Portal:New Zealand

New Zealand
*Aotearoa* (Māori)
New Zealand Aotearoa (Māori)
	Flag Coat of arms
	Location of New Zealand, including outlying islands, its territorial claim in the Antarctic, and Tokelau
ISO 3166 code	NZ

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The New Zealand Portal

Shortcut

P:NZ

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...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Good article - show another

This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

Fat Freddy's Drop during a European tour in 2008. Left to right: Tehimana Kerr, Joe Lindsey, Chris Faiumu, Iain Gordon, Dallas Tamaira, Toby Laing, and Scott Towers.

Fat Freddy's Drop is a New Zealand seven-piece band from Wellington, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by musicians from other bands in Wellington, Fat Freddy's Drop gradually became its members' sole focus. Band members continued playing with their other respective groups—The Black Seeds, TrinityRoots, Bongmaster, and others—for much of their 20-year career. Fat Freddy's Drop are known for their improvised live performances. Songs on their studio albums are versions refined over years of playing them live in New Zealand and on tour abroad.

The group gained international recognition in 2003 after their single "Midnight Marauders" was re-distributed by record labels and DJs in Germany. The group has toured Europe nearly every year since then. The first studio album by Fat Freddy's Drop, Based on a True Story, was the first independently distributed album to reach first place in New Zealand record sales directly after release in 2005, and is the third highest-selling album by a national artist in the country's history. Based on a True Story won Best Album at the New Zealand Music Awards the same year, and remained on the top 40 New Zealand sales chart for over two years, establishing them as one of the most successful contemporary bands in the island nation. (Full article...)

List of Good articles

General images

The following are images from various New Zealand-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Tekoteko from the gable of a wharenui, Te Arawa (20th century) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 2A beach barbecue – an established part of New Zealand culture (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 3Māori whānau (extended family) from Rotorua in the 1880s. Many aspects of Western life and culture, including European clothing and architecture, became incorporated into Māori society during the 19th century. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 4Kapa haka is performed at a School Strike for Climate in Christchurch 2019. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 5Prime Ministers John Key and Helen Clark (from History of New Zealand)
Image 6The 1935 Labour Cabinet. Michael Joseph Savage is seated in the front row, centre. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 7The scalloped bays indenting Lake Taupō's northern and western coasts are typical of large volcanic caldera margins. The caldera they surround was formed during the huge Oruanui eruption. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 8Elizabeth II and Muldoon's Cabinet, taken during the Queen's 1981 visit to New Zealand (from History of New Zealand)
Image 9The Original All Blacks during the "haka", 1905 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 10The Māori are most likely descended from people who emigrated from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands. After a pause of 70 to 265 years, a new wave of exploration led to the discovery and settlement of New Zealand.
Image 11Lorde as part of the 2014 Lollapalooza lineup (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 12Topography of Zealandia, the submerged continent, and the two tectonic plates (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 13Cook Island dancers at Auckland's Pasifika Festival, 2010 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 14The Forty-Fours viewed from the north; the leftmost islet is the easternmost point of New Zealand. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 15Knox Church, a Presbyterian church, in Dunedin. The city was founded by Scottish Presbyterian settlers. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 16HMS North Star destroying Pomare's Pā during the Northern/Flagstaff War, 1845, Painting by John Williams. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 17"First Scottish Colony for New Zealand" – 1839 poster advertising emigration from Scotland to New Zealand. Collection of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 18Scottish Highland family migrating to New Zealand, 1844, by William Allsworth. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 19Richard Seddon, Liberal Prime Minister from 1893 to his death in 1906 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 20An annotated relief map (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 21Pavlova, a popular New Zealand dessert, garnished with cream and strawberries. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 22The first Government House in Auckland, as painted by Edward Ashworth in 1842 or 1843. Auckland was the second capital of New Zealand. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 23New Zealand is antipodal to points of the North Atlantic, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco.
Image 24Central Plateau in winter (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 25Vigil in Wellington for the victims of the Christchurch mosques attacks (from History of New Zealand)
Image 26Children's and young adult author Margaret Mahy, July 2011 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 27Zealandia rejecting Australian Constitution in 1900 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 28Hinepare of Ngāti Kahungunu, is wearing a traditional korowai cloak adorned with a black fringe border. The two huia feathers in her hair, indicate a chiefly lineage. She also wears a pounamu hei-tiki and earring, as well as a shark tooth (mako) earring. The moko-kauae (chin-tattoo) is often based on one's role in the iwi. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 29An aerial view of the Auckland urban area, showing its location on the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 30A Māori ancestor (tekoteko) depicted in a wood carving at the Tamatekapua Meeting House in Ohinemutu (c. 1880) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 31One of the few extant copies of the Treaty of Waitangi (from History of New Zealand)
Image 32A modern wharenui (meeting house of a marae) exhibited at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 33Strong winds in the Cook Strait produce high waves which erode the shore, as shown in this image (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 34Art deco in Napier (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 35Rural landscape close to Mt Ruapehu (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 36Tribute to the Suffragettes memorial in Christchurch adjacent to Our City. The figures shown from left to right are Amey Daldy, Kate Sheppard, Ada Wells and Harriet Morison (from History of New Zealand)
Image 37Roger Douglas, the architect of New Zealand's 1980s neo-liberal reform programme (from History of New Zealand)
Image 38Men of the Māori Battalion, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, after disembarking at Gourock in Scotland in June 1940 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 39A meeting of European and Māori inhabitants of Hawke's Bay Province. Engraving, 1863.
Image 40The Mission House at Kerikeri is New Zealand's oldest surviving building, having been completed in 1822 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 41Michael Joseph Savage, Labour Prime Minister 1935–1940. This portrait was hung on the walls of many supporters. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 42The kiwi has become a New Zealand icon. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 43The Waikato River flowing out of Lake Taupō (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 44Fiordland is dominated by steep, glacier-carved valleys. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 45Water pollution sign on the Waimakariri River (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 46New Zealand Division in 1916 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 47George V with his prime ministers at the 1926 Imperial Conference. Standing (left to right): Monroe (Newfoundland), Coates (New Zealand), Bruce (Australia),Hertzog (Union of South Africa),Cosgrave (Irish Free State). Seated: Baldwin (UK), King George V, King (Canada). (from History of New Zealand)
Image 48Residents of Dunedin celebrate the news of the Armistice of 11 November 1918. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 49Aoraki / Mount Cook, as seen from Hooker Valley (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 50Percentages of people reporting affiliation with Christianity at the 2001, 2006 and 2013 censuses; there has been a steady decrease over twelve years. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 51European settlers developed an identity that was influenced by their rustic lifestyle. In this scene from 1909, men at their camp site display a catch of rabbits and fish. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 52A 1943 poster produced during the war. The poster reads: "When war broke out ... industries were unprepared for munitions production. To-day New Zealand is not only manufacturing many kinds of munitions for her own defence but is making a valuable contribution to the defence of the other areas in the Pacific..." (from History of New Zealand)
Image 53Poet Selina Tusitala Marsh, 2019 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 54Putting down a hāngī (earth oven) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 55Scorching Bay, Wellington, in summer (from Geography of New Zealand)

edit

More Did you know? - show different entries

...that Rev William Cotton (pictured), vicar of Frodsham, Cheshire, introduced the skills of beekeeping to New Zealand in the 1840s?

...that the New Zealand Journal of Forestry was first published in 1925 with a title in Māori?

...Selection

edit

Selected article - show another

The Clyde Dam, a "Think Big" project.

Think Big was an interventionist state economic strategy in the early 1980s, sponsored by Robert Muldoon (Prime Minister: 1975 - 1984) and his New Zealand National Party government. The 'Think Big' schemes saw the government borrow heavily overseas, running up a large external deficit, and using the funds for large-scale industrial projects. Petrochemical and energy related projects figured prominently, designed to utilize New Zealand's abundant natural gas to produce ammonia, urea fertilizer, methanol and petrol.

The core 'Think Big' projects included the construction of the Mobil synthetic-petrol plant at Motunui, the complementary expansion of the oil-refinery at Marsden Point near Whangarei, and the building of a stand-alone plant at Waitara to produce methanol for export. Motunui converted natural gas from the off-shore Maui field to methanol, which it then converted to petrol on-site. Declining oil prices rendered this process uneconomic and New Zealand abandoned the manufacture of synthetic petrol. The construction of the Clyde Dam on the Clutha River formed part of a scheme to generate electricity for smelting aluminium.

The New Zealand economy probably benefited from economic activity during the construction period, but the basic justification for the projects, a permanently higher oil-price, did not happen. Oil prices subsequently dropped in real terms. (Full article...)

More selected articles

edit

Selected picture - show another

Mt. Sugarloaf by Lake Heron, South Island, New Zealand

More selected pictures

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

... that British intervention reversed the lacquering of a statue in New Zealand?
... that New Zealand footballer Milly Clegg was called "an absolute unicorn" after appearing at three FIFA World Cups in under twelve months?
... that the Cook Landing Site also commemorates the Māori who landed in New Zealand four centuries or more before Cook did?
... that before bungee jumping with White House aides in New Zealand, senior White House correspondent Bill Plante said he was "proving that you're never too old to do something really stupid"?
... that the design on a New Zealand coin was incorrectly alleged to represent a "personified phallus"?
... that New Zealand's Big Lemon & Paeroa bottle was originally a replica space rocket?
... that when public radio stations aired Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in solidarity with Ukraine on 10 March 2022, the bass voice of Anthony Robin Schneider was heard live from Frankfurt and recorded from Auckland?
... that a hut on New Zealand's Copland Track had to be moved after being hit by a mudslide just 13 weeks after opening?

Topics

edit

Recognised content

Extended content

This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject New Zealand}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.