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Portal:New Zealand

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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 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, Five Eyes, 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 portrait of Frickleton by Mollie Tripe

Samuel Frickleton, VC, ED (1 April 1891 – 1 September 1971) was a soldier in the New Zealand Military Forces and a recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award of the British Commonwealth for gallantry in the face of the enemy.

Born in 1891 in Scotland, Frickleton moved to New Zealand in 1913 and was a miner when he enlisted with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) the year after the outbreak of the First World War. He took ill on reaching the Middle East and had to be repatriated to New Zealand. Although he had been discharged from the NZEF, he rejoined after recovering his health. He was posted to the 3rd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade, then serving on the Western Front. Wounded during the Battle of Messines when he destroyed two machine gun posts, an action that earned him the VC, he received medical treatment in England. He then underwent officer training but his health was still poor and before the end of the war he was returned to New Zealand. (Full article...)

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The New Zealand Bellbird (Anthoris melanura) is a passerine bird endemic to New Zealand. It has greenish coloration and is the only living member of the genus Anthornis. The bellbird forms a significant component of the famed New Zealand dawn chorus of bird song that was much noted by early European settlers. It has a bell-like song which is sometimes confused with that of the Tui. The species is common across much of New Zealand an its offshore islands as well as the Auckland Islands. The Māori language name is Korimako.

The bellbird is found throughout both the main islands of New Zealand apart from the north of the North Island. Its population and distribution had been seriously affected by the introduction of European-style farming, which has led to the removal of native forests (the natural habitat of the bellbird). Another important factor is the introduction of predatory species such as cats, weasels, stoats, ferrets, rats and food-robbing species like wasps. Predators either eat the birds or consume eggs, while food robbers compete with the bellbird for its natural food sources of nectar, honeydew and insects. The decline occurred around the same time as many other New Zealand species, but for unknown reasons was reversed and the species is still common across much of New Zealand (Bartle & Sagar 1987). (Full article...)

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View across Port Chalmers and Otago Harbour to Otago Peninsula
View across Port Chalmers and Otago Harbour to Otago Peninsula

Port Chalmers (Māori: Kōpūtai) is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

  • ... that more than 20 of Ernst Plischke's designs for the Abel Tasman Monument in New Zealand's Tarakohe were rejected before he designed a tall, tapering column referencing the Greek funerary stele?
  • ... that New Zealand academic and runner Roger Robinson has continued competing in races into his 80s despite knee replacement surgery in both knees?
  • ... that cricketer William O'Rourke has the best match-bowling figures by a New Zealander on a Test debut?
  • ... that New Zealand mayor Georgina Beyer was the world's first openly transgender mayor?
  • ... that as a child, New Zealand economist Brad Olsen would write notes about stock market trends while watching the evening news?
  • ... that despite being New Zealand's biggest earthquake in 78 years, the 2009 Dusky Sound earthquake caused only minor damage?
  • ... that Lucy Greenish was the first woman in New Zealand to become a registered architect?
  • ... that a hut on New Zealand's Copland Track had to be moved after being hit by a mudslide just 13 weeks after opening?

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