Encyclopedia
New Zealand is a country in the south-western
Pacific Ocean consisting of two large islands and many much smaller islands, most notably
Stewart Island and the
Chatham Islands. It is called
Aotearoa in
Maori, which may be paraphrased as
Land of the Long White Cloud.
It is notable for its geographic isolation, being separated from
Australia to the northwest by the
Tasman Sea, some 2000 kilometres across. Its closest neighbours to the north are
New Caledonia,
Fiji, and
Tonga.
The population is mostly of European descent, with
Maori being the largest minority. Non-Maori Polynesian and
Asian peoples are also significant minorities, especially in the cities.
Elizabeth II, as the
Queen of New Zealand, is the
Head of State and is represented, in her absence, by a non-partisan
Governor-General; the Queen 'reigns but does not rule', so she has no real political influence. Political power is held by the Prime Minister, who is the Head of Government in the democratically-elected
Parliament of New Zealand. The
Realm of New Zealand also includes the
Cook Islands and
Niue, which are self-governing, but in free association;
Tokelau; and the
Ross Dependency .
History
New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major land masses.
Polynesian settlers arrived in their waka some time between the
13th century and the
15th century to establish the
indigenous Maori culture. New Zealand's
Maori name,
Aotearoa, is usually translated as "Land of the long white cloud", reputedly referring to the cloud the explorers saw on the horizon as they approached. Settlement of the
Chatham Islands to the east of the mainland produced the Moriori people, but it is disputed whether they moved there from New Zealand or elsewhere in Polynesia. Most of New Zealand was divided into tribal territories called
rohe, resources within which were controlled by an
iwi .
Maori adapted to eating the local marine resources, flora and fauna for food, hunting the giant flightless
moa , and ate the Polynesian Rat and
kumara , which they introduced to the country.
The first
Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were led by
Abel Janszoon Tasman, who sailed up the west coasts of the South and North Islands in 1642. He named it
Staten Landt, believing it to be part of the land Jacob Le Maire had seen in 1616 off the coast of
Chile.
Staten Landt appeared on Tasman's first maps of New Zealand, but this was changed by
Dutch cartographers to
Nova Zeelandia, after the Dutch province of
Zeeland, some time after
Hendrik Brouwer proved the supposedly South American land to be an island in 1643. The
Latin Nova Zeelandia became
Nieuw Zeeland in
Dutch. Captain
James Cook subsequently called the archipelago
New Zealand , although the Maori names he recorded for the North and South Islands were rejected, and the main three islands became known as North, Middle and South, with the Middle Island being later called the South Island, and the earlier South Island becoming Stewart Island. Cook began extensive surveys of the islands in 1769, leading to European
whaling expeditions and eventually significant European colonisation. From as early as the 1780s, Maori had encounters with European sealers and whalers. Acquisition of
muskets by those iwi in close contact with European visitors destabilised the existing balance of power between Maori tribes and there was a temporary but intense period of bloody inter-tribal warfare, known as the Musket Wars, which ceased only when all iwi were so armed.
Concerned about the exploitation of Maori by Europeans, the British Colonial Office appointed James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832. In 1834, Busby convened the
United Tribes of New Zealand to select a flag and declare their independence, which led to the
Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand. This declaration did not allay the fears of the Church Missionary Society, who continued lobbying for British annexation. Increasing
French interest in the region led the British to annex New Zealand by Royal Proclamation in January 1840. To legitimise the British annexation, Lieutenant Governor William Hobson had been dispatched in 1839; he hurriedly negotiated the
Treaty of Waitangi with northern iwi on his arrival. The Treaty was signed in February, and in recent years it has come to be seen as the founding document of New Zealand. The Maori translation of the treaty promised the Maori tribes "
tino rangatiratanga has become somethin ...
" would be preserved in return for ceding kawanatanga, which the English version translates as "chieftainship" and "sovereignty"; the real meanings are now disputed. Disputes over land sales and sovereignty caused the
New Zealand land wars, which took place between 1845 and 1872. In 1975 the Treaty of Waitangi Act established the Waitangi Tribunal, charged with hearing claims of Crown violations of the Treaty of Waitangi. Some Maori tribes and the Moriori never signed the treaty.
New Zealand was initially administered as a part of the colony of
New South Wales, and it became a separate colony in November 1840. The first capital was Okiato or old
Russell in the
Bay of Islands but it soon moved to
Auckland. European settlement progressed more rapidly than anyone anticipated, and settlers soon outnumbered Maori. Self-government was granted to the settler population in 1852. There were political concerns following the discovery of
gold in Central Otago in 1861 that the South Island would form a separate colony, so in 1865 the capital was moved to the more central city of
Wellington. New Zealand was involved in a Constitutional Convention in March 1891 in
Sydney,
New South Wales, along with the Australian colonies. This was to consider a potential constitution for the proposed
federation between all the
Australasian colonies. New Zealand lost interest in joining
Australia in a federation following this convention.
In 1893 New Zealand became the first nation to grant women the right to vote on the same basis as men; however, women were not eligible to stand for parliament until 1919.
New Zealand became an independent dominion on 26 September 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.
In 1951,
Australia, New Zealand and the
United States formally became allies with the signing of the ANZUS Treaty. In 1985, New Zealand declared itself a
nuclear-free zone. As a result, US
warships could no longer enter New Zealand ports without declaring themselves to be free of nuclear weapons or power. As such a declaration would be against US Government policy, effectively the ships were banned from New Zealand. The United States suspended its obligations to New Zealand under the ANZUS Treaty.
Government
New Zealand is a
constitutional monarchy with a
parliamentary democracy. Under the New Zealand Royal Titles Act ,
Queen Elizabeth II is
Queen of New Zealand and is represented as
head of state by the
Governor-General,
Anand Satyanand.
New Zealand is the only country in the world in which all the highest offices in the land have been occupied simultaneously by women, between March 2005 and August 2006 - The Sovereign
Queen Elizabeth II of New Zealand,
Governor-General Dame
Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister
Helen Clark, Speaker of the
New Zealand House of Representatives Margaret Wilson and Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias.
The
New Zealand Parliament has only
one chamber, the
House of Representatives, which usually seats 120 Members of Parliament.
Parliamentary general elections are held every three years under a form of proportional representation called
Mixed Member Proportional. The
2005 General Election created an 'overhang' of one extra seat , due to that party winning more seats in constituencies than the number of seats its proportion of the party vote would have given it.
There is no written
constitution: the
Constitution Act 1986 is the principal formal statement of New Zealand's constitutional structure. The Governor-General has the power to appoint and dismiss Prime Ministers and to dissolve Parliament. The Governor-General also chairs the Executive Council, which is a formal committee consisting of all ministers of the Crown. Members of the Executive Council are required to be Members of Parliament, and most are also in
Cabinet. Cabinet is the most senior policy-making body and is led by the Prime Minister, who is also, by convention, the Parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition.
The current Prime Minister is
Helen Clark, leader of the
Labour Party. She is serving her third term as Prime Minister. On 17 October 2005 she announced that she had come to a complex arrangement that guaranteed the support of enough parties for her Labour-led coalition to govern. The formal coalition consists of the Labour Party and
Jim Anderton, the
Progressive Party's only MP. In addition to the parties in formal coalition,
New Zealand First and
United Future provide confidence and supply in return for their leaders being ministers outside cabinet. A further arrangement has been made with the Green Party, which has given a commitment not to vote against the government on confidence and supply. This commitment assures the government of a majority of seven MPs on confidence.
The Leader of the Opposition is
National Party leader
Don Brash, formerly Governor of the Reserve Bank. The
ACT party and the
Maori Party are both also in opposition. The Greens, New Zealand First and United Future all vote against the government on some legislation.
Major political parties:
Minor political parties :
The highest court in New Zealand is the
Supreme Court of New Zealand, which was established in 2004 following the passage of the
Supreme Court Act 2003. The Act abolished the option to appeal Court of Appeal rulings to the Privy Council in
London. The current Chief Justice is Dame Sian Elias. New Zealand's judiciary also includes the High Court, which deals with serious criminal offences and civil matters, and the
Court of Appeal, as well as subordinate courts.
Foreign relations and the military
New Zealand maintains a strong profile on environmental protection,
human rights and free trade, particularly in
agriculture.
New Zealand is a member of the following geo-political organisations:
APEC,
East Asia Summit,
Commonwealth of Nations,
OECD and the
United Nations. It has signed up to a number of free trade agreements, of which the most important is Closer Economic Relations with Australia.
For its first hundred years, New Zealand followed the
United Kingdom's lead on foreign policy. "Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand", said Prime Minister Michael Savage, in declaring war on
Germany on 3 September 1939. However New Zealand came under the influence of the
United States of America for the generation following the war .
New Zealand has traditionally worked closely with Australia, whose foreign policy followed a similar historical trend. In turn, many Pacific Islands such as
Western Samoa have looked to New Zealand's lead. The American influence on New Zealand was weakened by the disappointment with the
Vietnam War, the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by France, and by disagreements over environmental and agricultural trade issues and New Zealand's nuclear-free policy.
New Zealand is a party to the ANZUS security treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States. In February 1985 New Zealand refused
nuclear-powered or
nuclear-armed ships access to its ports. In 1986 the United States announced that it was suspending its treaty security obligations to New Zealand pending the restoration of port access. The
New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act 1987 prohibits the stationing of nuclear weapons on the territory of New Zealand and the entry into New Zealand waters of nuclear armed or propelled ships. This legislation remains a source of contention and the basis for the United States' continued suspension of treaty obligations to New Zealand.
In addition to the various wars between iwi, and between the British settlers and iwi, New Zealand has fought in the
Second Boer War,
World War I,
World War II, the
Korean War, the Malayan Emergency , the
Vietnam War, the
Gulf War and the Afghanistan War, and briefly sent a unit of army engineers to help with rebuilding
Iraqi infrastructure.
The New Zealand military has three branches: the
New Zealand Army, the
Royal New Zealand Navy, and the
Royal New Zealand Air Force. New Zealand considers its own national defence needs to be modest; it dismantled its air combat capability in 2001. New Zealand has contributed forces to recent regional and global peacekeeping missions, including those in
Cyprus,
Somalia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, the
Sinai,
Angola,
Cambodia, the
Iran/
Iraq border,
Bougainville and
East Timor.
Local government and external territories
The early European settlers divided New Zealand 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 entities such as provinces, states or territories, 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. 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 County Council. Four of the territorial councils and the Chatham Islands County Council also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are known as unitary authorities. Territorial authority districts are not subdivisions of regional council districts, and a few of them straddle regional council boundaries.
Regions are : Northland,
Auckland,
Waikato,
Bay of Plenty,
Gisborne*,
Hawke's Bay,
Taranaki,
Manawatu-Wanganui,
Wellington,
Marlborough*,
Nelson*,
Tasman*,
West Coast,
Canterbury 
