New Zealand

OVERVIEW

The flag of New Zealand

The current flag of New Zealand was officially adopted on June 12, 1902. It consists of the British Blue Ensign ( the blue background), and a representation of the Southern Cross constellation, one that uses only four stars.

The Coat of Arms

European woman and Maori chieftain: These two figures represent the tie between the native Maori and the European settlers.
St. Edward’s crown: This crown was used in the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II and signifies that she still reigns as Queen of New Zealand.
The weighed lamb or fleece: Represents the farming industry.
The hammers: Represent the mining industry.
The stars: Are the stars of the Southern Cross. The most famous constellation in the Antipodes.
The bushel of wheat: Symbolises the agricultural industry.
The three ships: They represent the importance of sea trade for New Zealand.
The right and left sides of the shield: Represent the North and South Islands.
The plain strip down the centre: Symbolises the Cook Strait that divides the two islands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6qmdqvItkM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN9EC3Gy6Nk

Biggest city: Auckland

National animal Kiwi – often used as a nickname for New Zealanders

National plant and flower Silver fern and Kōwhai

The word kōwhai is also used in the Māori language for the colour yellow, because of the colour of the flowers.

National anthems

“God defend New Zealand”
“God save the Queen”
Both are official, but mostly “God defend New Zealand” is used as the national anthem.

Official languages English, Maori and the sign language

Currency New Zealand dollar ( NZD)

Capital city Wellington

National colours Black, red ochre and white / silver

Current Prime Minister: Jacinda Ardern

Monarch: Elisabeth II

GEOGRAPHY

New Zealand lies 1,600 km from Australia and Polynesia. It consists of the North Island, South Island (in the middle there is Cooks Channel) and Stewart Island (Rakiura), lying south of the South Island. New Zealand lies on a touchpoint of the Pacific and Indo-Australian plate, where the South Alps and volcanoes appeared on the North Island. All little islands around the two biggest islands have hills and they are very randomly formed. The mountains of New Zealand contain many volcanoes, geysers and holes with sources of very hot gas. Some volcanoes are: Ruapehu, Tongariru, Ngauruhoe, Mount Agmont. The highest peak of the Southern Alps and also the highest peak of New Zealand is Mount Cook (3764 meters above sea level). The mountains on the South Island are shaped by glaciers. The biggest glacier is the Tasmanian glacier (27 meters long). In the western parts of the island (Westland) there are many rivers which flow from the mountains on the west coast. The higher parts of the island are made of flint and have many grass on them. On the lower mountains there is a lot of sand and clay. There is an old mountain which spreads through the whole island, it is built out of paleozoic, metamorphic stone and also from triatic, jurassic sedimens. In the south - east there are fiords and because of them there is a national park called Fiordland. There are many mountains, volcanic activity and earthquakes because New Zealand is in a part of the Pacific called “Ring of Fire”.

All locations on New Zealand are 130 km from the sea. Its long coastline has a range from 15,000 to 18,000 km. When it was separated from other land masses (100 million years ago), ancient plants and animals survived and evolved into unique species. New Zealand's landscape is very unique. There are: mountains, beaches, rainforests, glaciers and active volcanoes. But, because of Maori and European settlers new plants and species were introduced. This began to overpower the natural species of New Zealand. In New Zealand there is a hill (305 m) with one of the longest names in the world, called Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauo
tamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu.
In the northern parts of the North Island there is a tropic climate with gentle winters and warm summers and rainfalls about 1200 mm a year. All other parts of New Zealand have moderately warm ocean climate. In the south-east there is subantarctic climate. In the western parts of the South Island there are many rainfalls with cloudy and rainy weather. But, in the eastern parts of the South Island the sun shines almost all day.

CLIMATE

The climate of New Zealand is diverse because of the country's diverse landscape. Most regions of New Zealand belong to the temperate zone with a mild climate. Conditions vary from extremely wet on the West Coast of the South Island to almost semi-arid in Central Otago and subtropical in Northland.

Sunshine
Most places in New Zealand have over 2,000 hours of sunshine a year, with the sunniest areas - Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay and Nelson/Marlborough.

Rain
New Zealand's average rainfall is high and evenly spread throughout the year. In the northern and central areas of New Zealand more rain falls in winter than in summer, whereas in the southern part of New Zealand, winter is the season of least rainfall.

Snow
Snow typically falls during the months of June through October. Most snow in New Zealand falls in the mountainous areas, like the Central Plateau in the north, and the Southern Alps in the south. It also falls heavily in inland Canterbury and Otago.

The history of New Zealand is quite short. It was first discovered by Polynesians who developed the Maori culture. Later, in 1642, it was discovered by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.127 years after him, it was discovered by James Cook who also discovered Australia and put them both on a map and brought it to Britain.
From the late 18th century, a lot of explorers and other sailors, missionaries, traders and adventurers visited the country. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and various Māori chiefs, bringing New Zealand into the British Empire and giving Māori the same rights as British people. There was huge British settlement throughout the rest of the century and into the early part of the next century. From 1839-1841 New Zealand was a part of the Australian colony New South Wales.
Māori soon realized that they had underestimated the number of settlers that arrived in their lands. The Iwi tribes quickly lost much of their land and autonomy through various government acts. Although it was generally peaceful in this period, there were conflicts over who had ultimate power in particular areas – the Governor or the Māori chiefs. One such conflict was the Northern or Flagstaff War of the 1840s.

History of New Zealand

Abel Tasman

James Cook

With the growing population of settlers, pressure grew on Māori to sell more land. Land is not only an economic resource, but also one basis of Māori identity and a connection with their ancestors. In Māori culture there was no such idea as selling land until the arrival of Europeans. The settlers had little understanding for their traditions and accused Māori of holding onto land they did not use efficiently. Competition for land was one important cause of the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s and 1870s, in which the some regions were invaded by colonial troops and took away some of the Māori land. The wars and confiscation left bitterness that remains to this day.

Gold was discoverd in the middle of 19th century.It attracted a lot of people.

New Zeland’s soldiers fought on the side of Britain in wars.

Later around 1999 New Zealand became a parliamentary democracy and the first to allow women to vote (1893) And at last in 1947 New Zealand became an independent country .

Meeting of settlers and Maori