Famous landmarks in New Zealand

New Zealand, called Aotearoa in Māori, is an island country in the southwest Pacific Ocean, about 2,000 kilometres southeast of Australia. It has two main islands, the North Island and the South Island, plus many smaller ones. Its capital is Wellington, the southernmost capital of any independent country, and its largest city is Auckland. New Zealand is known for Māori culture, snowy mountains and fjords, volcanoes and geysers, sheep farms, the kiwi bird and rugby.

On My Earth Toy you can visit Milford Sound with Mitre Peak, Auckland's Sky Tower and War Memorial Museum, the Hobbiton Movie Set, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the Beehive parliament building, ChristChurch Cathedral and more. Look for the kiwi, the cheeky kea parrot, the tuatara and the giant weta, and discover the glowworms of Waitomo.

Geography and nature

The Southern Alps run down the South Island, topped by Aoraki/Mount Cook at 3,724 metres, with glaciers and deep fjords in Fiordland. The North Island has active volcanoes such as Ruapehu and Tongariro, and around Rotorua geysers and mud pools steam and bubble. Because New Zealand was isolated for so long, its only native land mammals are bats, and birds took many of their roles: flightless kiwi, kākāpō and the extinct giant moa. The tuatara is the last survivor of an ancient group of reptiles.

People, languages and culture

New Zealand has three official languages: English, Māori (te reo Māori) and New Zealand Sign Language. Most people have European ancestry, and there are large Māori, Pacific Island and Asian communities. Māori culture is an important part of national life, from the marae, a meeting ground, to the haka, a ceremonial dance performed by the All Blacks rugby team before matches. New Zealanders are often called Kiwis, after the national bird, and love the outdoors, from tramping (hiking) to sailing.

History in a nutshell

Polynesian voyagers, the ancestors of Māori, arrived by canoe around 1250 to 1300, making New Zealand one of the last large lands on Earth to be settled by people. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted it in 1642, and James Cook mapped its coasts from 1769. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and many Māori chiefs, and British settlement grew quickly. New Zealand became a dominion in 1907 and gradually took full control of its own affairs.