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New Zealand

New Zealand, an island country in the southwestern Pacific, consists of the North and South Islands and over 600 smaller islands, with Wellington as the capital and Auckland as the largest city. The country has a rich history of Polynesian settlement and European exploration, leading to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, which established British sovereignty. Today, New Zealand is a developed nation known for its high quality of life, cultural diversity, and significant economic sectors including services and tourism.

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26 views1 page

New Zealand

New Zealand, an island country in the southwestern Pacific, consists of the North and South Islands and over 600 smaller islands, with Wellington as the capital and Auckland as the largest city. The country has a rich history of Polynesian settlement and European exploration, leading to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, which established British sovereignty. Today, New Zealand is a developed nation known for its high quality of life, cultural diversity, and significant economic sectors including services and tourism.

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sxy50316
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New Zealand

New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It
consists of two main landmasses—the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) and the South Island (Te
Waipounamu)—and over 600 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area and
lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji,
and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the
Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city
is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland.
The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans.
Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and subsequently
developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the
first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1769 the British explorer Captain James
Cook became the first European to set foot on and map New Zealand. In 1840,
representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi which
paved the way for Britain's declaration of sovereignty later that year and the establishment of
the Crown Colony of New Zealand in 1841. Subsequently, a series of conflicts between the
colonial government and Māori tribes resulted in the alienation and confiscation of large
amounts of Māori land. New Zealand became a dominion in 1907; it gained full statutory
independence in 1947, retaining the monarch as head of state. Today, the majority of New
Zealand's population of 5.25 million is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the
largest minority, followed by Asians and Pasifika. Reflecting this, New Zealand's culture is
mainly derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening of culture arising
from increased immigration to the country. The official languages are English, Māori, and New
Zealand Sign Language, with the local dialect of English being dominant.
A developed country, it was the first to introduce a minimum wage, and the first to give
women the right to vote. It ranks very highly in international measures of quality of life, human
rights, and it has one of the lowest levels of perceived corruption in the world. It retains visible
levels of inequality, having structural disparities between its Māori and European populations.
New Zealand underwent major economic changes during the 1980s, which transformed it
from a protectionist to a liberalised free-trade economy. The service sector dominates the
national economy, followed by the industrial sector, and agriculture; international tourism is
also a significant source of revenue. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations,
Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, UKUSA, Five Eyes, OECD, ASEAN Plus Six, Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation, the Pacific Community and the Pacific Islands Forum. It enjoys
particularly close relations with the United States and is one of its major non-NATO allies; the
United Kingdom; Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga. New Zealand and Australia have a strong relationship

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