New Zealand is a small nation at the lower end of the South Pacific Ocean, about 3,000 kilometers to the east of Australia. A long, narrow country, it consists of two major islands (the North and South Islands), as well as numerous offshore isles. Several of the latter, including Stewart and Great Barrier Islands, are in excess of 80 kilometers long. As the run of the 2,000-kilometer-long group is roughly north-south, it straddles a wide range of climatic regions, ranging from sub-tropical to sub-temperate.
New Zealand was first occupied by Polynesian voyagers, the Maori, around 1,000 years ago, with European colonization on a large scale over the last 200 years. This nation of 31/2 million people is today about 25 percent Maori and 70 percent European (Pakeha in the Maori tongue), with English the common language. Approximately 2 million people live in the top half of the North Island, 700,000 in the lower half of the North Island, and only 800,000 in the more sparsely populated South Island.
New Zealand was first occupied by Polynesian voyagers, the Maori, around 1,000 years ago, with European colonization on a large scale over the last 200 years. This nation of 31/2 million people is today about 25 percent Maori and 70 percent European (Pakeha in the Maori tongue), with English the common language. Approximately 2 million people live in the top half of the North Island, 700,000 in the lower half of the North Island, and only 800,000 in the more sparsely populated South Island.
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