“new zealand”

*SATELLITE VIEW*
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*WIKILINK*
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(‘new zealand’ (māori: aotearoa [aɔˈtɛaɾɔa]) is a ‘sovereign island country’ in the ‘southwestern pacific ocean’)
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(the country geographically comprises 2 main landmasses) –>

the ‘north island’ 
(te ika-a-māui),

the ‘south island’ 
(te waipounamu)
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(‘new zealand’ also contains ~600 smaller islands)

(‘new zealand’ is situated some ‘1,500 kilometers’ (or ‘900 miles) east of ‘australia’ across the ‘tasman sea’ and roughly ‘1,000 kilometers’ (or ‘600 miles) south of the ‘pacific island’ areas of ‘new caledonia’, ‘fiji’, and ‘tonga’)

(because of its ‘remoteness’, it was one of the last ‘lands’ to be ‘settled’ by ‘humans’)

(during its long period of ‘isolation’, ‘new zealand’ developed a distinct biodiversity of (‘animal’ / ‘fungal’ / ‘plant’) life)

(the country’s ‘varied topography’ and its ‘sharp mountain peaks’ (such as the ‘southern alps’, owe much to the ‘tectonic uplift’ of ‘land’ and ‘volcanic eruptions’)

(‘new zealand’s ‘capital city’ is ‘wellington’, while its ‘most populous city’ is ‘auckland’)
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(sometime between ‘1250’ and ‘1300’, ‘polynesians’ settled in the islands that later were named ‘new zealand’ and developed a distinctive ‘māori culture’)

(in ‘1642’, dutch explorer ‘abel tasman’ became the first european to sight ‘new zealand’)

(in ‘1840’, representatives of the ‘united kingdom’ and ‘māori chiefs’ signed the ‘treaty of waitangi’, which declared ‘british sovereignty’ over the ‘islands’)

(in ‘1841’, ‘new zealand’ became a colony within the ‘british empire’ and in ‘1907’ it became a ‘dominion’; it gained ‘full statutory independence’ in ‘1947’ and the ‘british monarch’ remained the ‘head of state’)

(today, the majority of new zealand’s population of ‘4.9 million’ is of ‘european descent’; the indigenous ‘māori’ are the ‘largest minority’, followed by ‘asians’ and ‘pacific islanders’)

(reflecting this, new zealand’s culture is mainly derived from ‘māori’ and early british settlers, with recent broadening arising from ‘increased immigration’)

(the ‘official languages’ are ‘english’, ‘māori’, and ‘NZ sign language’ (?!?), with ‘english’ being ‘very dominant’)

“how’ dominant’?”
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(a ‘developed country’, ‘new zealand’ ranks highly in international comparisons of ‘national performance’, such as ‘quality of life’, ‘health’, ‘education’, ‘protection of ‘civil liberties”, and ‘economic freedom’)

(‘new zealand’ underwent ‘major economic changes’ during the ‘1980s’, which transformed it from a ‘protectionist’ to a ‘liberalized 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”)

(nationally, ‘legislative authority ‘is vested in an ‘elected’ + ‘unicameral’ parliament, while ‘executive political power’ is exercised by the ‘cabinet’, led by the ‘prime minister’, who is currently ‘jacinda ardern’) 

(‘queen elizabeth II is the country’s head of state and is represented by a ‘governor-general’, currently ‘dame patsy reddy’)

(in addition, ‘new zealand’ is organized into ’11 regional councils’ and ’67 territorial authorities’ for ‘local government purposes’)

(the ‘realm of ‘new zealand” also includes ‘tokelau’ (a ‘dependent territory’); the ‘cook islands’ and ‘niue’ (‘self-governing states’ in ‘free association’ with ‘new zealand’); and the ‘ross dependency’, which is new zealand’s ‘territorial claim’ in ‘antarctica’)
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(‘new zealand’ is a member of…)

the ‘united nations’

the ‘commonwealth of nations’

‘ANZUS’

“organization for economic ‘co-operation’ and ‘development'”

“ASEAN plus mechanism”

“asia-pacific economic co-operation”

the ‘pacific islands forum’
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