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 low levels of perceived corruption. 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, 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.

Love in Motion is the fourth studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Anika Moa. The album's underlying theme is love. Moa's civil partner, Azaria Universe, was her biggest influence when writing the album. With Love in Motion, Moa moved from the folk and country pop influences of In Swings the Tide to a pop rock sound. The album was released by EMI Records internationally on 12 March 2010, with releases in Moa's home country and Australia following on 5 April and 10 September, respectively. Moa toured Westfield malls the week of the album's release, and a concert tour followed in May and June 2010.

Critical reviews for the album have been mostly positive, with Moa's lyrical writing received well. It debuted and peaked on the New Zealand Albums Chart at number four. "Running Through the Fire (Storm)" served as the album's lead single, which peaked at number thirty-eight on the New Zealand Singles Chart. "Blame It on the Rain", the second single, did not appear on any record chart. Love in Motion Covers was released in October 2011; it comprises covers of the songs from Love in Motion by other musicians. (Full article...)

General images

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

More Did you know? - show different entries

...that megaherbs on the uninhabited New Zealand sub-antarctic islands almost became extinct by overbrowsing by livestock introduced to support shipwrecked sailors?

...that one of the Powelliphanta sp. is found only on a five hectare area northeast of Westport, New Zealand?

...that Mauisaurus was the largest plesiosaur to roam New Zealand waters and that it gets its name from the Māori demigod Māui?

...that it was during the Ngāti Whātua victory at the battle of Te Kai a te Karoro, or Seagull's Feast, that Ngā Puhi became the first Māori iwi to use muskets in combat?


Selected article - show another

The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Opération Satanique, was an operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), carried out on July 10, 1985. It aimed to sink the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior in the port of Auckland, New Zealand, to prevent her from interfering in a nuclear test in Moruroa.

Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship. Two French agents were arrested by the New Zealand Police on passport fraud and immigration charges. They were charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage, and murder. As part of a plea bargain, they pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years, of which they served just over two.

The scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu, and the subject remained controversial. It was twenty years afterwards that the personal responsibility of French President François Mitterrand was admitted. (Full article...)

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Picton
Picton

Picton (Māori: Waitohi) is a town in the Marlborough Region of New Zealand's South Island. The town is located near the head of the Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui, 25 km (16 mi) north of Blenheim and 65 km (40 mi) west of Wellington. Waikawa lies just north-east of Picton and is considered to be a contiguous part of the Picton urban area. (Full article...)

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

  • ... that the name of the Noises, a group of islands in New Zealand, is a corrupted version of Les Noisettes ("the Hazelnuts")?
  • ... that a design for the New Zealand florin was criticized as looking like a violently defecating kiwi?
  • ... that Carla Van Zon ran two arts festivals in New Zealand?
  • ... that the New Zealand stonefly Stenoperla prasina was the five millionth specimen digitised by the Natural History Museum in London?
  • ... that people were scammed on New Zealand television by the host of You've Been Scammed?
  • ... that the New Zealand tree Dracophyllum fiordense has distinctive spirals at the ends of its leaves?
  • ... that New Zealand author Patricia Grace did not include a glossary for Māori terms in her book Potiki because she "didn't want the Māori language to be treated as a foreign language in its own country"?
  • ... that The New Zealand Herald opposed a children's hospital in favour of a statue of Queen Victoria?

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