New Zealand

I

Introduction

New Zealand, island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, located south of the equator in the Southern Hemisphere, and marking the eastern boundary of the Tasman Sea, a portion of the Pacific Ocean that separates New Zealand and the nearest large landmass, Australia, by a distance of about 1,600 km (1,000 mi). New Zealand includes two large islands that constitute most of its landmass, as well as numerous small islands. New Zealand administers two overseas territories, Tokelau and Ross Dependency (in Antarctica). The self-governing entities of Niue and the Cook Islands are in free association with New Zealand, which handles their foreign affairs and defense as requested.

New Zealand is known for its scenic landscapes of snowcapped mountains and rolling green pastures. Its image as a farming outpost stems from the traditional importance of agriculture to the economy as well as the low population density in most areas. However, the majority of New Zealanders live in urban areas, and many now earn a living in service industries such as tourism. The capital of New Zealand is Wellington. The largest and most cosmopolitan city is Auckland.

Polynesians first settled the islands of New Zealand about 800 to 1,000 years ago. According to legend, they named the islands Aotearoa (“Land of the Long White Cloud”). Their descendants are the Maori. The first European settlers came from the United Kingdom, arriving in increasing numbers after New Zealand became a colony of the British Empire in 1840. Until the mid-20th century the non-Maori population of New Zealand was predominantly European in origin. Since then many people have migrated from the Pacific Islands and Asia, and the ethnic composition of the country is becoming more diverse. In 1907 New Zealand became a self-governing dominion within the British Empire. Now an independent nation, New Zealand maintains close ties with the United Kingdom as a full member of the Commonwealth of Nations, but increasingly it sees its identity as a nation in the Pacific and Asia.

II

Land and Resources

New Zealand is part of the Pacific Islands, or Oceania, a grouping of thousands of islands in the Pacific Ocean. The South Island and the North Island of New Zealand are Oceania’s second and third largest islands, respectively. New Zealand is considered part of Polynesia, one of three major divisions of the Pacific Islands.

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The total land area of New Zealand is 267,990 sq km (103,470 sq mi), about the same size as Japan or the British Isles. The North and South islands make up almost the entire area of the country. Separating these islands is Cook Strait, a channel between the South Pacific Ocean on the east and the Tasman Sea on the west. The islands stretch along a predominantly northeast by southwest axis. Their length from north to south is about 1,600 km (1,000 mi), and their maximum width from east to west is 450 km (280 mi).

Many small and widely scattered islands are also included in the territory of New Zealand. Some are tiny and uninhabited. Of the inhabited islands, Stewart Island is the largest and nearest, located about 30 km (20 mi) off the southern shore of the South Island. Campbell Island lies 600 km (375 mi) farther south, and the Chatham Islands are about 850 km (530 mi) east of the South Island. Raoul Island, the largest of the Kermadec Islands, lies more than 900 km (600 mi) northeast of the North Island.

The South Island contains the highest point in New Zealand, Mount Cook (in Maori, Aorangi), reaching a height of 3,754 m (12,316 ft) in the central Southern Alps. Another 18 mountains in the chain rise above 3,000 m (10,000 ft). The Southern Alps extend about 500 km (300 mi), almost the entire length of the South Island. The western side of the chain rises at the coast, with a narrow strip of coastline between mountains and sea. The eastern side of the chain descends to a region of rolling hills and fertile plains, drained by numerous glacier-fed rivers. (Mount Cook contains Tasman Glacier, the largest of about 360 glaciers in the Southern Alps.) The east-central Canterbury Plains form the largest lowland area in the country. To the south are the hills and plains of the Otago Plateau, which is bordered on the west by the wilderness of Fiordland National Park. Here the southern foothills of the Southern Alps meet a rugged coastline of fjords (fiords), or deep, narrow coastal inlets. In the north the Alps break up into numerous mountain ranges, with the Richmond Range continuing to the northeastern end of the island. The Tasman Mountains form another mountain system in the northwest.

On the North Island elevations rarely exceed 1,000 m (3,000 ft), with the exception of several volcanic peaks. In the west is Mount Taranaki (also named Mount Egmont), with an almost perfectly symmetrical cone rising to a height of 2,518 m (8,261 ft). The central volcanic plateau contains the peaks of Mount Ruapehu (2,797 m/9,177 ft), Mount Ngauruhoe (2,291 m/7,515 ft), and Mount Tongariro (1,968 m/6,458 ft). Many of these volcanoes are still considered to be active even if they have not erupted in the last two centuries. The two most recently active volcanoes are Mount Ruapehu and White Island (in Maori, Whakaari). Mount Ruapehu, the highest point of the North Island, erupted with substantial clouds of ash in 1995 and 1996, and dangerous lahars (concrete-like mixtures of volcanic ash and mud) occasionally slide down its slopes. White Island is the peak of a submerged volcano in the Bay of Plenty, off the east coast of the North Island. Visitors to White Island can witness constant low-intensity volcanic activity.

A

Geology

New Zealand is located within the Ring of Fire, a region encircling the Pacific Ocean where the movement of tectonic plates (huge segments of Earth’s crust) leads to volcanic and seismic activity. The Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates meet at New Zealand, but their movements are significantly different under the two main islands. At the South Island the plates converge in a mostly lateral, or sideways, movement. This created the Southern Alps by uplifting and folding oceanic sediment. At the North Island, however, the Pacific plate is folding under the other plate. This subduction has forced volcanic activity to the surface. Scientific evidence shows that the North Island has had a number of huge volcanic eruptions over the last 30,000 years. Two huge eruptions 26,000 years ago and nearly 1,000 years ago created the deep crater that is now Lake Taupo; the latter eruption is considered to be one of the largest in history. Volcanic activity continues today in the island’s central region. Geysers and hot springs (signs of geothermal activity) are also found throughout the region, and earthquakes are frequent but generally moderate.

New Zealand was once part of the ancient super-continent Gondwanaland, which also included Africa, Madagascar, India, Australia, Antarctica, and South America. Plate tectonics began to break up Gondwanaland around 170 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. The New Zealand landmass remained attached to Antarctica until around 82 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. The small landmass then broke off, drifted northward, and became isolated from the rest of the world. Around 35 million years ago, during the Oligocene Epoch, large portions of New Zealand were underwater, leaving perhaps only 20 percent of the modern area as dry land. Thousands of years ago during the ice ages the land area of New Zealand was larger than now and the two islands were connected as a single body when world sea levels were as much as 135 m (450 ft) lower.

B

Coastline

The coastline of New Zealand is about 15,134 km (9,400 mi) in length. The North Island coastline has many bays, harbors, and inlets. The coastline is highly irregular in the region of Northland, a 330-km-long (205-mi-long) peninsular extension to the northwest of Auckland. The chief seaports of Auckland and Wellington overlook natural harbors. The South Island coastline is more regular in parts, although exceptions include Fiordland in the southwest, where glaciers long ago carved deep valleys that the ocean flooded to form fjords, and the Marlborough Sounds in the northeast, an area of many sheltered inlets and islands.

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