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 (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...)

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Fat Freddy's Drop during a European tour in 2008. Left to right: Tehimana Kerr, Joe Lindsey, Chris Faiumu, Iain Gordon, Dallas Tamaira, Toby Laing, and Scott Towers.

Fat Freddy's Drop is a New Zealand seven-piece band from Wellington, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by musicians from other bands in Wellington, Fat Freddy's Drop gradually became its members' sole focus. Band members continued playing with their other respective groups—The Black Seeds, TrinityRoots, Bongmaster, and others—for much of their 20-year career. Fat Freddy's Drop are known for their improvised live performances. Songs on their studio albums are versions refined over years of playing them live in New Zealand and on tour abroad.

The group gained international recognition in 2003 after their single "Midnight Marauders" was re-distributed by record labels and DJs in Germany. The group has toured Europe nearly every year since then. The first studio album by Fat Freddy's Drop, Based on a True Story, was the first independently distributed album to reach first place in New Zealand record sales directly after release in 2005, and is the third highest-selling album by a national artist in the country's history. Based on a True Story won Best Album at the New Zealand Music Awards the same year, and remained on the top 40 New Zealand sales chart for over two years, establishing them as one of the most successful contemporary bands in the island nation. (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Putting down a hāngī (earth oven) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 2Knox Church, a Presbyterian church, in Dunedin. The city was founded by Scottish Presbyterian settlers. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 3HMS North Star destroying Pomare's Pā during the Northern/Flagstaff War, 1845, Painting by John Williams. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 4Māori 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 5Pavlova, a popular New Zealand dessert, garnished with cream and strawberries. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 6The kiwi has become a New Zealand icon. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 7The 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 8Art deco in Napier (from Culture 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 10The 1935 Labour Cabinet. Michael Joseph Savage is seated in the front row, centre. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 11The Mission House at Kerikeri is New Zealand's oldest surviving building, having been completed in 1822 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 12Scottish Highland family migrating to New Zealand, 1844, by William Allsworth. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 13The Forty-Fours viewed from the north; the leftmost islet is the easternmost point of New Zealand. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 14Scorching Bay, Wellington, in summer (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 15Lorde as part of the 2014 Lollapalooza lineup (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 16An annotated relief map (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 17Fiordland is dominated by steep, glacier-carved valleys. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 18The Waikato River flowing out of Lake Taupō (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 19Central Plateau in winter (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 20Vigil in Wellington for the victims of the Christchurch mosques attacks (from History of New Zealand)
Image 21George 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 22Poet Selina Tusitala Marsh, 2019 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 23A 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 24Residents of Dunedin celebrate the news of the Armistice of 11 November 1918. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 25Kapa haka is performed at a School Strike for Climate in Christchurch 2019. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 26Tekoteko from the gable of a wharenui, Te Arawa (20th century) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 27One of the few extant copies of the Treaty of Waitangi (from History of New Zealand)
Image 28Elizabeth II and Muldoon's Cabinet, taken during the Queen's 1981 visit to New Zealand (from History of New Zealand)
Image 29Children's and young adult author Margaret Mahy, July 2011 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 30Michael Joseph Savage, Labour Prime Minister 1935–1940. This portrait was hung on the walls of many supporters. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 31Cook Island dancers at Auckland's Pasifika Festival, 2010 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 32"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 33Men of the Māori Battalion, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, after disembarking at Gourock in Scotland in June 1940 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 34A modern wharenui (meeting house of a marae) exhibited at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 35The 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 36Topography of Zealandia, the submerged continent, and the two tectonic plates (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 37Prime Ministers John Key and Helen Clark (from History of New Zealand)
Image 38New Zealand Division in 1916 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 39New Zealand is antipodal to points of the North Atlantic, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco.
Image 40Roger Douglas, the architect of New Zealand's 1980s neo-liberal reform programme (from History of New Zealand)
Image 41A beach barbecue – an established part of New Zealand culture (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 42A Māori ancestor (tekoteko) depicted in a wood carving at the Tamatekapua Meeting House in Ohinemutu (c. 1880) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 43Percentages 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 44European 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 45Water pollution sign on the Waimakariri River (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 46Richard Seddon, Liberal Prime Minister from 1893 to his death in 1906 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 47The 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 48A meeting of European and Māori inhabitants of Hawke's Bay Province. Engraving, 1863.
Image 49The Original All Blacks during the "haka", 1905 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 50Zealandia rejecting Australian Constitution in 1900 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 51Aoraki / Mount Cook, as seen from Hooker Valley (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 52Strong winds in the Cook Strait produce high waves which erode the shore, as shown in this image (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 53Hinepare 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 54An aerial view of the Auckland urban area, showing its location on the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 55Rural landscape close to Mt Ruapehu (from Geography of New Zealand)

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More Did you know? - show different entries

...that the Wanganui Branch railway folded due to competition from trams in New Zealand?

...that all 250 of the endangered Black Robin of the Chatham Islands are descended from one female known as "Old Blue"?

...that Minnie Dean is the only woman ever to have been executed in New Zealand?

...that Whare Ra was an esoteric society based in Havelock North with links to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn?

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Leiopelmatida (Hochstetter's Frog), one of many biological families endemic to New Zealand

The biodiversity of New Zealand is one of the most unusual on Earth, due to its long geological isolation from other continental landmasses. Its genetic affinities are derived from Gondwana, from which it separated 82 million years (Ma) ago, along with Australia, New Caledonia and Lord Howe Island, part of the same tectonic plate.

New Zealand's pre-human biodiversity exhibited high levels of endemism in its flora and fauna. The range of ancient fauna is not well-known but at least one species of non-flying terrestrial mammal existed in New Zealand around 19 Ma ago. Prior to 65 Ma ago, the fauna included dinosaurs, pterosaurs and marine reptiles.

For at least several Ma before the arrival of humans and their commensal species, the islands had no terrestrial mammals except for bats, the main component of the terrestrial fauna being insects and birds. Its flora is dominated by Gondwanan plants, comprising historically of forests, most famously the giant kauri, Agathis australis.

New Zealand has developed a national Biodiversity Action Plan to address conservation of considerable numbers of threatened flora and fauna within New Zealand. (Full article...)

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Backdropped by a colourful Earth, astronaut Robert L. Curbeam, Jr. (left) and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Christer Fuglesang, both STS-116 mission specialists, participate in the mission's first of three planned sessions of extravehicular activity as construction resumes on the International Space Station. The landmasses depicted are the South Island (left) and North Island (right) of New Zealand.

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... that the New Zealand tree mountain neinei can live for up to 600 years?
... that the patu clubs on the New Zealand threepence were compared to bottles of ginger beer?
... that the hiking track through the Pororari River gorge has become part of New Zealand's newest Great Walk, the Paparoa Track (video featured)?
... that if James Stuart-Wortley had not falsified his age for the 1853 general election, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke would now be New Zealand's youngest-ever member of parliament?
... that a third of the MPs elected in the 2023 New Zealand election were new to Parliament, including Carlos Cheung, Grant McCallum, Suze Redmayne, Dana Kirkpatrick, Ryan Hamilton, James Meager, Greg Fleming, Vanessa Weenink, Mike Butterick, Katie Nimon, David MacLeod, Miles Anderson, Carl Bates, Rima Nakhle, Nancy Lu, Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, Reuben Davidson, Scott Willis, Darleen Tana, Takutai Moana Kemp, Kahurangi Carter, Todd Stephenson, Laura Trask, Cameron Luxton, Tākuta Ferris, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, Casey Costello, Jamie Arbuckle, and Tanya Unkovich?
... that the Arthur Dudley Dobson Memorial was unveiled by New Zealand's prime minister George Forbes on this day 85 years ago?
... that the New Zealand Geographic Board initially rejected the name of the Garden of Eden Ice Plateau for being biblical in origin?
... that New Zealand's election mascot Orange Guy has a pet dog named Pup?

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This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject New Zealand}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.