Nīƿe Sǣland

[ gw ] [ ȝƿ ]

Þis geƿrit hæfþ ƿordcƿide on Nīƿenglisce.

For ōðerum mǣnungum, sēo Nīwe Sǣland (disambiguation).

Nīƿe Sǣland is rīċe ȝemacod of tƿǣm miċelum īeȝum and fela smallrena īeȝa in þǣm sūþƿesternan Sericus Garsecge. In Māori ȝeþēode hātte Nīƿ Sǣland Aotearoa, þe in Māorisce seȝþ "Land þæs Langan Hƿītan Ƿolcnes".

Ēac hæfþ Nīƿe Sǣland responsibility for the foreign affairs of the self-governing land:

• Cook-Iege
• Niue

Hit administers the dependency:

• Tokelau.

Nīwe Sǣland
Aotearoa

(Ȝehende)
Þēodlic cƿide: Nān. Fyrn "Onƿard"
Ymele:StedeNīweSǣland.png
Ambihtlica sprǣca	Englisc, Māori, NZSL
Hēafodburg	Wellingatun
Mǣste burg	Auckland
Cwēn	Elisabeþ II
Governor-General	Anand Satyanand
Forma Þegn	John Key
Mearc - Getæl - % wæter	Mǣþ 73de 268,680 km² Negligible
Lēodrǣden - Getæl (2004) - Þiccnes	Mǣþ 120ðe 4,061,300 15/km²
Selfdōm - Tælmearc	Fram þǣm GC Hāligmōnaþ 26, 1907
GDP (PPP) - Getæl (2003) - GDP/head	Mǣþ 45te $85.26 billion $21,600
Currency	New Zealand dollar (NZD)
Tīdgyrtlas	UTC +12 NZST UTC +13 NZDT (Oct-Mar) Note: Chatham Islands are 45 minutes ahead of New Zealand
Þēodlice antefnas	God Defend New Zealand God Save the Queen
Þēodlic blōstm	Kowhai
Internet TLD	.nz
Calling Code	+64

Scortnes

On Nīwan Sælandes feower millionena mannum, fornēan þrīe þūsend þūsend hēora wuniaþ on þǣre Norðam Īege and ān þūsend þūsend on þǣre Sūðan Īege. Þās īega sind ongemang þǣm brādostum in þǣre worulde and se landscipe ætsamne is gelic þa Bryttiscan Iege oþþe Colorado-rice. Ætgædere mid Aotearoa is se Māorisca nama Niu Tireni' gebrocen tō hātenne Nīwe Sǣland, þe is swēgawendung þæs Engliscan naman.

Oðri iege habbað much smaller populations and cover much læs landscipe. The most significant of these ieglanda sindon:

• Stewart Ieg (sūþ Sūðan Īege), the þridde ieg be land area with a population of around 400 onwunendum.
• Waiheke Ieg, an island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, and, with about 7,000 people (far more in summer), the third most populated island in New Zealand
• Great Barrier Island, east of the Hauraki Gulf
• the Chatham Islands, an outlying group of islands with a population of about 750.

Stedas in Nīwum Sǣlande

• Main centres (articles generally cover the greater area, including satellite areas): Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin, Invercargill
• Lists of towns and cities in New Zealand
• List of New Zealand place names and their meanings
• Regions (asterisks denote unitary authorities): Norþland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne*, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu-Wanganui, Wellington, Marlborough*, Nelson*, Tasman*, West Coast, Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands*

Stǣr

Main article: Stǣr Nīwes Sǣlandes

Nīwe Sǣland is one of the most recently settled major land masses. Polynesisce settlers arrived probably some time between 500 and 1300 AD, and established the indigenous Māori culture.

The first þāra Europeware known to reach Nīwe Sǣland were led by Abel Janszoon Tasman, who sailed up the west coast of the South and North islands in 1642. The Dutch thought it was a single land which they named Staaten Landt. It was later named "Nieuw Zeeland" after the area in Batavia where they had been based, which in turn was named after their province of Zeeland. In 1769 Captain James Cook began extensive surveys of the islands. This led to European whaling expeditions and eventually significant European colonisation.

Nīwe Sǣland became a British colony with the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840, which also promised "complete chieftainship" (tino rangatiratanga) to the Māori tribes of New Zealand. To this day the exact meaning of the Treaty is still under dispute, and it remains a source of division and resentment for some.

Nīwe Sǣland became an independent dominion on 26um Hāligmōnþes, 1907 by royal proclamation. Full independence was granted by the United Kingdom Parliament with the Statute of Westminster in 1931; it was taken up upon the Statute's adoption by the New Zealand Parliament in 1947. Since then New Zealand has been a sovereign constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations.

Politics

Main article: Politics Nīwes Sǣlandes

Nīwe Sǣland is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. Under the New Zealand Royal Titles Act (1953), Queen Elizabeth II is Cwéne Nīwes Sǣlandes and is represented as head of state by the Governor-General, Judge Anand Satyanand.

Parliament consists of the 120-member unicameral House of Representatives, from which an executive Cabinet of about 20 ministers is appointed. There is no written constitution.

The Cabinet is led by the Prime Minister of New Zealand, currently Helen Clark of the centre-left Labour party, which governs in coalition with the further-left Progressive Party, and with support from the Christian conservative United Future.

General elections are held every three years; the most recent were held in July 2005. The Leader of the Opposition is John Key who became leader of the National party in late 2006. Currently seven parties are represented in the House of Representatives, which since 1996 has been elected by a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional ("MMP").

A true-colour image of the North Island. The scene was acquired by NASA's Terra satellite, on October 23, 2002.

A true-colour image of the South Island. The scene was acquired by NASA's Terra satellite, on October 23, 2002.

A true-colour image of the region around Auckland on the North Island. Auckland is the brownish patch just left of centre. The scene was acquired by NASA's Terra satellite, on October 23, 2002.

New Zealand is a party to the ANZUS security treaty between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. In 1985 New Zealand refused to allow US nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships to enter its ports, causing the US to abrogate its ANZUS responsibilities to New Zealand in 1986. New Zealand has not formally withdrawn from the treaty.

Nīwe Sǣland is a member of the following geo-political organizations:

• Commonwealth of Nations
• APEC
• OECD
• United Nations

Judiciary

Nīwe Sǣland has a High Court (until 1980 known as the Supreme Court) and a Court of Appeal (formerly part of the Supreme Court), as well as subordinate courts. Until 2004, appeals from decisions of the Court of Appeal could be appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.

In 2003 the Supreme Court Act was passed, abolishing appeals to the Privy Council, with effect from 2004 and setting up a Supreme Court of New Zealand in Wellington.

The current Chief Justice is Dame Sian Elias.

Local Government

Main articles: Regions of New Zealand, Territorial Authorities of New Zealand

When originally settled, New Zealand was divided into provinces. These were abolished in 1876 so that government could be centralised for financial reasons. As a result, New Zealand has no separately represented subnational entity such as a province, state or territory apart from its local government. The spirit of the provinces however still lives on and there is fierce rivalry exhibited in sporting and cultural events.

Since 1876, local government has administered the various regions of New Zealand. Due to its colonial heritage, New Zealand local government was modelled fairly closely on British local government structures, with elected city, borough, and county councils. Over the years some of these councils merged or had boundary adjustments by mutual agreement, and a few new ones were created. In 1989, the government completely reorganised local government, implementing the current two-tier structure of regional councils and territorial authorities.

Today New Zealand has 12 regional councils for the administration of environmental and transport matters and 74 territorial authorities that administer roading, sewerage, building consents, and other local matters. The territorial authorities are 16 city councils, 57 district councils, and the Chatham Islands Council. Four of the territorial councils (one city and three districts) and the Chatham Islands Council also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are known as unitary authorities. Territorial authority districts are not subdivisions, as such, of regional council districts and a few of them straddle regional council boundaries.

Other elected local governance organisations are community boards, liquor licensing trusts, district health boards and school boards of trustees.

Geography

Main article: Geography of New Zealand

New Zealand is composed of two main islands and a number of smaller islands. The South Island is the largest land mass, and is divided along its length by the Southern Alps, the highest peak of which is Aoraki / Mount Cook, at 3754 metres. There are 18 peaks of more than 3000 metres in the South Island. The North Island is less mountainous than the South, but is marked by volcanism. The tallest North Island mountain, Mount Ruapehu (2797 metres), is an active cone volcano.

The total land area of New Zealand, 268,680 km², is somewhat less than that of Japan or of the British Isles, and slightly larger than Colorado in the USA. The country extends more than 1600 km along its main, north-northeast axis.

New Zealand is the most geographically isolated of all countries. Closest neighbour Australia is 2,000 km to the northwest of the main islands across the Tasman Sea. The only landmass to the south is Antarctica, and to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga.

The usual climate throughout the country is mild, mostly cool temperate to warm temperate, with temperatures rarely falling below 0°C or rising above 30 °C. Conditions vary from wet and cold in Southland and the West Coast of the South Island, where most of the country's rain falls, to subtropical in Northland. In Wellington the average minimum temperature in winter is 5.9 °C and the average maximum temperature in summer is 20.3 °C.

• List of national parks of New Zealand

Scenic backdrop

New Zealand's scenery has appeared in a number of television programmes and films. In particular, Hercules and Xena were filmed around Auckland, Heavenly Creatures in Christchurch. Peter Jackson shot The Lord of the Rings in various locations around the country, taking advantage of the spectacular and relatively unspoiled landscapes.

Flora and Fauna

Main articles: New Zealand animals – New Zealand plants – List of New Zealand birds – Trees of New Zealand

Because of its long isolation from the rest of the world, New Zealand has extraordinary flora and fauna. Until the arrival of the first humans just a millennium or two ago, 80% of the land was forested and, barring two species of bat, there were no non-marine mammals at all. Instead, New Zealand's forests were inhabited by a diverse range of birds (many of them flightless), reptiles, and insects—some of them almost the size of a mouse (see weta).

Economy

Main article: Economy of New Zealand

New Zealand has a modern, developed economy. Its primary export industries are agriculture, horticulture, fishing, forestry and information technology. There is also a substantial tourism industry. The film and wine industries are considered to be up-and-coming.

Since 1984 successive governments have engaged in major economic restructuring, transforming New Zealand from a highly protectionist and regulated economy to a liberalised, free-trade economy. Despite periods of dynamic growth in the mid 1980s and early '90s, real incomes have declined from 1980 levels, and average yearly economic growth has been poorer than expected and is highly reliant on massive levels of immigration to boost GDP.

The current New Zealand government's economic objectives are centred around moving from being ranked among the lower end of the OECD countries to regaining a higher placing again, pursuing free-trade agreements, "closing the gaps" between ethnic groups, and building a "knowledge economy."

Unlike in previous decades, New Zealand has now contained inflationary pressures, meaning hyperinflation has been consigned to the past.

New Zealand is heavily dependent on trade—particularly in agricultural products—to drive growth, and it has been affected by global economic slowdowns and slumps in commodity prices. Since agricultural exports are highly sensitive to currency values and a large percentage of consumer goods are imported, any changes in the value of the New Zealand dollar has a strong impact on the economy.

In 2004 it began discussing free trade with China, one of the first countries to do so.

During the late 1980s, the New Zealand Government sold a number of major trading enterprises, including its telephone company, railway system, a number of radio stations and two banks in a series of asset sales. Although the New Zealand Government continues to own a number of significant businesses, collectively known as State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), they are operated through arms-length shareholding arrangements as stand alone businesses that are required to operate profitably, just like any privately owned enterprise. Various items of protective legislation establish business objectives yet prevent shareholding governments from having influence over day to day operations of the business. Postal services, electricity companies, radio and television broadcasters, as well as hospitals and other trading enterprises are established in this way. The core State Service consists of government departments and ministries that primarily provide government administration, policy advice, law enforcement, and social services.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of New Zealand

About 80% of the New Zealand population is of European descent. Māori people are the second largest ethnic group (14.7%). Between the 1996 and 2001 censuses, the number of people of Asian origin (6.6%) overtook that of Pacific Islanders (6.5%) (note that the census allowed multiple ethnic affiliations). Acceptance of Māori culture continues to grow, especially with the recent introduction of a Māori Television service.

The main Christian denominations are Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Roman Catholicism and Methodism. Over a third of the population is unaffiliated.

Sidaþing

Main articles: Sidaþing Nīwum Sǣlande, Māori sidaþing

Sēo ēac: Nīwe Sǣland Englisc, New Zealand cinema, New Zealand literature, Music of New Zealand, Iwi

Tīma

Main article: Tīma in Nīwum Sǣlande

New Zealand Standard Time is 12 hours in advance of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Between the last Sunday in September each year and the first Sunday in April of the following year New Zealand observes Daylight Saving time