Portal:New Zealand

New Zealand
*Aotearoa* (Māori)
New Zealand Aotearoa (Māori)
	Flag Coat of arms
	Location of New Zealand, including outlying islands, its territorial claim in the Antarctic, and Tokelau
ISO 3166 code	NZ

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New Zealand 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...)

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Professional wrestling in New Zealand has been promoted in the country from the early 20th century. In 1919, Gisborne Katene became the first national heavyweight champion, though the title was not recognized by the National Wrestling Association until 1925, and promoter Walter Miller began running events under the Dominion Wrestling Union banner ten years later.

It was not until the years following the Second World War that professional wrestling enjoyed its first golden age. Pat O'Connor, a one-time NWA and AWA World Heavyweight Champion, was one of the earliest stars of that era. During the 1960s and 1970s, other wrestlers from New Zealand also travelled to the United States, where they enjoyed similar success in the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wide Wrestling Federation. American wrestlers frequently toured New Zealand during this period and were well received by the public. The NWA World Heavyweight Championship was also defended several times in the country; in 1984 Ric Flair won the title from Harley Race in Wellington and Jeff Jarrett defeated Sting in Auckland to unify the title with Australia's WWA World Heavyweight Championship in 2003. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Elizabeth II and Muldoon's Cabinet, taken during the Queen's 1981 visit to New Zealand (from History of New Zealand)
Image 2Michael Joseph Savage, Labour Prime Minister 1935–1940. This portrait was hung on the walls of many supporters. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 3Kapa haka is performed at a School Strike for Climate in Christchurch 2019. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 4Vigil in Wellington for the victims of the Christchurch mosques attacks (from History of New Zealand)
Image 5An aerial view of the Auckland urban area, showing its location on the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 6One of the few extant copies of the Treaty of Waitangi (from History of New Zealand)
Image 7Hinepare of Ngāti Kahungunu, is wearing a traditional korowai cloak adorned with a black fringe border. The two huia feathers in her hair, indicate a chiefly lineage. She also wears a pounamu hei-tiki and earring, as well as a shark tooth (mako) earring. The moko-kauae (chin-tattoo) is often based on one's role in the iwi. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 8Aoraki / Mount Cook, as seen from Hooker Valley (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 9Tribute to the Suffragettes memorial in Christchurch adjacent to Our City. The figures shown from left to right are Amey Daldy, Kate Sheppard, Ada Wells and Harriet Morison (from History of New Zealand)
Image 10A modern wharenui (meeting house of a marae) exhibited at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 11Scottish Highland family migrating to New Zealand, 1844, by William Allsworth. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 12HMS North Star destroying Pomare's Pā during the Northern/Flagstaff War, 1845, Painting by John Williams. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 13A beach barbecue – an established part of New Zealand culture (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 14Prime Ministers John Key and Helen Clark (from History of New Zealand)
Image 15Knox Church, a Presbyterian church, in Dunedin. The city was founded by Scottish Presbyterian settlers. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 16A 1943 poster produced during the war. The poster reads: "When war broke out ... industries were unprepared for munitions production. To-day New Zealand is not only manufacturing many kinds of munitions for her own defence but is making a valuable contribution to the defence of the other areas in the Pacific..." (from History of New Zealand)
Image 17The first Government House in Auckland, as painted by Edward Ashworth in 1842 or 1843. Auckland was the second capital of New Zealand. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 18European settlers developed an identity that was influenced by their rustic lifestyle. In this scene from 1909, men at their camp site display a catch of rabbits and fish. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 19Percentages of people reporting affiliation with Christianity at the 2001, 2006 and 2013 censuses; there has been a steady decrease over twelve years. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 20The kiwi has become a New Zealand icon. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 21Poet Selina Tusitala Marsh, 2019 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 22Strong winds in the Cook Strait produce high waves which erode the shore, as shown in this image (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 23Children's and young adult author Margaret Mahy, July 2011 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 24Cook Island dancers at Auckland's Pasifika Festival, 2010 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 25The Māori are most likely descended from people who emigrated from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands. After a pause of 70 to 265 years, a new wave of exploration led to the discovery and settlement of New Zealand.
Image 26Residents of Dunedin celebrate the news of the Armistice of 11 November 1918. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 27Richard Seddon, Liberal Prime Minister from 1893 to his death in 1906 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 28Māori whānau (extended family) from Rotorua in the 1880s. Many aspects of Western life and culture, including European clothing and architecture, became incorporated into Māori society during the 19th century. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 29Central Plateau in winter (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 30The 1935 Labour Cabinet. Michael Joseph Savage is seated in the front row, centre. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 31Fiordland is dominated by steep, glacier-carved valleys. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 32A Māori ancestor (tekoteko) depicted in a wood carving at the Tamatekapua Meeting House in Ohinemutu (c. 1880) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 33New Zealand is antipodal to points of the North Atlantic, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco.
Image 34New Zealand Division in 1916 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 35Lorde as part of the 2014 Lollapalooza lineup (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 36Art deco in Napier (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 37Men of the Māori Battalion, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, after disembarking at Gourock in Scotland in June 1940 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 38Topography of Zealandia, the submerged continent, and the two tectonic plates (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 39The Waikato River flowing out of Lake Taupō (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 40An annotated relief map (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 41Scorching Bay, Wellington, in summer (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 42Tekoteko from the gable of a wharenui, Te Arawa (20th century) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 43The Original All Blacks during the "haka", 1905 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 44George V with his prime ministers at the 1926 Imperial Conference. Standing (left to right): Monroe (Newfoundland), Coates (New Zealand), Bruce (Australia),Hertzog (Union of South Africa),Cosgrave (Irish Free State). Seated: Baldwin (UK), King George V, King (Canada). (from History of New Zealand)
Image 45Putting down a hāngī (earth oven) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 46"First Scottish Colony for New Zealand" – 1839 poster advertising emigration from Scotland to New Zealand. Collection of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 47Roger Douglas, the architect of New Zealand's 1980s neo-liberal reform programme (from History of New Zealand)
Image 48Rural landscape close to Mt Ruapehu (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 49Water pollution sign on the Waimakariri River (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 50The scalloped bays indenting Lake Taupō's northern and western coasts are typical of large volcanic caldera margins. The caldera they surround was formed during the huge Oruanui eruption. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 51The Mission House at Kerikeri is New Zealand's oldest surviving building, having been completed in 1822 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 52A meeting of European and Māori inhabitants of Hawke's Bay Province. Engraving, 1863.
Image 53The Forty-Fours viewed from the north; the leftmost islet is the easternmost point of New Zealand. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 54Zealandia rejecting Australian Constitution in 1900 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 55Pavlova, a popular New Zealand dessert, garnished with cream and strawberries. (from Culture of New Zealand)

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...that in 1909, New Zealand gifted a new battlecruiser (pictured) to Britain?

...that 7% of electricity in New Zealand is generated by geothermal power?

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The Pleiades star cluster, known to the Māori as Matariki

In Māori culture, Matariki is the name of the Pleiades star cluster, which was important for agriculture in establishing the correct time to plant crops. There are two explanations of the name Matariki: firstly, mata-riki (small eyes) or mata-ariki (Eyes of God). The constellation is also believed to have been used by navigators.

Matariki has three hundred stars in total but you can see only seven in the night sky with the naked eye.

The first rising of the Pleiades and of Rigel (Puanga in Māori) occurs just prior to sunrise in late May or early June, and this indicates that the old year has ended and the new year has begun. The actual time for celebrating Matariki varies, depending on the iwi (tribe or clan). Some iwi celebrate it immediately. Others wait until the rising of the next full moon, or alternatively the dawn of the next new moon. It has become common practice for various private and public institutions to celebrate Matariki over the period of a week or month anywhere from early June to late July. Other iwi used the rising of Rigel in a similar way.

In traditional times, Matariki was a season to celebrate and to prepare the ground for the coming year. Offerings of the produce of the land were made to the gods, including Rongo, god of cultivated food. This time of the year was also a good time to instruct young people in the lore of the land and the forest. In addition, certain birds and fish were especially easy to harvest at this time. (Full article...)

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Lyttelton (Māori: Ōhinehou or Māori: Riritana) is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour / Whakaraupō, at the northwestern end of Banks Peninsula and close to Christchurch, on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. (Full article...)

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... that Chancellor Hut is the oldest alpine hut still in its original location in the Southern Alps of New Zealand?
... that the Creamoata Mill, which once produced a now-nonexistent breakfast food, was listed as Gore's only "place of outstanding historical and cultural influence"?
... that Ron Tiavaasue was born in Samoa, grew up in New Zealand, played college football in the United States, and now plays professional football in Canada?
... that Chlöe Swarbrick won the race for Auckland Central in 2020, during which she held a drag show as a campaign event?
... that New Zealand academic and runner Roger Robinson has continued competing in races into his 80s despite knee replacement surgery in both knees?
... that Walter Nash's 14 years as New Zealand's minister of finance is the longest continuous time that anyone has ever served in that post?
... that the New Zealand mollusc Eatoniella mortoni (pictured) can thrive in extreme carbon dioxide-rich environments, making it a subject for the study of ocean acidification?
... that Phomen Singh, an early Indian migrant to New Zealand, sold sweets and chutneys out of a suitcase?

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