New+Zealand

__ New Zealand __

General facts Name: New Zealand – // Aotearoa // (The Maori name meaning ”Land of the Long White Cloud”) Capital: Wellington Main religion: Christianity National holiday: Waitangi Day - 6 February Areal: 268,021 sq km Language: English and Te Reo Maori Independent from UK: 1907 Population: 4,100,000 humans, 40,000,000 sheep and about 9,000,000 cattle. About 80% of the population lives in cities. The human population, that is.



New Zealand lies south in the Pacific Ocean, about 1600 miles east for Australia. It’s a big country with two main islands, and a lot of smaller ones. The common though is that New Zealand was discovered of Polynesian between year 1000 and 1300. Now there is some doubt about the exact time, because of recent discovery that make us think that it may have been populated before that. The people that came from Polynesia found a country much different than where they came from. There was a more temperate climate, and a lot of mountains. They were used to bigger mammals to hunt for food, but found none, instead they hunted bird that could not fly, called Moa, which they after a while hunted to extinction. But they survived on what they found in the wild.

Climate and geography New Zealand has what is known as a maritime climate, as opposed to the continental climate of larger land masses. There is no borderline to other countries since New Zealand is two islands in the middle of the ocean. Its landscape is dominated by hills and valleys, and they’re not small, to put it gently. The south island, which is the biggest, is parted in the middle by a chain of mountains called the “Southern Alps”. 18 of the mountains are over 3000 metres and the highest one, called Mount Cook, is 3754 metres above the ocean. The northern island doesn’t have as much and as high mountains, the highest being Mount Ruapehu with its 2797 metres, but it’s marked with volcanism. Mount Ruapehu is actually an active cone volcano. There are also some minor volcanoes, some hot springs, geysers and mud pools around. The two island is very different, to put it simply.



History The first European who saw New Zealand was Abel J. Tasman, when he was exploring in 1642, though he didn’t do anything other than look at it. The first man to ever walk on the islands was Captain James Cook, when he arrived and did some comprehensive explorations in 1769, but no one settled at that time. The first real settlers came in 1830. In the beginning of the nineteenth century some Christian missionaries began to settle, and converted almost all Maori to Christians. In 1840 the Maori signed some sort of treat which gave the country to Britain, but they soon realized what they’d done and wanted their land back. Something they didn’t get, so they attacked the British settlements over and over again. Which apparently did not work out, as New Zealand is an English speaking country. The deal causes trouble up to the day today, because there is confusion and disagreement of the translation. But now it’s a peaceful country and the people are said to be tremendously outgoing and friendly.

Captain James Cook

Similarities Since the European invaded New Zealand a long time ago there have to be some similarities. They started early in “teaching” the Maori the “right” way to live, and there aren’t many original Maori people in New Zealand in these days. In New Zealand there is 10 years of compulsory school. That is the Primary and Secondary Education, which is a right until the student is 18 years old. Most people get their kids in school when they’re 6 years old, but a few choose to wait a year. If they start at age 6 their usually finished at age 16, and then they’re ready to start. This is also the case in England, so the school is about the same, with little to no exceptions.

The language is also the same. As you probably know English is the universal language, and the one that is most spoken. They also speak English in a lot of countries, including New Zealand because of the British Empire who conquered 1/3 of the world. Now there is no such thing as the British Empire, but the countries that were invaded still speak English. British-English is considered the “pretty” way to speak, but most countries have their own dialects, including New Zealand. Some of the culture in New Zealand is derived from England. There are a lot of young people from New Zealand who spends time in England for their overseas experience. Overseas experience, also called OE is a term they use in New Zealand. It basically means that they work abroad one year. It’s really common for them to OE, and many of them stay longer than one year. And since really many of them go to England, no wonder how the culture is so alike.

New Zealand is an English speaking country because of the British Empire who invaded 1/3 of the world at the most. It all started in the 17th century when England started to establish overseas trading posts and after a while, colonies. Because of that the English political, linguistic and cultural legacy is spread all over the world. British people didn’t settle on New Zealand before 1830, but when they did, they didn’t waste much time before they wanted more of the country. In 1940 they made an agreement with the Maori that said that they handed over their sovereignty to the British crown. There is a huge discussion of whether of the two translations is the right one, but the British people started to transfer their habits and ways of life to the Maori. The Maori thought it was all right in the beginning, but soon understood that the boats brought far more people than they first had thought. They began to both loose and sell their fields and land properties, and when the invaders needed more the Europeans accused the Maori for not using the land that they hold so close to their heart. This land was their ancestors land and they didn’t give it up before they absolutely had to. They had a lot of fights and even some small wars, but they were generally cooperating. Some Maori had ships and flour mills and some of them had some other new things the European brought with them. As years went by, they got more and more influenced by other countries, and is today as modern as every other land. There are still some Maoris that live of the nature as their ancestors did, but they can live in the modern world if they want to. I am tired of everything that has something to do with New Zealand, but it seems like a beautiful country with a lot of breathtaking nature and exceptionally friendly people. The history behind this English speaking land is interesting and the Maori culture is exciting, but right now I’d rather eat my hand than write more about it, so this is the end of my exercise.