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Portal:New Zealand

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The New Zealand Portal

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 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, 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.

A 19th-century carving of a tattooed Maori from kauri gum. The carving is owned and displayed by the Dargaville Museum, New Zealand.

Kauri gum is resin from kauri trees (Agathis australis), which historically had several important industrial uses. It can also be used to make crafts such as jewellery. Kauri forests once covered much of the North Island of New Zealand, before early settlers caused the forests to retreat, causing several areas to revert to weeds, scrubs, and swamps. Even afterwards, ancient kauri fields and the remaining forests continued to provide a source for the gum. Between 1820 and 1900, over 90% of Kauri forests were logged or burnt by Europeans.

Kauri gum forms when resin from kauri trees leaks out through fractures or cracks in the bark, hardening upon exposure to air. Lumps commonly fall to the ground and can be covered with soil and forest litter, eventually fossilising. Other lumps form as branches forked or trees are damaged, releasing the resin. (Full article...)

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

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Pisonia brunoniana
Pisonia brunoniana

...that the main threat to Pisonia brunoniana (pictured) in New Zealand is cutting by people trying to prevent small songbirds from getting trapped by its very sticky seeds?

... that the Kaipara Harbour was named after a hāngi on the Pouto Peninsula, at which the para fern (Ptisana salicina) was served?

... that the Agricultural emissions research levy is commonly described as a "fart tax"?

...that cricketer Dick Motz took one wicket in his last Test match in August 1969, becoming the first New Zealand bowler to take 100 Test wickets?

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The Mount Erebus disaster was a major aircraft accident involving Air New Zealand Flight 901 in 1979. The flight was a non-scheduled passenger transport service from Auckland International Airport in New Zealand to Antarctica and return. The service was operated with McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 aircraft and began in February 1977.

The flight was specifically designed and marketed as a unique sight-seeing experience, carrying an experienced Antarctic guide who would point out scenic features and landmarks using the aircraft public address system.

On November 28, 1979, at 12:49pm NZDT, flight TE901 collided with Mount Erebus, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew members. The flight that day was being operated by the DC-10 registered ZK-NZP, which was just under 5 years old. The aircraft altitude at the time of the collision was just 1465 feet (445 metres). (Full article...)

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Māori rock carvings at Mine Bay on Lake Taupō are over 10 metres high and are only accessible by boat or kayak. Lake Taupō is the largest lake by surface area in New Zealand.

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