New Zealand is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country consists of the North Island and the South Island plus a numerous of smaller islands.
Facts
Capital: Wellington
Largest city: Auckland
Inhabitants: 4.403.000
Area: 268.680 square meter
Prime Minister: John Key
Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II
Official languages:
- English
- Maori
- NZ Sign Language
During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of both animal and plant life. Most notable are the large number of unique bird species, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and introduced mammals. With a mild maritime climate, the land was mostly covered in forest.
History
New Zealand was one of the last major landmasses settled by humans. It was first settled by eastern Polynesian between 1250 and 1300. Over the centuries that followed these settlers developed a distinct culture now known as Māori.
The first Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and his crew in 1642. Europeans did not revisit New Zealand until 1769 when British explorer James Cook mapped almost the entire coastline. Following Cook, New Zealand was visited by numerous European and North American whaling, sealing and trading ships.
From the early 19th century, Christian missionaries began to settle New Zealand, eventually converting most of the Māori population. The Māori population declined to around 40 percent of its pre-contact
level during the 19th century; introduced diseases were the major factor. The British Government appointed James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832.
New Zealand, originally part of the colony of New South Wales, became a separate Crown Colony in 1841. The colony gained a representative government in 1852 and the 1st New Zealand parliament met in 1854.
Following concerns that the South Island might form a separate colony, premier Alfred Dommet moved a resolution to transfer the capital from Auckland to a locality near the Cook Strait. Wellington was chosen for its harbour and central location, with
parliament officially sitting there for the first time in 1865. As
immigrant numbers increased, conflicts over land led to the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s and 1870s, resulting in the loss and confiscation of much Māori land. In 1893 the country became the first nation in the world to grant all women the right to vote.
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 experienced increasing prosperity following World War II and Māori began to leave their traditional rural life and move to the cities in search of work. A Maori Protest Movement developed, which criticised Eurocentrism and worked for greater recognition of Maori culture and the Treaty of Waitangi.
Climate
New Zealand has a mild and temperate maritime climate with annual temperatures ranging from 10 °C in the south to 16 °C in the north. Historical maximal and minimal are 42.4 °C in Rangiora, Canterbury and −25.6 °C in Ranfurly, Otago.Conditions vary sharply across regions from extremely wet on the West Coast of the South Island to almost semi-arid in Central Otago.| Temperature average number in °C |
Town | Rain average number in mm |
||||||
| Jan. | Apr. | July | Oct. | Jan. | Apr. | July | Oct. | |
| 20 | 16 | 11 | 15 | Auckland | 79 | 103 | 141 | 89 |
| 17 | 12 | 6 | 12 | Christchurch | 46 | 53 | 68 | 44 |
| 16 | 12 | 6 | 11 | Dunedin | 74 | 74 | 56 | 58 |
| 19 | 14 | 8 | 12 | Wellington | 78 | 107 | 142 | 99 |
Sports
Most of the major sporting codes played in New Zealand have English origins.
Golf, netball, tennis and cricket are the four top participatory
sports, soccer is the most popular among young people and rugby union
attracts the most spectators. Horse racing was also a popular spectator sport and became part of the "Rugby, Racing and Beer" culture during the 1960s. Māori participation in European sports was particularly evident in rugby and the country's team performs a haka (traditional Māori dance) before international matches.
Flora and fauna
During its long isolation, New Zealand
developed a distinctive biodiversity of both animal and plant life. Most
notable are the large number of unique bird species, many of which
became extinct after the arrival of humans and introduced mammals. With a
mild maritime climate, the land was mostly covered in forest.
The most popular bird of New Zealand is the flightless Kiwi bird.
At around the size of a chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites (running bird) and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world.
The kiwi is a national symbol of New Zealand, and the association is so strong that the term Kiwi is used all over the world as the colloquial synonym for New Zealanders.
Before the arrival of humans an estimated 80 percent of the land was covered in forest, with only high alpine, wet, infertile and volcanic areas without trees. Massive deforestation occurred after humans arrived, with around half the forest cover lost to fire after Polynesian settlement. Much of the remaining forest fell after European settlement, being logged or cleared to make room for pastoral farming, leaving forest occupying only 23 percent of the land.
The forests were dominated by birds, and the lack of mammalian predators led to some like the kiwi, kakapo and takahē evolving flightlessness.The arrival of humans, associated changes to habitat, and the introduction of rats, ferrets and other mammals led to the extinction of many bird species.
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