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New Zealand (Aotearoa in Maori) is a temperate country located in the

South West Pacific. It 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 Mount Cook, at 3754 m. There are eighteen peaks of more than

three kilometres in the South Island. The North Island is less

mountainous than the South, but is marked by volcanism. The tallest

North Island Mountain, Ruapehu (2 797m) is an active cone volcano. The

total land area of New Zealand, 270 500km² is somewhat

smaller than that of Japan and the British Isles, and slightly larger

than Colorado in the USA. The country extends more than 1600 km along

its main, North-North East axis.

The climate througout the country is mild, rarely falling below 0C or

rising above 30C. Daily average temperature in Wellington, the centrally

located capital, is 5.9C in mid winter and 20.3C in mid summer.

New Zealand is an independent Parliamentary Democracy governed by a

120 member parliament, from which a 20 member executive cabinet is

selected. This cabinet is led by the Prime Minister, currently (Jan 2001)

Helen

Clarke of the centre-left Labour party. Currently six parties are

represented in the New Zealand parliament. New Zealand's head of state

is Queen Elizabeth II, who is represented by the Governor General, The

Right Honourable Sir Michael Hardie Boys.

New Zealand was one of the most recently settled major land

masses. Polynesian settlers arrived, probably some time between 500

and 1300AD, and established the indigenous Maori culture. The first

European explorers to reach New Zealand were Abel Tasman, who arrived

from the Netherlands in 1642, and James Cook, whose extensive surveys

starting in 1769 lead to significant European colonisation from the

1790s on. Although the majority of the New Zealand population is now

of European origin, Maori and Pacific islanders are the second and

third largest ethnic groups, and Maori culture is a significant

feature of New Zealand's public life.

New Zealand is a modern, industrialised country. It's primary export

industries are agriculture, horticulture, fishing and forestry. There

are also substantial manufacturing, tourism and service industries.