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New Zealand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Zealand is a country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean comprising two large islands (the North Island and the South Island) and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands. In Māori, New Zealand is also known as Aotearoa, which is usually translated into English as the 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).

New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island form what is known by anthropologists as the Polynesian Triangle.

New Zealand 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 people are also significant minorities, especially in the cities.

Elizabeth II, as the Queen of New Zealand, is the 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.

Demographics

New Zealand has a population of about 4.1 million. About 80% of the population are of European descent. New Zealanders of European descent are collectively known as Pākehā - this term is used variously and some Māori use it to refer to all non-Māori New Zealanders. Most European New Zealanders are of British and Irish ancestry with smaller percentages of Dutch, South Slav, and/or Italian ancestry.

Indigenous Māori people are the largest non-European ethnic group (the percentage of the population of full or part-Māori ancestry is 14.7%; those who checked Māori only are 7.9%). Between the 1996 and 2001 census, the number of people of Asian origin (6.6%) overtook the number of people of Pacific Island origin (6.5%) (note that the census allowed multiple ethnic affiliations). New Zealand has relatively open immigration policies; its government is committed to increasing its population by about 1% annually. At present, immigrants from the United Kingdom constitute the largest single group (30%) but immigrants are drawn from many nations, and increasingly from East Asia (Chinese, Japanese and Korean are the most numerous of this group, but includes Southeast Asian and Indian peoples).

According to the 2001 census Christianity is the predominant religion with around 60% identification. Around 30% identified that they were "non-religious", and 6% objected to answering, leaving only 4% for other religions. The main Christian denominations are Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, Presbyterianism and Methodism. There are also significant numbers who identify themselves with Pentecostal and Baptist churches and with the LDS (Mormon) church. The New Zealand-based Ratana church has many adherents among Māori. According to census figures, other significant minority religions include Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.

Climate

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.

New Zealand is a small part of a 93% submerged continent called Zealandia that is above sea level. It is almost half the size of Australia and is unusually long and thin. About 25 million years ago, a shift in plate tectonic movements began to pull apart Zealandia forcefully. The submerged parts of Zealandia are the Lord Howe Rise, Challenger Plateau, Campbell Plateau, Norfolk Ridge and the Chatham Rise.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". Content on Wikipedia is covered by disclaimers.

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