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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.

Linwood House in 2003

Linwood House was built as the homestead for Joseph Brittan, who, as surgeon, newspaper editor and provincial councillor, was one of the dominant figures in early Christchurch, New Zealand. The suburb of Linwood was named after Brittan's farm and homestead. Brittan's daughter Mary married William Rolleston, and they lived at Linwood House following Joseph Brittan's death. During that time, Rolleston was the 4th (and last) Superintendent of the Canterbury Province, and Linwood House served for many important political and public functions.

The property went through many changes in ownership. Land was successively subdivided; at its peak, 110 acres (450,000 m2) of land belonged to Linwood House, of which only 2,013 m2 (21,670 sq ft) remain. For some years, Linwood House was used as a private day and boarding school for girls. The house declined during the mid-20th century, was used for flats for several decades, and was in 1985 described by an historian as the "city's worst example of a house which should be preserved being left to decay". The house's fortunes improved when it was purchased in 1988 by people sympathetic to heritage. Gradually being restored, Linwood House suffered significant damage in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake and partially collapsed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Civil Defence ordered the building's demolition, which was carried out in the second half of 2011. (Full article...)

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More Did you know? - show different entries

...that megaherbs on the uninhabited New Zealand sub-antarctic islands almost became extinct by overbrowsing by livestock introduced to support shipwrecked sailors?

...that one of the Powelliphanta sp. is found only on a five hectare area northeast of Westport, New Zealand?

...that Mauisaurus was the largest plesiosaur to roam New Zealand waters and that it gets its name from the Māori demigod Māui?

...that it was during the Ngāti Whātua victory at the battle of Te Kai a te Karoro, or Seagull's Feast, that Ngā Puhi became the first Māori iwi to use muskets in combat?


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The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane, box truss motorway bridge over the Waitemata Harbour, joining Saint Marys Bay in Auckland City with Northcote in North Shore City, New Zealand. It has a total length of 1,020 m (3,348 feet), with a main span of 243.8 m, rising 43.27 m above high water allowing ships access to the deepwater port at the Chelsea Sugar Refinery up harbour (nowadays one of the few remaining wharves needing such access west of the bridge). It is part of the Auckland Northern Motorway running from the Central Motorway Junction in downtown Auckland to Orewa. (Full article...)

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Jean Batten's Percival Gull, G-ADPR, preserved at Auckland International Airport
Jean Batten's Percival Gull, G-ADPR, preserved at Auckland International Airport

Jane Gardner Batten CBE OSC (15 September 1909 – 22 November 1982), commonly known as Jean Batten, was a New Zealand aviator who made several record-breaking flights – including the first solo flight from England to New Zealand in 1936. (Full article...)

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