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Portal:New Zealand

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New Zealand
Aotearoa (Māori)
A map of the hemisphere centred on New Zealand, using an orthographic projection.
Location of New Zealand, including outlying islands, its territorial claim in the Antarctic, and Tokelau
ISO 3166 codeNZ

New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa [aɔˈtɛaɾɔa]) 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 700 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.

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; and with Australia, with a shared "Trans-Tasman" identity between the two countries stemming from centuries of British colonisation. (Full article...)

This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

The Highlanders (Māori: Kahupeka; formerly the Otago Highlanders) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Dunedin that compete in Super Rugby. The team was formed in 1996 to represent the lower South Island in the newly formed Super 12 competition, and includes the Otago, North Otago and Southland unions. The Highlanders take their name from the Scottish immigrants that founded the Otago, North Otago, and Southland regions in the 1840s and 1850s.

Their main ground through the 2011 Super Rugby season was Carisbrook in Dunedin, with home games occasionally being played in Invercargill and Queenstown. The Highlanders moved into Carisbrook's replacement, Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza, for the 2012 season; the stadium opened in time for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, but after the Super Rugby season. (Full article...)

General images

The following are images from various New Zealand-related articles on Wikipedia.

More Did you know? - show different entries

...that the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame was inaugurated as part of the New Zealand sesquicentenary celebrations in 1990?

...that the Melbourne, Australia, suburb of Seddon was named after New Zealand premier Richard Seddon?

... that the political policies of the McGillicuddy Serious Party including replacing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state with Bonnie Prince Geoffie the Reluctant?

...that the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership, which came into force on 1 January 2006, eliminates 90% of all tariffs between New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and Chile?


Selected article - show another

The Treaty of Waitangi (Māori: Tiriti o Waitangi) is a treaty signed on February 6, 1840 by representatives of the British Crown, and Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand. Prepared hastily and without legal assistance, it was first signed on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand by a representative of the British Crown, and Māori chiefs from the upper North Island. Over the following months, copies were signed by other chiefs around the country. From the British point of view, the Treaty justified making New Zealand a British colony; it also gave Māori the rights of British citizens and the right to ownership of their lands and other properties. However significant differences between the Māori and English language versions of the Treaty mean that there is no consensus as to what rights the Treaty gives to which groups. (Full article...)

Selected picture - show another

Stormy sunset over Waimakariri River basin, New Zealand
Stormy sunset over Waimakariri River basin, New Zealand

The Waimakariri River is one of the largest rivers in Canterbury, on the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It flows for 151 kilometres (94 mi) in a generally southeastward direction from the Southern Alps across the Canterbury Plains to the Pacific Ocean. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

  • ... that a hut on New Zealand's Copland Track had to be moved after being hit by a mudslide just 13 weeks after opening?
  • ... that Thomas Broun has been blamed for inflating the number of beetle species in New Zealand?
  • ... that the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve is the only known nesting area for the eastern great egret in New Zealand?
  • ... that the New Zealand fishing company Sealord Group is half-owned by iwi?
  • ... that New Zealand editor and journalist Madeleine Chapman, known for fashion label exposés and snack food ranking lists, is a champion javelin thrower?
  • ... that New Zealand footballer Grace Wisnewski's bottom-ranked team upset the defending league champions when she scored what an A-League statistician called an "acrobatic" 99th-minute equalising goal?
  • ... that Mary Earle was born near Ben Nevis, and although she became a professor of food technology in New Zealand, she never forgot her Scottish roots?
  • ... that a design for the 1930s New Zealand penny depicted a rugby player?

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