nEwZeALaNd

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island), and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud. The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing but in free association); Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica).
New Zealand is notable for its geographic isolation, situated about 2000 km (1250 miles) southeast of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and its closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. During its long isolation New Zealand developed a distinctive fauna dominated by birds, a number of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and the mammals they introduced.
The population is mostly of European descent, with the indigenous Māori being the largest minority. Asians and non-Māori Polynesians are also significant minorities, especially in the urban areas. Elizabeth II, as the Queen of New Zealand, is the Head of State and, in her absence, is represented by a non-partisan Governor-General. She has no real political influence, and her position is essentially symbolic. 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.

Etymology
It is unknown whether Māori had a name for New Zealand as a whole before the arrival of Europeans, although they referred to the North Island as Te Ika a Māui (the fish of Māui) and the South Island as Te Wai Pounamu (the waters of greenstone) or Te Waka o Aoraki (the canoe of Aoraki).[8] Until the early 20th century, the North Island was also referred to as Aotearoa (colloquially translated "land of the long white cloud");[9] in modern Māori usage, this name refers to the whole country. Aotearoa is also commonly used in this sense in New Zealand English, where it is sometimes used alone, and in some formal uses combined with the English name to express respect to the original inhabitants of the country, for example in the form of "[Organisation name] of Aotearoa New Zealand".
The first European name for New Zealand was Staten Landt, the name given to it by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who in 1642 became the first European to see the islands. Tasman assumed it was part of a southern continent connected with land discovered in 1615 off the southern tip of South America by Jacob Le Maire. The name New Zealand originated with Dutch cartographers, who called the islands Nova Zeelandia, after the Dutch province of Zeeland.[10] No one is certain exactly who first coined the term, but it first appeared in 1645 and may have been the choice of cartographer Johan Blaeu.[11] British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand. There is no connection to the Danish island Zealand.

History
New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major landmasses. The first settlers of New Zealand were Eastern Polynesians who came to New Zealand, probably in a series of migrations, sometime between around 700 and 2000 years ago.[8][12] Over the following centuries these settlers developed into a distinct culture now known as Māori. The population was divided into Iwi (tribes) and hapū (subtribes) which would co-operate, compete and sometimes fight with each other. At some point a group of Māori migrated to the Chatham Islands where they developed their own distinct Moriori culture.[13][14]
The first Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman and his crew in 1642.[15] Māori killed several of the crew and no Europeans returned to New Zealand until British explorer James Cook's voyage of 1768–71.[15] Cook reached New Zealand in 1769 and mapped almost the entire coastline. Following Cook, New Zealand was visited by numerous European and North American whaling, sealing and trading ships. They traded European food and goods, especially metal tools and weapons, for Māori timber, food, artefacts and water. On occasion, Europeans traded goods for sex.[16] The potato and the musket transformed Māori agriculture and warfare, although the resulting Musket Wars died out once the tribal imbalance of arms had been rectified. From the early nineteenth century, Christian missionaries began to settle New Zealand, eventually converting most of the Māori population, who had become disillusioned with their indigenous faith by the introduction of Western culture.

Abel Tasman National Park in South Island, New Zealand.
New Zealand from space. The snow-capped Southern Alps dominate the South Island, while the North Island's Northland Peninsula stretches towards the subtropics
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 continent nearly half the size of Australia that is otherwise almost completely submerged. About 25 million years ago, a shift in plate tectonic movements began to pull Zealandia apart forcefully, with this now being most evident along the Alpine Fault and in the highly active Taupo volcanic zone. The tectonic boundary continues as subduction zones east of the North Island along the Hikurangi Trench to continue north of New Zealand along the Kermadec Trench and the Tonga Trench which is mirrored in the south by the Puysegur Trench.
New Zealand is culturally and linguistically part of Polynesia, and is the south-western anchor of the Polynesian Triangle.

Economy
New Zealand is a country heavily dependent on free trade, particularly in agricultural products. Exports account for around 24% of its output,[36] which is a relatively high figure (it is around 50% for many smaller European countries).[ii] This makes New Zealand particularly vulnerable to international commodity prices and global economic slowdowns. Its principal export industries are agriculture, horticulture, fishing and forestry. These make up about half of the country's exports. Its major export partners are Australia 20.5%, US 13.1%, Japan 10.3%, China 5.4%, UK 4.9% (2006).[36] Tourism plays a significant role in New Zealand's economy. Tourism contributes $12.8 billion (or 8.9%) to New Zealand’s total GDP and supports nearly 200,000 full-time equivalent jobs (9.9% of the total workforce in New Zealand).[37] Tourists to New Zealand are expected to increase at a rate of 4% annually up to 2013.[37]
The New Zealand dollar is the currency of New Zealand. It also circulates in the Cook Islands (see also Cook Islands dollar), Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. It is sometimes informally known as the "Kiwi dollar".

Recent history
Milford Sound, New Zealand's most famous tourist destination[38]
Historically New Zealand enjoyed a high standard of living which relied on its strong relationship with the United Kingdom, and the resulting stable market for its commodity exports. New Zealand's economy was also built upon on a narrow range of primary products, such as wool, meat and dairy products. High demand for these products - such as the New Zealand wool boom of 1951 created sustained periods of economic prosperity. However, in 1973 the United Kingdom joined the European Community which effectively ended this particularly close economic relationship between the two countries. During the 1970s other factors such as the oil crises undermined the viability of the New Zealand economy; which for periods before 1973 had achieved levels of living standards exceeding both Australia and Western Europe.[39] These events led to a protracted and very severe economic crisis, during which living standards in New Zealand fell behind those of Australia and Western Europe, and by 1982 New Zealand was the lowest in per-capita income of all the developed nations surveyed by the World Bank.[40]
Since 1984, successive governments have engaged in major macroeconomic restructuring, transforming New Zealand from a highly protectionist and regulated economy to a liberalised free-trade economy. These changes are commonly known as Rogernomics and Ruthanasia after Finance Ministers Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson. A recession began after the 1987 share market crash and caused unemployment to reach 10% in the early 1990s. Subsequently the economy recovered and New Zealand’s unemployment rate reached a record low of 3.4% in the December 2007 quarter, ranking fifth from twenty-seven OECD nations with comparable data.[41] In 2009, New Zealand's economy ranked as the fifth freest in the world according the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom.[42]
The current government's economic objectives are centred on pursuing free-trade agreements and building a "knowledge economy". On 7 April 2008, New Zealand and China signed the New Zealand China Free Trade Agreement, the first such agreement China has signed with a developed country.[43] Ongoing economic challenges for New Zealand include a current account deficit of 7.9% of GDP,[44] slow development of non-commodity exports and tepid growth of labour productivity. New Zealand has experienced a series of "brain drains" since the 1970s,[45] as well as educated youth leaving permanently for Australia, Britain or the United States. "Kiwi lifestyle" and family/whanau factors motivates some of the expatriates to return, while career, culture, and economic factors tend to be predominantly 'push' components, keeping these people overseas.[46] In recent years, however, a brain gain brought in educated professionals from poor countries, as well as Europe, as permanent settlers.[47][48]

Energy production
Seventy per cent of electricity in New Zealand is generated with renewable energy, primarily hydropower and geothermal power.

Film Industry
Although films have been made in New Zealand since the 1920s, it was only from the 1970s that New Zealand films began to be produced in significant numbers. Films such as Sleeping Dogs and Goodbye Pork Pie achieved local success and launched the careers of actors and directors including Sam Neill, Geoff Murphy and Roger Donaldson. In the early 1990s, New Zealand films such as Jane Campion's Academy Award-winning film The Piano, Lee Tamahori's Once Were Warriors and Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures began to garner international acclaim. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Jackson filmed The Lord of the Rings film trilogy in New Zealand, using mostly New Zealand crew and extras. Whale Rider, originally a novel by Witi Ihimaera, was produced in 2002 and received recognition from various festivals and awards. New Zealand features as a primary or additional location for many international productions, examples include The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Bridge to Terabithia and Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai.

Media
Media of New Zealand
The New Zealand media industry is dominated by a small number of companies, most of which are foreign-owned,[iii] although the state retains ownership of some television and radio stations. New Zealand television broadcasts mostly American and British programming, along with a small number of Australian and New Zealand shows.
The Broadcasting Standards Authority and the New Zealand Press Council can investigate allegations of bias and inaccuracy in the broadcast and print media. Combined with New Zealand's libel laws, this means that the New Zealand news media is fairly tame by international standards, but also reasonably fair and impartial. New Zealand receives high rankings in press freedom. Between 2003 and 2008, Reporters Without Borders has consistently ranked the country in the top twenty, placing it seventh in 2008.[68]

Sports
The All Blacks perform a haka before a match against France in 2006
Sport has a major role in New Zealand's culture, with the unofficial national sport of rugby union being particularly influential. Other popular participatory sports include cricket, bowls, netball, soccer, motorsport, golf, swimming and tennis.[69] New Zealand has strong international teams in several sports including rugby union, netball, cricket, rugby league, and softball. New Zealand also does traditionally well in the sports of rowing, yachting and cycling. The country is internationally recognised for performing well on a medals-to-population ratio at Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games.[70][71]
Rugby union, commonly referred to as rugby, is closely linked to the country's national identity. The national rugby team, the All Blacks, has the best win to loss record of any national team,[72] and is well known for the haka (a traditional Māori challenge) performed before the start of international matches.[73] Rugby league is also widely played in New Zealand. The New Zealand Warriors compete in the Australian NRL competition, and in 2008 the national side, the Kiwis, won the Rugby League World Cup.[74]
New Zealand is also well known for its extreme sports and adventure tourism.[75] Its reputation in extreme sports extends from the establishment of the world's first commercial bungy jumping site at Queenstown in the South Island in November 1988.[76] Mountaineering is also popular, with the country's most famous climber being the late Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.