New Zealand is a country in the south-western Pacific Ocean consisting of two large islands (North Island and South Island) and many much smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands. New Zealand is also known in Māori as Aotearoa, which is usually paraphrased in English as Land of the Long White Cloud.
The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue, which are self-governing, but in free association; Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica).
It is notable for its geographic isolation, being separated from Australia to the northwest by the Tasman Sea, some 2000 kilometres (1250 miles) across. Its closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga.
The population is mostly of European descent, with the indigenous Māori being the largest minority. Non-Māori Polynesian and Asian peoples are also significant minorities, especially in the cities.
Elizabeth II, as the Queen of New Zealand, is the nominal Head of State and is represented, in her absence, by a non-partisan Governor-General; the Queen 'reigns but does not rule', so she has no real political influence. Political power is held by the democratically-elected Parliament of New Zealand under the leadership of the Prime Minister who is the Head of Government.
History
New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major land masses. Polynesian settlers arrived in their waka some time between the 13th century and the 15th century to establish the indigenous Māori culture. New Zealand's Māori name, Aotearoa, is usually translated as "Land of the long white cloud", reputedly referring to the cloud the explorers saw on the horizon as they approached. Settlement of the Chatham Islands to the east of the mainland produced the Moriori people, but it is disputed whether they moved there from New Zealand or elsewhere in Polynesia. Most of New Zealand was divided into tribal territories called rohe, resources within which were controlled by an iwi ('nation' or 'tribe'). Māori adapted to eating the local marine resources, flora and fauna for food, hunting the giant flightless moa (which soon became extinct), and ate the Polynesian Rat and kumara (sweet potato), which they introduced to the country.
The first Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were led by Abel Janszoon Tasman, who sailed up the west coasts of the South and North Islands in 1642. He named it Staten Landt, believing it to be part of the land Jacob Le Maire had seen in 1616 off the coast of Chile. Staten Landt appeared on Tasman's first maps of New Zealand, but this was changed by Dutch cartographers to Nova Zeelandia, after the Dutch province of Zeeland, some time after Hendrik Brouwer proved the supposedly South American land to be an island in 1643. The Latin Nova Zeelandia became Nieuw Zeeland in Dutch. Captain James Cook subsequently called the archipelago New Zealand (a slight corruption, as Zealand is not an alternative spelling of Zeeland, a province in the Netherlands, but of Sjælland, the island in Denmark that includes Copenhagen), although the Māori names he recorded for the North and South Islands (as Aehei No Mouwe and Tovy Poenammu respectively[1]) were rejected, and the main three islands became known as North, Middle and South, with the Middle Island being later called the South Island, and the earlier South Island becoming Stewart Island. Cook began extensive surveys of the islands in 1769, leading to European whaling expeditions and eventually significant European colonisation. From as early as the 1780s, Māori had encounters with European sealers and whalers. Acquisition of muskets by those iwi in close contact with European visitors destabilised the existing balance of power between Māori tribes and there was a temporary but intense period of bloody inter-tribal warfare, known as the Musket Wars, which ceased only when all iwi were so armed.
Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi
Concerned about the exploitation of Māori by Europeans, the British Colonial Office appointed James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832. In 1834, Busby convened the United Tribes of New Zealand to select a flag and declare their independence, which led to the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand. This declaration did not allay the fears of the Church Missionary Society, who continued lobbying for British annexation. Increasing French interest in the region led the British to annex New Zealand by Royal Proclamation in January 1840. To legitimise the British annexation, Lieutenant Governor William Hobson had been dispatched in 1839; he hurriedly negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with northern iwi on his arrival. The Treaty was signed in February, and in recent years it has come to be seen as the founding document of New Zealand. The Māori translation of the treaty promised the Māori tribes "tino rangatiratanga" would be preserved in return for ceding kawanatanga, which the English version translates as "chieftainship" and "sovereignty"; the real meanings are now disputed. Disputes over land sales and sovereignty caused the New Zealand land wars, which took place between 1845 and 1872. In 1975 the Treaty of Waitangi Act established the Waitangi Tribunal, charged with hearing claims of Crown violations of the Treaty of Waitangi. Some Māori tribes and the Moriori never signed the treaty.
New Zealand was initially administered as a part of the colony of New South Wales, and it became a separate colony in November 1840. The first capital was Okiato or old Russell in the Bay of Islands but it soon moved to Auckland. European settlement progressed more rapidly than anyone anticipated, and settlers soon outnumbered Māori. Self-government was granted to the settler population in 1852. There were political concerns following the discovery of gold in Central Otago in 1861 that the South Island would form a separate colony, so in 1865 the capital was moved to the more central city of Wellington. New Zealand was involved in a Constitutional Convention in March 1891 in Sydney, New South Wales, along with the Australian colonies. This was to consider a potential constitution for the proposed federation between all the Australasian colonies. New Zealand lost interest in joining Australia in a federation following this convention.
In 1893 New Zealand became the first nation to grant women the right to vote on the same basis as men; however, women were not eligible to stand for parliament until 1919.
New Zealand became an independent dominion on 26 September 1907, by Royal Proclamation. Full independence was granted by the United Kingdom Parliament with the Statute of Westminster in 1931; it was taken up upon the Statute's adoption by the New Zealand Parliament in 1947. Since then New Zealand has been a sovereign constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations.
In 1951, Australia, New Zealand and the United States formally became allies with the signing of the ANZUS Treaty. In 1985, New Zealand declared itself a nuclear-free zone. As a result, US warships could no longer enter New Zealand ports without declaring themselves to be free of nuclear weapons or power. As such a declaration would be against US Government policy, effectively the ships were banned from New Zealand. The United States suspended its obligations to New Zealand under the ANZUS Treaty.
Government
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. Under the New Zealand Royal Titles Act (1953), Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of New Zealand and is represented as head of state by the Governor-General, Anand Satyanand.
New Zealand is the only country in the world in which all the highest offices in the land have been occupied simultaneously by women, between March 2005 and August 2006 - The Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II, Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Margaret Wilson and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias.
The New Zealand Parliament has only one chamber, the House of Representatives, which usually seats 120 Members of Parliament. Parliamentary general elections are held every three years under a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional. The 2005 General Election created an 'overhang' of one extra seat (occupied by the Māori Party), due to that party winning more seats in constituencies than the number of seats its proportion of the party vote would have given it.
There is no written constitution: the Constitution Act 1986 is the principal formal statement of New Zealand's constitutional structure. The Governor-General has the power to appoint and dismiss Prime Ministers and to dissolve Parliament. The Governor-General also chairs the Executive Council, which is a formal committee consisting of all ministers of the Crown. Members of the Executive Council are required to be Members of Parliament, and most are also in Cabinet. Cabinet is the most senior policy-making body and is led by the Prime Minister, who is also, by convention, the Parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition.
The current Prime Minister is Helen Clark, leader of the Labour Party. She is serving her third term as Prime Minister. On 17 October 2005 she announced that she had come to a complex arrangement that guaranteed the support of enough parties for her Labour-led coalition to govern. The formal coalition consists of the Labour Party and Jim Anderton, the Progressive Party's only MP. In addition to the parties in formal coalition, New Zealand First and United Future provide confidence and supply in return for their leaders being ministers outside cabinet. A further arrangement has been made with the Green Party, which has given a commitment not to vote against the government on confidence and supply. This commitment assures the government of a majority of seven MPs on confidence.
The Leader of the Opposition is National Party leader Don Brash, formerly Governor of the Reserve Bank. The ACT party and the Māori Party are both also in opposition. The Greens, New Zealand First and United Future all vote against the government on some legislation.
Major political parties:
Labour Party (50 seats)
National Party (48 seats)
Minor political parties (in Parliament):
ACT New Zealand (2 seats)
Green Party (6 seats)
Jim Anderton's Progressive Party (1 seat)
Māori Party (4 seats)
New Zealand First (7 seats)
United Future (3 seats)
The highest court in New Zealand is the Supreme Court of New Zealand, which was established in 2004 following the passage of the Supreme Court Act 2003. The Act abolished the option to appeal Court of Appeal rulings to the Privy Council in London. The current Chief Justice is Dame Sian Elias. New Zealand's judiciary also includes the High Court, which deals with serious criminal offences and civil matters, and the Court of Appeal, as well as subordinate courts.
Foreign relations and the military
Main articles: Foreign relations of New Zealand, Military of New Zealand, and Military history of New Zealand
New Zealand maintains a strong profile on environmental protection, human rights and free trade, particularly in agriculture.
New Zealand is a member of the following geo-political organisations: APEC, East Asia Summit, Commonwealth of Nations, OECD and the United Nations. It has signed up to a number of free trade agreements, of which the most important is Closer Economic Relations with Australia.
For its first hundred years, New Zealand followed the United Kingdom's lead on foreign policy. "Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand", said Prime Minister Michael Savage, in declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. However New Zealand came under the influence of the United States of America for the generation following the war (although New Zealand does still have a good working relationship with the UK).
New Zealand has traditionally worked closely with Australia, whose foreign policy followed a similar historical trend. In turn, many Pacific Islands such as Western Samoa have looked to New Zealand's lead. The American influence on New Zealand was weakened by the disappointment with the Vietnam War, the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by France, and by disagreements over environmental and agricultural trade issues and New Zealand's nuclear-free policy.
New Zealand is a party to the ANZUS security treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States. In February 1985 New Zealand refused nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships access to its ports. In 1986 the United States announced that it was suspending its treaty security obligations to New Zealand pending the restoration of port access. The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act 1987 prohibits the stationing of nuclear weapons on the territory of New Zealand and the entry into New Zealand waters of nuclear armed or propelled ships. This legislation remains a source of contention and the basis for the United States' continued suspension of treaty obligations to New Zealand.
In addition to the various wars between iwi, and between the British settlers and iwi, New Zealand has fought in the Second Boer War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency (and committed troops, fighters and bombers to the subsequent confrontation with Indonesia), the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the Afghanistan War, and briefly sent a unit of army engineers to help with rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure.
The New Zealand military has three branches: the New Zealand Army, the Royal New Zealand Navy, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. New Zealand considers its own national defence needs to be modest; it dismantled its air combat capability in 2001. New Zealand has contributed forces to recent regional and global peacekeeping missions, including those in Cyprus, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sinai, Angola, Cambodia, the Iran/Iraq border, Bougainville and East Timor.
Local government and external territories
The early European settlers divided New Zealand into provinces. These were abolished in 1876 so that government could be centralised, for financial reasons. As a result, New Zealand has no separately represented subnational entities such as provinces, states or territories, apart from its local government. The spirit of the provinces however still lives on, and there is fierce rivalry exhibited in sporting and cultural events. Since 1876, local government has administered the various regions of New Zealand. In 1989, the government completely reorganised local government, implementing the current two-tier structure of regional councils and territorial authorities.
Today New Zealand has 12 regional councils for the administration of environmental and transport matters and 74 territorial authorities that administer roading, sewerage, building consents, and other local matters. The territorial authorities are 16 city councils, 57 district councils, and the Chatham Islands County Council. Four of the territorial councils (one city and three districts) and the Chatham Islands County Council also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are known as unitary authorities. Territorial authority districts are not subdivisions of regional council districts, and a few of them straddle regional council boundaries.
Regions are (asterisks denote unitary authorities): Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne*, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu-Wanganui, Wellington, Marlborough*, Nelson*, Tasman*, West Coast, Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands*.
As a major South Pacific nation, New Zealand has a close working relationship with many Pacific Island nations, and continues a political association with the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau. New Zealand operates Scott Base in its Antarctic territory, the Ross Dependency. Other countries also use Christchurch to support their Antarctic bases and the city is sometimes known as the "Gateway to Antarctica".
Geography
New Zealand comprises two main islands (called the North and South Islands in English, Te-Ika-a-Maui and Te Wai Pounamu in Māori) and a number of smaller islands. The total land area, 268,680 square kilometres (103,738 sq miles), is a little less than that of Italy and Japan, and a little more than the United Kingdom. The country extends more than 1600 kilometres (1000 miles) along its main, north-north-east axis, with approximately 15,134 km of coastline. The most significant of the smaller inhabited islands include Stewart Island/Rakiura; Waiheke Island, in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf; Great Barrier Island, east of the Hauraki Gulf; and the Chatham Islands, named Rēkohu by Moriori. The country has extensive marine resources, with the fifth-largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world, covering over four million square kilometres (1.5 million sq mi), more than 15 times its land area.[2]
The South Island is the largest land mass, and is divided along its length by the Southern Alps, the highest peak of which is Aoraki/Mount Cook at 3754 metres (12,316 ft). There are 18 peaks of more than 3000 metres (9800 ft) in the South Island. The North Island is less mountainous than the South, but is marked by volcanism. The tallest North Island mountain, Mount Ruapehu (2797 m / 9176 ft), is an active cone volcano. The dramatic and varied landscape of New Zealand has made it a popular location for the production of television programmes and films, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The climate throughout the country is mild, mostly cool temperate to warm temperate, with temperatures rarely falling below 0°C (32°F) or rising above 30°C (86°F). Conditions vary from wet and cold on the West Coast of the South Island to dry and continental in the Mackenzie Basin of inland Canterbury and almost subtropical in Northland. Of the main cities, Christchurch is the driest, receiving only some 640 mm (25 in) of rain per year. Auckland, the wettest, receives almost twice that amount.
Flora and fauna
Because of its long isolation from the rest of the world and its island biogeography, New Zealand has extraordinary flora and fauna. About 80% of the New Zealand flora occurs only in New Zealand, including more than 40 endemic genera.[3] The two main types of forest have been dominated by podocarps including the giant kauri and southern beech. The remaining vegetation types in New Zealand are grasslands of tussock and other grasses, usually in sub-alpine areas, and the low shrublands between grasslands and forests.
Until the arrival of humans, 80% of the land was forested and, barring three species of bat (one now extinct), there were no non-marine mammals. Instead, New Zealand's forests were inhabited by a diverse range of birds including the flightless moa (now extinct), and the kiwi, kakapo, and takahē, all endangered due to human actions. Unique birds capable of flight include the Haast's eagle, which was the world's largest bird of prey (now extinct), and the large kākā and kea parrots. Reptiles present in New Zealand include skinks, geckos and tuatara. There are four endemic species of primitive frogs. There are no snakes and only one venomous spider, the katipo, which is rare and restricted to coastal regions. However, there are many species of insects, including the weta, one species of which may grow as large as a house mouse and is the heaviest insect in the world.
New Zealand has led the world in clearing offshore islands of introduced mammalian pests and reintroducing rare native species to ensure their survival. A more recent development is the mainland ecological island.
字数太多，无法尽录。
楼下好像也是和我的回答相同，可是没有标明引用出处 :)
New Zealand is a country in the south-western Pacific Ocean consisting of two large islands (North Island and South Island) and many much smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands. New Zealand is also known in Māori as Aotearoa, which is usually paraphrased in English as Land of the Long White Cloud.
The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue, which are self-governing, but in free association; Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica).
It is notable for its geographic isolation, being separated from Australia to the northwest by the Tasman Sea, some 2000 kilometres (1250 miles) across. Its closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga.
The population is mostly of European descent, with the indigenous Māori being the largest minority. Non-Māori Polynesian and Asian peoples are also significant minorities, especially in the cities.
Elizabeth II, as the Queen of New Zealand, is the nominal Head of State and is represented, in her absence, by a non-partisan Governor-General; the Queen 'reigns but does not rule', so she has no real political influence. Political power is held by the democratically-elected Parliament of New Zealand under the leadership of the Prime Minister who is the Head of Government
Concerned about the exploitation of Māori by Europeans, the British Colonial Office appointed James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832. In 1834, Busby convened the United Tribes of New Zealand to select a flag and declare their independence, which led to the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand. This declaration did not allay the fears of the Church Missionary Society, who continued lobbying for British annexation. Increasing French interest in the region led the British to annex New Zealand by Royal Proclamation in January 1840. To legitimise the British annexation, Lieutenant Governor William Hobson had been dispatched in 1839; he hurriedly negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with northern iwi on his arrival. The Treaty was signed in February, and in recent years it has come to be seen as the founding document of New Zealand. The Māori translation of the treaty promised the Māori tribes "tino rangatiratanga" would be preserved in return for ceding kawanatanga, which the English version translates as "chieftainship" and "sovereignty"; the real meanings are now disputed. Disputes over land sales and sovereignty caused the New Zealand land wars, which took place between 1845 and 1872. In 1975 the Treaty of Waitangi Act established the Waitangi Tribunal, charged with hearing claims of Crown violations of the Treaty of Waitangi. Some Māori tribes and the Moriori never signed the treaty.
A controversial incident during the land warsNew Zealand was initially administered as a part of the colony of New South Wales, and it became a separate colony in November 1840. The first capital was Okiato or old Russell in the Bay of Islands but it soon moved to Auckland. European settlement progressed more rapidly than anyone anticipated, and settlers soon outnumbered Māori. Self-government was granted to the settler population in 1852. There were political concerns following the discovery of gold in Central Otago in 1861 that the South Island would form a separate colony, so in 1865 the capital was moved to the more central city of Wellington. New Zealand was involved in a Constitutional Convention in March 1891 in Sydney, New South Wales, along with the Australian colonies. This was to consider a potential constitution for the proposed federation between all the Australasian colonies. New Zealand lost interest in joining Australia in a federation following this convention.
In 1893 New Zealand became the first nation to grant women the right to vote on the same basis as men; however, women were not eligible to stand for parliament until 1919.
New Zealand became an independent dominion on 26 September 1907, by Royal Proclamation. Full independence was granted by the United Kingdom Parliament with the Statute of Westminster in 1931; it was taken up upon the Statute's adoption by the New Zealand Parliament in 1947. Since then New Zealand has been a sovereign constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations.
In 1951, Australia, New Zealand and the United States formally became allies with the signing of the ANZUS Treaty. In 1985, New Zealand declared itself a nuclear-free zone. As a result, US warships could no longer enter New Zealand ports without declaring themselves to be free of nuclear weapons or power. As such a declaration would be against US Government policy, effectively the ships were banned from New Zealand. The United States suspended its obligations to New Zealand under the ANZUS Treaty.
[edit]
Government
Main articles on politics and government of New Zealand can be found at the Politics and government of New Zealand series.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of New Zealand.
Helen Clark,
Prime Minister
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. Under the New Zealand Royal Titles Act (1953), Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of New Zealand and is represented as head of state by the Governor-General, Anand Satyanand.
New Zealand is the only country in the world in which all the highest offices in the land have been occupied simultaneously by women, between March 2005 and August 2006 - The Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II, Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Margaret Wilson and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias.
The New Zealand Parliament has only one chamber, the House of Representatives, which usually seats 120 Members of Parliament. Parliamentary general elections are held every three years under a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional. The 2005 General Election created an 'overhang' of one extra seat (occupied by the Māori Party), due to that party winning more seats in constituencies than the number of seats its proportion of the party vote would have given it.
Beehive, Parliament BuildingsThere is no written constitution: the Constitution Act 1986 is the principal formal statement of New Zealand's constitutional structure. The Governor-General has the power to appoint and dismiss Prime Ministers and to dissolve Parliament. The Governor-General also chairs the Executive Council, which is a formal committee consisting of all ministers of the Crown. Members of the Executive Council are required to be Members of Parliament, and most are also in Cabinet. Cabinet is the most senior policy-making body and is led by the Prime Minister, who is also, by convention, the Parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition.
The current Prime Minister is Helen Clark, leader of the Labour Party. She is serving her third term as Prime Minister. On 17 October 2005 she announced that she had come to a complex arrangement that guaranteed the support of enough parties for her Labour-led coalition to govern. The formal coalition consists of the Labour Party and Jim Anderton, the Progressive Party's only MP. In addition to the parties in formal coalition, New Zealand First and United Future provide confidence and supply in return for their leaders being ministers outside cabinet. A further arrangement has been made with the Green Party, which has given a commitment not to vote against the government on confidence and supply. This commitment assures the government of a majority of seven MPs on confidence.
The Leader of the Opposition is National Party leader Don Brash, formerly Governor of the Reserve Bank. The ACT party and the Māori Party are both also in opposition. The Greens, New Zealand First and United Future all vote against the government on some legislation.
Major political parties:
Labour Party (50 seats)
National Party (48 seats)
Minor political parties (in Parliament):
ACT New Zealand (2 seats)
Green Party (6 seats)
Jim Anderton's Progressive Party (1 seat)
Māori Party (4 seats)
New Zealand First (7 seats)
United Future (3 seats)
The highest court in New Zealand is the Supreme Court of New Zealand, which was established in 2004 following the passage of the Supreme Court Act 2003. The Act abolished the option to appeal Court of Appeal rulings to the Privy Council in London. The current Chief Justice is Dame Sian Elias. New Zealand's judiciary also includes the High Court, which deals with serious criminal offences and civil matters, and the Court of Appeal, as well as subordinate courts.
[edit]
Foreign relations and the military
Main articles: Foreign relations of New Zealand, Military of New Zealand, and Military history of New Zealand
New Zealand maintains a strong profile on environmental protection, human rights and free trade, particularly in agriculture.
New Zealand is a member of the following geo-political organisations: APEC, East Asia Summit, Commonwealth of Nations, OECD and the United Nations. It has signed up to a number of free trade agreements, of which the most important is Closer Economic Relations with Australia.
For its first hundred years, New Zealand followed the United Kingdom's lead on foreign policy. "Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand", said Prime Minister Michael Savage, in declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. However New Zealand came under the influence of the United States of America for the generation following the war (although New Zealand does still have a good working relationship with the UK).
New Zealand has traditionally worked closely with Australia, whose foreign policy followed a similar historical trend. In turn, many Pacific Islands such as Western Samoa have looked to New Zealand's lead. The American influence on New Zealand was weakened by the disappointment with the Vietnam War, the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by France, and by disagreements over environmental and agricultural trade issues and New Zealand's nuclear-free policy.
New Zealand is a party to the ANZUS security treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States. In February 1985 New Zealand refused nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships access to its ports. In 1986 the United States announced that it was suspending its treaty security obligations to New Zealand pending the restoration of port access. The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act 1987 prohibits the stationing of nuclear weapons on the territory of New Zealand and the entry into New Zealand waters of nuclear armed or propelled ships. This legislation remains a source of contention and the basis for the United States' continued suspension of treaty obligations to New Zealand.
In addition to the various wars between iwi, and between the British settlers and iwi, New Zealand has fought in the Second Boer War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency (and committed troops, fighters and bombers to the subsequent confrontation with Indonesia), the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the Afghanistan War, and briefly sent a unit of army engineers to help with rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure.
The New Zealand military has three branches: the New Zealand Army, the Royal New Zealand Navy, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. New Zealand considers its own national defence needs to be modest; it dismantled its air combat capability in 2001. New Zealand has contributed forces to recent regional and global peacekeeping missions, including those in Cyprus, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Sinai, Angola, Cambodia, the Iran/Iraq border, Bougainville and East Timor.
[edit]
Local government and external territories
Main articles: Realm of New Zealand, Regions of New Zealand, and Territorial authorities of New Zealand
A map of New Zealand showing the major cities and townsThe early European settlers divided New Zealand into provinces. These were abolished in 1876 so that government could be centralised, for financial reasons. As a result, New Zealand has no separately represented subnational entities such as provinces, states or territories, apart from its local government. The spirit of the provinces however still lives on, and there is fierce rivalry exhibited in sporting and cultural events. Since 1876, local government has administered the various regions of New Zealand. In 1989, the government completely reorganised local government, implementing the current two-tier structure of regional councils and territorial authorities.
Today New Zealand has 12 regional councils for the administration of environmental and transport matters and 74 territorial authorities that administer roading, sewerage, building consents, and other local matters. The territorial authorities are 16 city councils, 57 district councils, and the Chatham Islands County Council. Four of the territorial councils (one city and three districts) and the Chatham Islands County Council also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are known as unitary authorities. Territorial authority districts are not subdivisions of regional council districts, and a few of them straddle regional council boundaries.
Regions are (asterisks denote unitary authorities): Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne*, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu-Wanganui, Wellington, Marlborough*, Nelson*, Tasman*, West Coast, Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands*.
As a major South Pacific nation, New Zealand has a close working relationship with many Pacific Island nations, and continues a political association with the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau. New Zealand operates Scott Base in its Antarctic territory, the Ross Dependency. Other countries also use Christchurch to support their Antarctic bases and the city is sometimes known as the "Gateway to Antarctica".
[edit]
Geography
Main article: Geography of New Zealand
A satellite image of New Zealand. Lake Taupo and Mount Ruapehu are visible in the centre of the North Island. The Southern Alps and the rain shadow they create are clearly visible in the South IslandNew Zealand comprises two main islands (called the North and South Islands in English, Te-Ika-a-Maui and Te Wai Pounamu in Māori) and a number of smaller islands. The total land area, 268,680 square kilometres (103,738 sq miles), is a little less than that of Italy and Japan, and a little more than the United Kingdom. The country extends more than 1600 kilometres (1000 miles) along its main, north-north-east axis, with approximately 15,134 km of coastline. The most significant of the smaller inhabited islands include Stewart Island/Rakiura; Waiheke Island, in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf; Great Barrier Island, east of the Hauraki Gulf; and the Chatham Islands, named Rēkohu by Moriori. The country has extensive marine resources, with the fifth-largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world, covering over four million square kilometres (1.5 million sq mi), more than 15 times its land area.[2]
The South Island is the largest land mass, and is divided along its length by the Southern Alps, the highest peak of which is Aoraki/Mount Cook at 3754 metres (12,316 ft). There are 18 peaks of more than 3000 metres (9800 ft) in the South Island. The North Island is less mountainous than the South, but is marked by volcanism. The tallest North Island mountain, Mount Ruapehu (2797 m / 9176 ft), is an active cone volcano. The dramatic and varied landscape of New Zealand has made it a popular location for the production of television programmes and films, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Aoraki/Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand.The climate throughout the country is mild, mostly cool temperate to warm temperate, with temperatures rarely falling below 0°C (32°F) or rising above 30°C (86°F). Conditions vary from wet and cold on the West Coast of the South Island to dry and continental in the Mackenzie Basin of inland Canterbury and almost subtropical in Northland. Of the main cities, Christchurch is the driest, receiving only some 640 mm (25 in) of rain per year. Auckland, the wettest, receives almost twice that amount.
[edit]
Flora and fauna
Main articles: New Zealand animals, New Zealand plants, Biodiversity of New Zealand, and List of extinct New Zealand animals
Crowns of two kauri treesBecause of its long isolation from the rest of the world and its island biogeography, New Zealand has extraordinary flora and fauna. About 80% of the New Zealand flora occurs only in New Zealand, including more than 40 endemic genera.[3] The two main types of forest have been dominated by podocarps including the giant kauri and southern beech. The remaining vegetation types in New Zealand are grasslands of tussock and other grasses, usually in sub-alpine areas, and the low shrublands between grasslands and forests.
Until the arrival of humans, 80% of the land was forested and, barring three species of bat (one now extinct), there were no non-marine mammals. Instead, New Zealand's forests were inhabited by a diverse range of birds including the flightless moa (now extinct), and the kiwi, kakapo, and takahē, all endangered due to human actions. Unique birds capable of flight include the Haast's eagle, which was the world's largest bird of prey (now extinct), and the large kākā and kea parrots. Reptiles present in New Zealand include skinks, geckos and tuatara. There are four endemic species of primitive frogs. There are no snakes and only one venomous spider, the katipo, which is rare and restricted to coastal regions. However, there are many species of insects, including the weta, one species of which may grow as large as a house mouse and is the heaviest insect in the world.
New Zealand has led the world in clearing offshore islands of introduced mammalian pests and reintroducing rare native species to ensure their survival. A more recent development is the mainland ecological island.
[edit]
Economy
Main article: Economy of New Zealand
Auckland, the economic capital of the country, with the Sky Tower in the background.New Zealand has a modern developed economy with an estimated GDP of $97.39 billion (2005).
The country has a high standard of living with GDP per capita estimated at $25,200 (comparative figures are Australia $31,900 and United States $41,800). The standard of living has also been measured in other forms, including being ranked 19th on the 2005 Human Development Index and 15th in The Economist's 2005 world-wide quality-of-life index.
The tertiary sector is the largest sector in the economy and constitutes 67.6% of GDP, followed by the secondary sector on 27.8% and the primary sector on 4.7% (2005 estimate).
New Zealand is a country heavily dependent on trade, particularly in agricultural products, as almost 20% of the country's output is exported (by comparison it is 21% for the United Kingdom, 49% for Finland and 83% for Belgium). This leaves New Zealand particularly vulnerable to slumps in commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. Its principal export industries are agriculture, horticulture, fishing and forestry making up about half of the country's exports. Its major export partners are Australia 22.4%, US 11.3%, Japan 11.2%, China 9.7%, Germany 5.2% (2004). This is a dramatic change from 1965 when the United Kingdom received over half of New Zealand’s exports.
Traditionally, New Zealand enjoyed a high standard of living with stable commodity exports, based not least on a strong relationship with the United Kingdom. In 1973 the United Kingdom joined the then European Community and began to adhere to its trade policy and at the same time other factors such as the oil crises undermined the viability of the New Zealand economy. This lead to a protracted and ve
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