: Christianity (Protestant, Roman Catholic); also Buddhism, Hinduism. Currency: New Zealand dollar. New Zealand consists of the North Island and the South Island, which are separated by Cook Strait, and several smaller islands. Both main islands are bisected by mountain ranges. New Zealand has a developing market economy based largely on agriculture (dominated by sheep raising), small-scale industries, and services. It is a constitutional monarchy with one legislative house; its chief of state is the British monarch represented by the governor-general, and the head of government is the prime minister. Polynesian occupation dates to c. AD 1000. First sighted by Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1642, the main islands were charted by Capt. James Cook in 1769. Named a British crown colony in 1840, the area was the scene of warfare between colonists and native Maori through the 1860s. The capital was moved from Auckland to Wellington in 1865, and in 1907 the colony became the Dominion of New Zealand. It administered Western Samoa from 1919 to 1962 and participated in both World Wars. When Britain joined the European Economic Community in the early 1970s, its influence led New Zealand to expand its export markets and diversify its economy. New Zealand also became more independent in its foreign relations and took a strong stand against nuclear proliferation. The literacy rate is nearly 100%. The cultural milieu is predominantly European, although there has been a revival of traditional Maori culture and art, and Maori social and economic activism have been central to political developments in New Zealand since the late 20th century.