Most of New Zealand was divided into tribal territories called rohe, resources within which were controlled by an iwi ('tribe'). Settlement of the Chatham Islands to the east of the New Zealand mainland produced the Moriori people, but it is disputed whether they moved there from New Zealand or elsewhere in Polynesia.

Polynesian settlers arrived in several waka some time between the 11th century and the 15th century to establish the indigenous Māori culture. New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major land masses. History Main article: History of New Zealand 4 Local government and external territories.The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue, which are entirely self-governing, Tokelau, and the Ross Dependency, New Zealand's claim in Antarctica. Political power is held by the Prime Minister, who is leader of the Government in the democratically-elected Parliament of New Zealand. Non-Māori Polynesian and Asian peoples are also significant minorities, especially in the cities.Įlizabeth II is the Queen of New Zealand and is represented in the country by a non-political Governor-General the Queen 'reigns but does not rule', so she has no real political influence. The population of New Zealand is mostly of European descent, with Māori being the largest minority. Closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. It is notable for its geographic isolation, being separated from Australia to the northwest by the Tasman Sea, some 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) across. New Zealand is called Aotearoa in Māori, and is directly translated as the Land of the Long White Cloud. New Zealand is a country of two large islands (called the North and South Islands) and many much smaller islands in the south-western Pacific Ocean. Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchyĮxpression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ' ( 121st)įormatting error: invalid input when rounding/km 2 ( 167th)įormatting error: invalid input when rounding/sq mi

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