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Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean.

Definition

The term "Polynesia" was first coined by Charles de Brosses in 1756, and originally applied to all the islands of the Pacific. Jules Dumont d'Urville in an 1831 lecture to the Geographical Society of Paris proposed a restriction on its use, and also introduced the terms Micronesia and Melanesia, this three-way regional division remaining in widespread use today. Geographically, Polynesia may be conceived as a triangle with its three corners at Hawai'i, New Zealand, and Easter Island. The other main island groups located within the Polynesian triangle are Samoa, Tonga, and the various island chains that form French Polynesia. However, in essence it is an anthropological term, referring to one of the three parts of Oceania (abstraction made of 'continental' Australia), the others being Micronesia and Melanesia, whose autochthonous (pre-colonial) population generally belongs to one ethno-cultural family as a result of centuries of maritime migrations.

History

The spread of pottery and domesticates in Polynesia is connected with the Lapita-culture which around 1600-1200 B.C., started expanding from New Guinea as far east as Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. During this time the aspects of the Polynesian culture developed, especially on the islands of Samoa and Tonga. Around 300 B.C., this new Polynesian people spread from Samoa and Tonga to Cook Islands, Tahiti-nui, Tuamotus, and Hive. This was supported by Patrick Kirch and Marshall Weisler when they performed X-ray fluorescence sourcing of basalt artifacts found on both islands Around 300 A.D. or earlier, the Polynesians discovered and settled Easter Island. This is supported by archaeological evidence as well as the introduction of flora and fauna consistent with the Polynesian culture, which lives in the tropics, to this non-tropical island. Around 400 A.D. Hawai'i was settled by the Polynesians and around 1000 A.D. New Zealand was settled as well. For information about colonisation and independence, follow the links for each nation.

Native Culture of Polynesia

Polynesia divides into two distinct cultural groups, East Polynesia and West Polynesia. The culture of West Polynesia is conditioned to high populations. It has strong institutions of marriage, and well-developed judicial, monetary, and trading traditions. It comprises the groups of Tonga, Samoa, and the Polynesian outliers. Because of a strong readiness to accept new ideas, and due to relatively large numbers of Christian missionaries in the islands, Polynesians readily adopted Christianity. Christianity From the Cook Islands eastward, the cultures are highly adapted to smaller islands and atolls. Anthropologists term their system of kinship the Hawaiian system. Religion, farming, fishing, weather prediction, catamaran construction, and navigation were highly developed skills, because the population of an entire island could hang on them. Trading consisted of both luxuries and mundane items. Many low-lying islands could suffer severe famine if their gardens were poisoned by the salt from the storm-surge of a hurricane. In these cases fishing, the primary source of protein, would not ease loss of food energy. Navigators, in particular, were revered and each island maintained a house of navigation, with a boat-building area. Settlements by the Polynesians were divided into two categories. The hamlet and the village. Size of the island inhabited determined whether or not a hamlet would be built. The larger volcanic islands usually had hamlets, because of the many zones that could be divided across the island. Food and resources were more plentiful and so these settlements of four to five houses (usually with gardens) were established, so that there would be no overlap between the zones. Villages, on the other hand, were built on the coasts of smaller islands and consisted of thirty or more houses. Usually these villages were fortified with walls and pallisades made of stone and wood. [Encyclopedia Britannica, 1995] The native languages of Polynesia are all members of the family of Oceanic languages, which itself is a sub-branch of the Austronesian language family. Most of the languages of Polynesia are also members of the subfamily of Polynesian languages. European colonialism brought with it several Indo-European languages, which in turn have led to many creoles.

See also


- Polynesian mythology
- List of Polynesians

Economy of Polynesia

With the exceptions of New Zealand, Hawaii, and foreign controlled territories, the majority of Polynesian islands derive their incomes from foreign aid and remittances from those who live in other countries. Many Polynesian locations such as Easter Island supplement this with tourism money. Some have more unusual sources of income, such as Tuvalu which marketed its '.tv' internet top level domain name. Others still live as they did before Western Civilization encountered them.

Maritime development

At a time when European sailors were navigating by keeping a watch for the shoreline in daylight, Polynesians were navigating a vast extent of the Pacific Ocean. Polynesia comprised islands diffused throughout a triangular area with sides of four thousand miles. The area from the Hawaiian Islands, east to Easter Island, and west to New Zealand was all settled by one people, of a single culture and language. They employed a whole range of navigational techniques, including use of the stars, the movement of ocean currents and wave patterns, the air and sea interference patterns caused by islands and atolls, the flight of birds, the winds, and weather. It is theorized that the original Polynesian migration followed the seasonal paths of birds. Not only does their oral tradition place importance on the flight of birds, but there are also range marks on shore pointing to distant islands in line with these flyways. The route used from Tahiti to New Zealand follows the migration of the Long-tailed Koel, just as the voyage from Tahiti to Hawaii matches the track of the Pacific Golden Plover and the Bristle-thighed Curlew. It is also known that Polynesians employed shore-sighting birds as did many seafaring peoples. They would commonly take with them one of the Frigatebirds. These birds refuse to land on the water as their feathers will become waterlogged, making it impossible to fly. When the Polynesians thought they were close to land they would release this bird which would dependably fly towards land or else return to the boat. The Polynesians were the first people to develop navigating by the stars into a fine art. They used a thirty-two point pelorus, also called a dummy compass, which they probably adopted from the Arabs before they colonized into the Pacific from India. The pelorus was marked for stars which rose and set at nearly equally spaced points on the horizon. The Polynesians imagined the heavens as the interior of a dome where a star proceeded along a path which passed over certain islands. They knew over a hundred and fifty stars. Each star was given a name and it was known where and when it rose and set, as well as which islands it passed over. Thus Polynesian navigators were able to sail toward the star they knew to be over their destination temporarily and as it moved westward with time they would then steer towards the succeeding star which would have then moved over the target island. The Polynesians, with the pelorus and their impressive knowledge, were able follow the shortest route over thousands of miles without any further instrumentation or charts. In fact, as they steered for such a star they actually were following the great circle to their destination. This method is in principle more perfect than compass navigation. The Polynesians also used wave and swell formations to navigate. They learned the effect various islands had on their shape, direction, and motion and were able to recognize them as landmarks. This was greatly important as the depth of the Pacific made soundings useless. They also were able to locate islands by certain cloud formations as well as the reflections shallow water made on the undersides of clouds. Since the Polynesians did not draw charts, they had no words for absolute measures of distance. Instead, they measured the time it took to sail between the islands in "canoe-days."

Island groups

soundings The following are the islands and island groups, either nations or subnational territories, that are of native Polynesian culture. Some islands of Polynesian origin are outside the general triangle that geographically defines the region.
- American Samoa (overseas United States territory)
- Anuta (in the Solomon Islands)
- Cook Islands (self-governing former territory of New Zealand)
- Easter Island (part of Chile, called Rapa Nui in Rapa Nui)
- Emae (in Vanuatu)
- French Polynesia ("overseas nation", a territory of France)
- Hawai‘i (a state of the United States)
- Kapingamarangi (in the Federated States of Micronesia)
- Loyalty Islands (a dependency of the French territory of New Caledonia)
- Mele (in Vanuatu)
- New Zealand (called Aotearoa in Māori)
- Niue (a self-governing dependency of New Zealand)
- Nuguria (in Papua New Guinea)
- Nukumanu (in Papua New Guinea)
- Nukuoro (in the Federated States of Micronesia)
- Ontong Java (in the Solomon Islands)
- Pileni (in the Solomon Islands)
- Rennell (in the Solomon Islands)
- Rotuma (an island in the extreme north of Fiji)
- Samoa (independent nation)
- Sikaiana (in the Solomon Islands)
- Swains Island (politically part of American Samoa)
- Takuu (in Papua New Guinea)
- Tikopia (in the Solomon Islands)
- Tokelau (overseas dependency of New Zealand)
- Tonga (independent nation)
- Tuvalu (independent nation)
- Wallis and Futuna (overseas territory of France)

References

# # #

External links


- [http://www.southpacific.org/ South Pacific Organizer]
- [http://www.mapsouthpacific.com/ Map South Pacific] Category:Oceania Category:Polynesia Category:Islands zh-min-nan:Polynesia ko:폴리네시아 ja:ポリネシア

Island

in New York, USA]] An island or isle is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water. Very small islands are called islets. Although seldom adhered to, it is also proper to call an emergent land feature on an atoll an islet, since an atoll is a type of island. A key or cay is also another name for a relatively small island. Groups of related islands are called archipelagos. There are three main types of islands: continental islands, river islands, and volcanic islands. There are also some artificial islands. The word island derives ultimately from the Old English word igland. It was originally spelled phonetically: iland. The letter "s" was added out of the mistaken belief that it derived from isle (< Old French < Latin insula) + land, where no such etymological relationship existed.

Continental islands

Continental islands are bodies of land that are connected by the continental shelf to a continent. That is, these islands are part of an adjacent continent and are located on the continental shelf of that continent. Examples include Greenland and Sable Island off North America, Barbados and Trinidad off South America, Sicily off Europe, Sumatra and Java off Asia, New Guinea and Tasmania off Australia. A special type of continental island is the microcontinental island, which results when a continent is rifted. The best example is Madagascar off Africa. The Kerguelen Islands and some of the Seychelles are also examples. Another subtype is the barrier island: accumulations of sand on the continental shelf.

River islands

River islands occur in river deltas and in large rivers. They are caused by deposition of sediment at points in the flow where the current loses some of its carrying capacity. In essence, they are river bars, isolated in the stream. While some are ephemeral, and may disappear if the river's water volume or speed changes, others are stable and long-lived.

Volcanic islands

Volcanic islands are built by volcanoes. Mid-ocean examples are not geologically part of any continent. One type of volcanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring. Examples include the Mariana Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the Lesser Antilles and the South Sandwich Islands are the only Atlantic Ocean examples. Another type of volcanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples: Iceland, which is the world's largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen—both are in the Atlantic. The last type of volcanic island are those formed over volcanic hotspots. A hot spot is more or less stationary relative to the moving tectonic plate above it, so a chain of islands results as the plate drifts. Over long periods of time, this type of island is eventually eroded down and "drowned" by isostatic adjustment, becoming a seamount. Plate movement across a hot-spot produces a line of islands oriented in the direction of the plate movement. An example is the Hawaiian Islands, from Hawaii to Kure, which then extends beneath the sea surface in a more northerly direction as the Emperor Seamounts. Another chain with similar orientation is the Tuamotu Archipelago; its older, northerly trend is the Line Islands. The southernmost chain is the Austral Islands, with its northerly trending part the atolls in the nation of Tuvalu. Tristan da Cunha is an example of a hotspot volcano in the Atlantic Ocean. An atoll is an island formed from a coral reef that has grown on an eroded and submerged volcanic island. The reef rises above the surface of the water and forms a new island. Atolls are typically ring-shaped with a central, shallow lagoon. Examples include the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and Bora Bora in the Pacific.

See also


- List of islands
- List of islands by area
- List of islands by population
- Reef
- Desert island
- Tidal island
- List of artificial islands
- List of divided islands
- Skerry

External links


- [http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part8.htm Definition of island] from United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Category:Islands Category:Landforms zh-min-nan:Tó-sū ko:섬 ms:Pulau ja:島 simple:Island th:เกาะ

Neologism

A neologism is word, term, or phrase which has been recently created ("coined") —often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. Neologisms are by definition "new," and as such are often directly attributable to a specific individual, publication, period or event. The term "neologism" was itself coined around 1800; so for some time in the early 19th Century, the word "neologism" was itself a neologism. It can also refer to an existing word or phrase which has been assigned a new meaning.

Changing culture

Neologisms tend to occur more often in cultures which are rapidly changing, and also in situations where there is easy and fast propagation of information. They are often created by combining existing words (see compound noun and adjective) or by giving words new and unique suffixes or prefixes. Those which are portmanteaux are shortened. Neologisms can also be created through abbreviation or acronym, by intentionally rhyming with existing words, or simply through playing with sounds. Neologisms often become popular by way of mass media, the Internet, or word of mouth (see also Wiktionary's Neologisms:unstable or Protologism pages for a wiki venue of popularizing newly coined words). Every word in a language was, at some time, a neologism, though most of these ceased to be such through time and acceptance. Neologisms often become accepted parts of the language. Other times, however, they disappear from common usage. Whether or not a neologism continues as part of the language depends on many factors, probably the most important of which is acceptance by the public. Acceptance by linguistic experts and incorporation into dictionaries also plays a part, as does whether the phenomenon described by a neologism remains current, thus continuing to need a descriptor. It is unusual, however, for a word to enter common use if it does not resemble another word or words in an identifiable way. (In some cases however, strange new words succeed because the idea behind them is especially memorable or exciting). When a word or phrase is no longer "new," it is no longer a neologism. Neologisms may take decades to become "old," though. Opinions differ on exactly how old a word must be to no longer be considered a neologism; cultural acceptance probably plays a more important role than time in this regard.

Cultural acceptance

After being coined, neologisms invariably undergo scrutiny by the public and by linguists to determine their suitability to the language. Many are accepted very quickly; others attract opposition. Language experts sometimes object to a neologism on the grounds that a suitable term for the thing described already exists in the language. Non-experts who dislike the neologism sometimes also use this argument, deriding the neologism as "abuse and ignorance of the language." Some neologisms, especially those dealing with sensitive subjects, are often objected to on the grounds that they obscure the issue being discussed, and that such a word's novelty often leads a discussion away from the root issue and onto a sidetrack about the meaning of the neologism itself. Proponents of a neologism see it as being useful, and also helping the language to grow and change; often they perceive these words as being a fun and creative way to play with a language. Also, the semantic precision of most neologisms, along with what is usually a straightforward syntax, often makes them easier to grasp by people who are not native speakers of the language. The outcome of these debates, when they occur, has a great deal of influence on whether a neologism eventually becomes an accepted part of the language. Linguists may sometimes delay acceptance, for instance by refusing to include the neologism in dictionaries; this can sometimes cause a neologism to die out over time. Nevertheless if the public continues to use the term, it always eventually sheds its status as a neologism and enters the language even over the objections of language experts.

Versions of neologisms


- Unstable - Extremely new, being proposed, or being used only by a very small subculture.
- Diffused - Having reached a significant audience, but not yet having gained acceptance.
- Stable - Having gained recognizable and probably lasting acceptance.

Types of neologism


- Scientific — words or phrases created to describe new scientific discoveries or inventions. Examples:
  - beetle bank (early 1990s)
  - black hole (1968)
  - laser (1960)
  - prion
  - quark (1964)
  - radar (1941)
  - posterized
- Science fiction concepts created to describe new, futuristic ideas. Examples:
  - Ringworld (1971)
  - Dyson Sphere (circa 1960)
- Political — words or phrases created to make some kind of political or rhetorical point, sometimes perhaps with an eye to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Example:
  - dog-whistle politics (1990)
  - soccer moms (1992)
  - pro-life
  - pro-choice
  - meritocracy (1958)
  - political correctness (1970)
  - sie and hir (pronouns)
  - homophobia (1969)
  - genocide
  - Chindia (2004)
  - Some political neologisms, however, are intended to convey a negative point of view. Example: brutalitarian
- Pop-culture — words or phrases evolved from mass media content or used to describe popular culture phenomena (these may be considered a subsection of slang). Examples:
  - blog
  - carb
  - prequel
  - jumping the shark
  - Chuck Cunningham syndrome
  - Keyshawning
  - Baldwin (a good-looking man, such as one of the Baldwin family of actors)
  - Scooby Gang (a group which humorously resembles the teens on the cartoon Scooby-Doo)
  - From "D'Oh" to "Scotchtoberfest" - many neologisms from The Simpsons are now used in real life. For a long list see Made-up words in The Simpsons
- Imported — words or phrases originating in another language. Typically they are used to express ideas that have no equivalent term in the native language. (See loanword.) Examples:
  - tycoon
  - potato (1565)
  - zen (1727)
  - ao dai (1960s)
  - Vietcong (1960s)
  - Tet (1968)
  - anime (1988)
  - détente (1960s)
  - manga
- Trademarks are often neologisms to ensure they are distinguished from other brands. If legal trademark protection is lost, the neologism may enter the language as a genericized trademark. Example: Laundromat, Hoover
- Nonce words — words coined and used only for a particular occasion, usually for a special literary effect.
- Inverted — words that are derived from spelling (and pronouncing) a standard word backwards. Example: redrum
- Paleologism - a word that is alleged to be a neologism but turns out to be a long-used (if obscure) word. Used ironically.

Neologisms in literature

Many neologisms have come from popular literature, and tend to appear in different forms. Most commonly, they are simply taken from a word used in the narrative of a book; for instance, McJob from Douglas Coupland's Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture and cyberspace from William Gibson's Neuromancer. Sometimes the title of the book will become the neologism. For instance, Catch-22 (from the title of Joseph Heller's novel) and Generation X (from the title of Coupland's novel) have become part of the vocabulary of many English-speakers. Also worthy of note is the case in which the author's name becomes the neologism, although the term is sometimes based on only one work of that author. This includes such words as Orwellian (from George Orwell, referring to his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four) and Ballardesque (from J.G. Ballard, author of Crash). Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle was the container of the Bokononism family of Nonce words. Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" has been called "the king of neologistic poems" as it incorporated some dozens of invented words. The early modern English prose writings of Sir Thomas Browne 1605-1682 are the source of many neologisms as recorded by the OED.

Quotation

: "Yesterday's neologisms, like yesterday's jargon, are often today's essential vocabulary."
: – Academic Instincts, 2001[http://www.wordspy.com/waw/garber-marjorie.asp]

See also


- buzzword
- doublespeak
- euphemism
- jargon
- newspeak
- Langmaker
- portmanteau
- propaganda
- protologism
- retronym
- onomatopoeia
- siamese twins (English language)

External links, resources, references

English


- Fowler, H.W., "The King's English," Chapter I. Vocabulary, [http://www.bartleby.com/116/103.html Neologism], 2nd ed. 1908.

Information


- Root knowledge : [http://folk.uio.no/iroggen/Root_knowledge.html The need for neologisms]
- Neologism [http://www.aetherlumina.com/gnp/history.html History & Evaluation]
- International Dictionary of Literary Terms : [http://www.ditl.info/art/definition.php?term=3101 Neologisms]

Wiktionary


- Wiktionary: Neologisms
- Wiktionary: Neologisms unstable
- Wiktionary: Neologisms diffused
- Wiktionary: Neologisms stable

Indices


- [http://www.neologisms.us The Internalational Dictionary of Neologisms]
- [http://rdues.uce.ac.uk/neologisms.shtml Neologisms in Journalistic Text]
- [http://involution.org/neologisms.html Lexicon of Neologism]
- [http://web.bham.ac.uk/johnstf/neo.htm Internet Neologisms]
- [http://www.oneletterwords.com Neologisms in the Dictionaries of All-Consonant and All-Vowel Words]
- [http://www.wordspy.com/ wordspy.com]
- [http://www.langmaker.com/db/eng_a2z_index.htm Neologisms A-Z]
- [http://www.unwords.com/ unwords.com]
- [http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words04/neologisms/a.html Collected by Rice Universtiy linguistics class, 2003]
- [http://www.figarospeech.com It Figures-Figures of Speech] ----

Miscellaneous

In psychology, a neologism is a word invented by a person suffering from a language disorder, which may occur in the context of psychosis (see thought disorder) or aphasia acquired after brain damage ; clinicians can sometimes use these neologisms, which often have meaning only to the subject, as clues to determine the nature of the disorder. In theology, a neologism is a relatively new doctrine (for example, rationalism). In this sense, a neologist is an innovator in the area of a doctrine or belief system, and is often considered heretical or subversive by the mainstream church. Category:Types of words Category:Word coinage

Charles de Brosses

Charles de Brosses (born Dijon, 1709- d. 1777) was one of the most noteworthy French writers of the 18th century. He was the president of the parliament of Dijon (from 1741) and a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres of Paris (from 1746), and of the Académie des Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres of Dijon (from 1761). He was a close friend of Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707-1788), the naturalist who wrote the Histoire naturelle, and a personal enemy of Voltaire (1694-1778), the famous philosopher, who barred his entry in the Académie française in 1770. Because he opposed the absolute power of the king, he was exiled twice, in 1744 and 1771. During his life, he wrote numerous academic papers on topics concerning ancient history, philology and linguistics, which were used by Diderot and D'Alembert in the Encyclopédie (1751-1765).

Publications

De Brosses published five books:
- Lettres sur l'état actuel de la ville souterraine d'Herculée et sur les causes de son ensevelissement sous les ruines du Vésuve, Dijon, 1750. This contains a list of archeological discoveries from the Herculanus excavation, including some ancient inscriptions in the Oscan language.
- Histoire des navigations aux terres australes, contenant ce que l'on sait des moeurs et des productions des contrées découvertes jusqu'à ce jour, Paris, Durand, 1756; engl. trans. by J. Callender, Edinburgh, 1766-1768.; germ. trans. by J.C. Adelung, Halle, 1767. This offers a long and detailed digest of travel reportage, which proved extremely useful to James Cook with respect to the discovery of Australia in 1770, and contains, to our knowledge, the first historical occurrence of the words "Polynésie" and "Australasie".
- Du culte des dieux fétiches ou Parallèle de l'ancienne religion de l'Egypte avec la religion actuelle de Nigritie, [no pl.], [no ed.], 1760; germ. trans. by Pistorius, 1785. This provides a materialistic theory of the origin of religion, and represents one of the first theoretical works in the discipline of ethno-anthropology. Notably it contains the first historical occurrence of the word "fétichisme", later borrowed by Karl Marx in 1842 and used in his Capital (1867).
- Traité de la formation méchanique des langues et des principes physiques de l'étymologie, Paris, Saillant, 1765; 2nd ed.: Paris, Terrelongue, 1801; germ. trans.: Über Sprache und Schrift, by M. Hissmann, Leipzig, 1777; rus. trans.: Rassoujdenie o mekhanitcheskom sostave ïazykov i fizitcheskikh natchalakh etymologhii, by A. Nikolski, St. Petersburg, 1821-22. This provides a materialistic theory of the origin and the evolution of language, where the meaning of words is considered as an image of the physiological articulation of sounds (see Sound Symbolism). It had an influence on Condillac's Grammaire (1775) and a very important role in the birth of a scientific conception of language.
- Histoire de la République romaine, dans le cours du VIIe siècle, par Salluste, en partie traduite du latin sur l'original, en partie rétablie et composée sur les fragmens qui sont restés de ses livres perdus, Dijon, Frantin, 1777. This is a French translation of Sallustius’ Historia, partially restored with the help of ancient fragments, and illustrated with topographical maps and archaeological founds. De Brosses is most remembered among the French schools for his posthumously published book:
- L'Italie il y a cent ans, ou Lettres écrites d'Italie à quelques amis en 1739 et 1740, ed. by M. R. Colomb, Paris, Levavasseur, 1836. This book is a collection of cultured, witty, open-minded letters, sent by De Brosses to his friends in Dijon during his travel in Italy of 1739-1740. It was loved by Puskin and Stendhal. ja:ド・ブロス

Jules Dumont d'Urville

right right]] Rear Admiral Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (May 23, 1790,Condé-sur-Noireau, France – May 8, 1842, Meudon, France) was a French explorer and naval officer, who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. His first feat as an explorer, one which brought him much acclaim and proved to be his most significant discovery, occurred in 1820 during an expedition to the Greek islands. On that expedition, D'Urville recognized the true value of a recently unearthed statue as an ancient masterpiece that had been carved around the year 130 BC. He immediately arranged for the government of France to acquire one of the most valuable and famous statues in the world. The Venus de Milo now stands in the Louvre in Paris. In 1822 he sailed on a voyage around the world under Captain Duperrey, and brought home a very fine collection of animals and plants. In 1826 he was sent to the Pacific, surveyed the coasts of New Guinea, New Zealand, and other islands, and found out the probable place of the death of La Perouse. In 1837, on an expedition to the South Polar regions, he sailed along a coastal area of Antarctica that he named the Adélie Coast in honor of his wife. On his return in 1840, he was made rear admiral. Later, in honor of his many valuable chartings, the D'Urville Sea, off Antarctica, D'Urville Island, an island in the Joinville Island group in Antarctica, Cape d'Urville, Irian Jaya, Indonesia, and D'Urville Island in New Zealand were named after him. There is a street in Paris, Rue Dumont d'Urville, in the 8th district near the Champs-Élysées. Dumont d'Urville Station on Antarctica is also named after him. D'Urville was killed with his wife and son in a railroad accident near Meudon, France. He is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France. The account of his voyages was published in twenty-four volumes, with six large volumes of illustrations. d'Urville, Jules Dumont d'Urville, Jules Dumont D'Urville, Jules Dumont D'Urville, Jules Dumont D'Urville, Jules Dumont D'Urville, Jules Dumont

Melanesia

Melanesia (from Greek: μέλας black, νῆσος island) is a region extending from the western side of East Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and north-east of Australia. The term was first used by Jules Dumont d'Urville in 1832 to denote an ethnic and geographical grouping of islands distinct from Polynesia and Micronesia. Today d'Urville's racial classification is known to be inaccurate because it obscures Melanesia's cultural, linguistic, and genetic diversity and today is used simply as a convenient geographical label. Most importantly, this term is often used to conflate two quite distinct groups, the Papuans and the Austronesians.

The People of Melanesia

The original inhabitants of Melanesia are likely to have been the ancestors of the present-day Papuan language speaking people. These people are thought to have occupied New Guinea tens of millennia ago, and reached island Melanesia at least 35,000 years ago (according to radiocarbon dating). They appear to have occupied Melanesia as far east as the main islands in the Solomon Islands (i.e. including San Cristobal) and perhaps even to the smaller islands further to the east. It is in Melanesia (particularly along the north coast of New Guinea and in the islands north and east of New Guinea) that the Austronesian people came into contact with these pre-existing populations of Papuan speaking peoples, probably around four thousand years ago. It seems there was a long period of interaction which resulted in many complex changes in genetics, languages and culture. It is likely that it is from this area that a very small group of people departed to the east to become the founders of the Polynesian people. The nations of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia (which is legally a French dependency) use this term to describe themselves because it reflects their shared colonial history and common regional situation.

Location

French The following islands and groups of islands are traditionally considered part of Melanesia:
- Fiji
- New Caledonia
- New Guinea
- Solomon Islands
- Vanuatu
- Maluku Islands
- Torres Strait Islands Islands of mixed ancestry which do not claim Melanesian status include:
- Nauru
- Timor
- Tonga
- Maluku Utara
- Flores
- Sumba Some of the islands to the west of New Guinea such as Halmahera, Alor and Pantar can also be considered to be part of Melanesia, although people in this area do not make use of the term.

See also


- Papuan
- Negrito

Further reading


- [http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/cart/shopcore/?db_name=uhpress&page=shop/flypage&product_id=2978&category_id=b3e6237d1b1b3b8594488ed1c40d0dfb&PHPSESSID=40c869f223f32d8c1b34a69d0fc051d4 New Guinea: Crossing Boundaries and History] - a general history of New Guinea
- Dunn, Michal, Angela Terrill, Ger Reesink, Robert A. Foley, Stephen C. Levinson. 2005. 'Structural Phylogenetics and the Reconstruction of Ancient Language History'. Science 309: 2072-2975.

External links


- [http://www.mapsouthpacific.com/ Map South Pacific]
- [http://www.southpacific.org/ South Pacific Organizer]
- [http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/PNAS_2000_v97_p8225.pdf Polynesian origins: Insights from the Y chromosome]
- [http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2001_v68_p173-190.pdf Independent Histories of Human Y Chromosomes from Melanesia and Australia]
- [http://westmelanesia.com/index_westmelanesia.htm A site about West-Melanesia] Category:Oceania
- Category:Islands zh-min-nan:Melanesia ko:멜라네시아 ja:メラネシア

Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands, once known as the Sandwich Islands, form an archipelago of nineteen islands and atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts trending northwest by southeast in the North Pacific Ocean between latitudes 19° N and 29° N. The archipelago takes its name from the largest island in the group and extends some 1500 miles (2400 km) from the Island of Hawai‘i in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. The archipelago represents the exposed peaks of a great undersea mountain range known as the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain, formed by volcanic activity over a hotspot in the earth's mantle. At about 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from the nearest continent, the Hawaiian Island archipelago is the most isolated grouping of islands on Earth (Macdonald, Abbott, and Peterson, 1984).

Islands and reefs of the Hawaiian archipelago

Earth A total of 19 islands and atolls comprise the Hawaiian Islands, with a total land area of 16,636 km2 (6,423.4 square miles). The eight main Hawaiian islands (all inhabited except for Kaho‘olawe) are, listed here from south to north:
- Hawai‘i (also known as the Big Island)
- Maui
- Kaho‘olawe (uninhabited; temporary residential facilities)
- Lāna‘i
- Moloka‘i
- O‘ahu
- Kaua‘i
- Ni‘ihau Smaller islands, atolls, and reefs (beyond Ni‘ihau and all uninhabited); called the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands:
- Ka‘ula
- Nihoa
- Necker (Mokumanamana)
- French Frigate Shoals (Mokupāpapa)
- Gardner Pinnacles (Pūhāhonu)
- Maro Reef (Nalukakala)
- Laysan (Kauō)
- Lisianski (Papa‘āpoho)
- Pearl and Hermes Reef (Holoikauaua)
- Midway (Pihemanu) (temporary residential facilities)
- Kure (Kānemiloha‘i)

Islets

Some information sources state that there are 137 "islands" in the Hawaiian chain. This number includes all minor islands and islets offshore of the main islands (listed above) and individual islets in each atoll. (Hawai‘i state government, undated). Following is a list of islets and small offshore islands that make up the total count beyond 19:
- Ford Island (Moku‘ume‘ume)
- Kaohikaipu
- Manana Island
- Mōkōlea Rock
- Nā Mokulua
- Molokini Except for Midway, which is an unincorporated territory of the United States, these islands and islets are administered as the State of Hawaii — the 50th state of the United States of America.

Geology

United States of America) and blue to light gray (shallowest). Historical lava flows are shown in red, erupting from the summits and rift zones of Mauna Loa, Kilauea, and Hualalai volcanoes on Hawai‘i .]] The chain of islands or archipelago formed as the Pacific plate moves slowly northwestward over a hotspot in the earth's crust. Hence the islands in the northwest of the archipelago are older and typically smaller (have been eroding far longer). Because of the composition of the magma in the hotspot, the composition of Hawaiian volcanoes is basaltic. The majority of eruptions in Hawai‘i are Hawaiian-type eruptions because basaltic magma is relatively fluid compared with andesitic eruptions. Hawai‘i (the Big Island) is the largest and youngest island in the chain, built from seven different volcanoes. Mauna Loa, comprising over half of the Big Island, is the largest shield volcano on the planet. The measurement from the base locally depressing the sea floor to its peak is about 17 km (56,000 feet; [http://wwwhvo.wr.usgs.gov/maunaloa/ USGS]) See also: List of Hawaii rivers

Ecology

:Related article: Endemism in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian Islands are home to a large number of endemic species. The plant and animal life of the Hawaiian Islands developed in nearly complete isolation over about 70 million years. Human contact, first by Polynesians, introduced new trees, plants and animals. The growing population also brought deforestation, forest degradation, treeless grasslands, and environmental degradation. As a result, many species which depended on forest habitats and food went extinct. Agriculture began to increase, with monocultual crop production replacing multi-species systems. The arrival of the Europeans had a significant impact, with the promotion of large-scale single-species export agriculture and livestock grazing. In turn, this led to the increased clearing of forests, and the development of towns, driving more species to extinction. Today, many of the remaining endemic species are considered endangered. [http://www.agroforestry.net/afg/]

Climate

The islands receive most rainfall from the trade winds on their north and east flanks (called the windward side) as a result of orographic precipitation. Coastal areas in general and especially the south and west flanks or leeward sides, tend to be drier. Because of the frequent build-up of Tradewind clouds and potential showers, most tourist areas have been built on the leeward coasts of the islands. In general, the Hawaiian Islands receive most of their precipitation during the winter months (October to April). Drier conditions generally prevail from May to September, but the warmer temperatures increase the risk of hurricanes (see below). Temperatures at sea level generally range from high temperatures of 85-90°F (29-32°C) during the summer months to low temperatures of 65-70°F (18-21°C) during the winter months. Very rarely does the temperature rise above 90°F (32°C) or drop below 60°F (16°C) at lower elevations. Temperatures are lower at higher altitudes; in fact, the three highest mountains of Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Haleakala sometimes receive snowfall during the winter.

Hurricanes

The hurricane season in the Hawaiian Islands is roughly from June through November, when hurricanes and tropical storms are most probable in the North Pacific. These storms tend to originate off the coast of Mexico (particularly the Baja California peninsula) and track west or northwest towards the islands. Hawai‘i is protected by the vastness of the Pacific (i.e. the improbability of a direct hit); as storms cross the Pacific they tend to lose strength if they bear northward and encounter cooler water. It is thought that the topography of the highest islands (Haleakalā on Maui, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island) may protect these islands, and certainly Kaua‘i has been hit more often in the last 50 years than the others.

Tsunamis

Baja California peninsula The Hawaiian islands can be affected by tsunamis, great waves that strike the shore typically but not exclusively from the north. Tsunamis are movements of the surface layer of the ocean most often caused by earthquakes somewhere in the Pacific. The city of Hilo on the Big Island has historically been most impacted by tsunamis, where the inrushing water is accentuated by the shape of the bay on which the town is situated.

References


- [http://www2.hawaii.gov/DBEDT/images/User_FilesImages/databook/db02/sec05_a254.pdf Hawai‘i state government], Table 05.09 (.pdf file).
- Macdonald, G. A., A. T. Abbott, and F. L. Peterson. 1984. Volcanoes in the Sea. The Geology of Hawaii, 2nd edition. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. 517 pp.
- [http://radlab.soest.hawaii.edu/atlas/ The Ocean Atlas of Hawai‘i] - SOEST at University of Hawai‘i.
- Category:Archipelagoes ko:하와이 제도 ja:ハワイ諸島

New Zealand

New Zealand or Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud, is a country of two large islands and many smaller islands in the south-western Pacific Ocean. New Zealand is notable for its isolation, being separated from Australia on the northwest by the Tasman Sea, some 2,000 km wide. The closest neighbours to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. The population of New Zealand is mostly of European descent, with the indigenous Māori as the largest minority. Non-Māori Polynesian and Asian peoples are also significant minorities, especially in the cities. Officially, Elizabeth II is the Queen of New Zealand and is represented in the country by a non-political Governor-General; though the Queen has no real political influence. Political power is held by the Prime Minister who is leader of the Government in the democratically elected Parliament of New Zealand. The monarch's Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue, which are entirely self-governing; Tokelau, which is moving towards self-government, and New Zealand's claim in Antarctica.

History

New Zealand is one of the most recently settled major land masses. Polynesian settlers arrived in their waka some time between 800 and 600 years ago to establish the indigenous Māori culture. Settlement of the Chatham Islands to the south-east of New Zealand produced the Moriori people but it is disputed whether they moved there from New Zealand or elsewhere in Polynesia. Most of New Zealand was divided into tribal territories called rohe, resources within which were controlled by an iwi ('tribe'). Usually no two iwi had overlapping rohe. Māori adapted to eating the local marine resources, flora and fauna for food, hunting the giant flightless moa (which soon became extinct), and ate the Polynesian Rat and kumara (sweet potato), which they introduced to the country. The first Europeans known to reach New Zealand were led by Abel Janszoon Tasman, who sailed up the west coast of the South and North islands in 1642. He named it Staten Landt, believing it to be part of the land Jacob Le Maire had discovered in 1616 off the coast of Chile. Staten Landt appeared on Tasman's first maps of New Zealand, but this was changed by Dutch cartographers to Nova Zeelandia, after the Dutch province of Zeeland, some time after Hendrik Brouwer proved the South American land to be an island in 1643. The Latin Nova Zeelandia became Nieuw Zeeland in Dutch. Lieutenant James Cook subsequently called the archipelago New Zealand, although the names he chose for the North and South islands were rejected, and the main three islands became known as North, Middle and South, with the Middle Island being later called the South Island. Cook began extensive surveys of the islands in 1769, leading to European whaling expeditions and eventually significant European colonisation. From as early as the 1780s, Māori had encounters with European sealers and whalers. Acquisition of muskets by those iwi in close contact with European visitors destabilised the existing balance of power between Māori tribes and there was a temporary but intense period of bloody inter-tribal warfare, known as the Musket Wars, that only ceased when all iwi were so armed. Concern about the exploitation of Māori by Europeans, Church Missionary Society lobbying and French interest in the region led the British to annex New Zealand by Royal Proclamation in January 1840. To legitimise the British annexation, Lieutenant Governor William Hobson had been dispatched in 1839; he hurriedly negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with northern iwi on his arrival. The Treaty was signed in February, and in recent years it has come to be seen as the founding document of New Zealand. The Māori translation of the treaty promised the Māori tribes "tino rangatiratanga" would be preserved in return for cedeing kawanatanga, which the English versions translates as "chieftainship" for "sovereignty"; the real meanings are now disputed. Disputes over land sales and sovereignty caused the New Zealand land wars which took place between 1845 and 1872. In 1975 the Treaty of Waitangi Act established the Waitangi Tribunal, charged with hearing claims of Crown violations of the Treaty of Waitangi dating back to 1840. Some Māori tribes and the Moriori never signed the treaty. Although New Zealand was initially administered as a part of the Australian colony of New South Wales, it became a colony in its own right in 1841. European settlement progressed more rapidly than anyone anticipated, and settlers soon outnumbered Māori. Self-government was granted to the settler population in 1852. The first capital of New Zealand was Kororareka (known today as Russell) but shortly afterwards moved to Auckland. There were political concerns following the discovery of gold in Central Otago in 1861 that the South Island would form a separate colony. So in 1865 the capital was offically moved to the more central city of Wellington. New Zealand was involved in a Constitutional Convention in March 1891 in Sydney, New South Wales, along with the then-colonies of Australia. This was to consider a potential constitution for the proposed federation between the then-British Colonies of Australasia. New Zealand lost interest in joining Australia in a federation following this convention. New Zealand became an independent dominion on 26 September 1907 by royal proclamation. Full independence was granted by the United Kingdom Parliament with the Statute of Westminster in 1931; it was taken up upon the Statute's adoption by the New Zealand Parliament in 1947. Since then New Zealand has been a sovereign constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations.

Politics

New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. Under the New Zealand Royal Titles Act (1953), Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of New Zealand and is represented as head of state by the Governor-General, Dame Silvia Cartwright. The New Zealand Parliament has only one chamber, the House of Representatives which usually seats 120 members of Parliament. Parliamentary elections are every three years under a form of proportional representation called Mixed Member Proportional (MMP). The 2005 General Election created an 'overhang' of one extra seat (occupied by the Māori Party), due to that party winning more seats in constituencies than its proportional entitlement. There is no single written constitution; however, the Constitution Act (1986) is the principal formal statement of New Zealand's constitutional structure. The Governor-General has the power to appoint and dismiss Prime Ministers and to dissolve Parliament. The Governor-General also chairs the Executive Council which is a formal committee consisting of all ministers of the Crown. Members of the Executive Council are required to be members of Parliament, and most are also in Cabinet. Cabinet is the most senior policy-making body and is led by the Prime Minister who is also the Parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition. The current Prime Minister is Helen Clark of the Labour Party. She has served two complete terms as Prime Minister and has begun her third. On 17 October 2005 she announced that she had come to a complex arrangement that guaranteed the support of enough parties for her Labour-led coalition to govern. The core of the coalition is a cabinet consisting of Labour Party ministers and Jim Anderton, the Progressive Party's only MP. In addition to the parties represented in cabinet the leaders of New Zealand First and United Future are to be appointed as Ministers outside Cabinet. An arrangement of this kind has never been attempted before in New Zealand. A further arrangement has been made with the Green Party, which has given a commitment not to vote against the government on confidence and supply. This commitment assures the government of a majority of seven MPs on confidence. The Leader of the Opposition is National Party leader Don Brash who was formerly Governor of the Reserve Bank. Also in opposition are the Māori Party and ACT New Zealand. The highest court in New Zealand is the Supreme Court of New Zealand. The Supreme Court was established in 2004 following the passage of the Supreme Court Act in 2003. The Act abolished the option to appeal Court of Appeal rulings to the Privy Council in London. The current Chief Justice is Dame Sian Elias. New Zealand's judicary also has a High Court which deals with serious criminal offences and civil matters, and a Court of Appeal, as well as subordinate courts.

Foreign relations and military

New Zealand maintains a strong profile on environmental protection, human rights and free trade, particularly for agriculture. New Zealand is a member of the following geo-political organisations: APEC, Commonwealth of Nations, OECD and the United Nations. It has signed up to a number of free trade agreements, of which the most important is Closer Economic Relations with Australia. For its first hundred years, New Zealand followed Britain's lead on foreign policy. "Where she goes, we go, where she stands, we stand", said Prime Minister Michael Savage, in declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. However, Britain's inability to protect New Zealand from Japanese aggression in World War II led New Zealand to come under the influence of the United States of America for the generation following the war. New Zealand has traditionally also worked closely with Australia, whose foreign policy followed a similar historical trend. In turn, many Pacific Islands such as Western Samoa have looked to New Zealand's lead. The American influence on New Zealand was weakened by the disappointment with the Vietnam War, the nuclear danger presented by the Cold War, the Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by France and by disagreements over environmental and agricultural trade issues. New Zealand is a party to the ANZUS security treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States. In 1984 New Zealand refused nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships access to its ports. In 1986 the United States announced that it was suspending its treaty security obligations to New Zealand pending the restoration of port access. The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act of 1987 prohibits the stationing of nuclear weapons on the territory of New Zealand and the entry into New Zealand waters of nuclear armed or propelled ships. This legislation remains a source of contention and the basis for the United States' continued suspension of treaty obligations to New Zealand. In addition to the various wars between Iwi, and between the British, settlers and Iwi, New Zealand has fought in the Boer War, World War I, (sustaining the highest casualties per head of population of any combatant nation), World War II, the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency (and committed troops, fighters and bombers to the subsequent confrontation with Indonesia), the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the Afghanistan War and has briefly sent a unit of army engineers to help with rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure. The New Zealand military has three branches: the New Zealand Army, the Royal New Zealand Navy, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. New Zealand considers its own national defence needs to be modest; it dismantled its air combat capability in 2001. New Zealand has contributed forces to recent regional and global peacekeeping missions, including those in Cyprus, Somalia, Bosnia, the Sinai, Angola, Cambodia, the Iran/Iraq border, Bougainville and East Timor.

Local government and external territories

East Timor The early European settlers divided New Zealand into provinces. These were abolished in 1876 so that government could be centralised for financial reasons. As a result, New Zealand has no separately represented subnational entities such as provinces, states or territories apart from its local government. The spirit of the provinces however still lives on, and there is fierce rivalry exhibited in sporting and cultural events. Since 1876, local government has administered the various regions of New Zealand. In 1989, the government completely reorganised local government, implementing the current two-tier structure of regional councils and territorial authorities. Today New Zealand has 12 regional councils for the administration of environmental and transport matters and 74 territorial authorities that administer roading, sewerage, building consents, and other local matters. The territorial authorities are 16 city councils, 57 district councils, and the Chatham Islands County Council. Four of the territorial councils (one city and three districts) and the Chatham Islands County Council also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are known as unitary authorities. Territorial authority districts are not subdivisions of regional council districts, and a few of them straddle regional council boundaries. Regions are (asterisks denote unitary authorities): Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne
- , Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu-Wanganui, Wellington, Marlborough
- , Nelson
- , Tasman
- , West Coast, Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands
- . As a major South Pacific nation, New Zealand has a close working relationship with many of the smaller Pacific Island nations, and continues a political association with the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau. New Zealand operates Scott Base in its Antarctic territory, the Ross Dependency. Other countries also use Christchurch to support their Antarctic bases and the city is sometimes known as the "Gateway to Antarctica".

Geography

Ross Dependency are visible in the centre of the North Island. The Southern Alps and the rain shadow they create are clearly visible on the South Island]] New Zealand comprises two main islands (simply called the North and South Islands in English, or usually Te-Ika-a-Maui and Te Wai Pounamu in Māori) and a number of smaller islands. The total land area of New Zealand, 268,680 km², is a little less than that of Japan and a little more than the United Kingdom. The country extends more than 1600 km along its main, north-north-east axis. The most significant of the smaller inhabited islands of New Zealand include Stewart Island/Rakiura, Waiheke Island, an island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, Great Barrier Island, east of the Hauraki Gulf and the Chatham Islands, named Rekohu by Moriori. The country has extensive marine resources, with the fifth largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world covering over 4 million km², more than 15 times its land area. The South Island is the largest land mass, and is divided along its length by the Southern Alps, the highest peak of which is Aoraki/Mount Cook, at 3,754 metres (12,316 feet). There are 18 peaks of more than 3,000 metres in the South Island. The North Island is less mountainous than the South, but is marked by volcanism. The tallest North Island mountain, Mount Ruapehu (2,797 metres), is an active cone volcano. The dramatic and varied landscape of New Zealand has made it a popular location for the production of television programmes and films, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lord of the Rings The usual climate throughout the country is mild, mostly cool temperate to warm temperate, with temperatures rarely falling below 0°C or rising above 30°C. Conditions vary from wet and cold on the West Coast of the South Island to dry and continental in the Mackenzie Basin of inland Canterbury and subtropical in Northland. Of the main cities, Christchurch is the driest, receiving only some 640 millimetres of rain per year. Auckland, the wettest, receives a little less than three times that amount.

Flora and fauna

Northland Because of its long isolation from the rest of the world, and its island biogeography New Zealand has extraordinary flora and fauna. About 80 percent of the New Zealand flora only occurs in New Zealand, including more than 40 endemic genera. The main two types of forest have been dominated by podocarps including the giant kauri and southern beech. The remaining vegetation types in New Zealand are grassland of grass and tussock, usually associated with the subalpine areas, and the low shrublands between grasslands and forests. Until the arrival of the first humans, 80% of the land was forested and, barring two species of bat, there were no non-marine mammals at all. Instead, New Zealand's forests were inhabited by a diverse range of birds including the flightless Moa which is now extinct, the Kiwi, Kakapo, and Takahē which are all endangered due to human actions. Unique birds capable of flight include the Haast's eagle which was the world's largest bird of prey before it became extinct and the large parrots the Kaka and Kea. Reptiles present in New Zealand include skinks and geckos and the Tuatara. There are no snakes but there are many species of insects— including the weta which may grow as large as a House Mouse.

Economy

House Mouse New Zealand has a thriving, modern, developed economy. The country has a high standard of living, ranking 19th on the 2005 Human Development Index and 15th of The Economists 2005 world-wide quality-of-life index. Since 1984 successive governments have engaged in major macroeconomic restructuring, transforming New Zealand from a highly protectionist and regulated economy to a liberalised free-trade economy. During the late 1980s, the New Zealand Government sold a number of major trading enterprises, including its telecommunications company, railway network, a number of radio stations and two financial institutions in a series of asset sales. Although the New Zealand Government continues to own a number of significant businesses, collectively known as State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), they are operated through arms-length shareholding arrangements as stand-alone businesses that are required to operate profitably, just like any privately owned enterprise. Unfortunately, due in part to the sudden transition to a market economy, an economic bubble developed in the New Zealand stock market starting in 1984. This burst in October 1987 and the total value of the market halved within a year (it has still to recover this lost value). The effect of this bubble was a period of poor economic growth which lasted until the mid 90s. It also led the government to begin a programme of massive immigration to boost GDP. However, since 1999 New Zealand has enjoyed a period of relatively strong and sustained growth, and contained inflationary pressures. The current New Zealand government's economic objectives are centred around moving from being ranked among the lower end of the OECD countries to regaining a higher placing again, pursuing free-trade agreements, "closing the gaps" between ethnic groups, and building a "knowledge economy." In 2004 it began discussing free trade with China, one of the first countries to do so. New Zealand is heavily dependent on trade—particularly in agricultural products—to drive growth, and it has been affected by global economic slowdowns and slumps in commodity prices. Since agricultural exports are highly sensitive to currency values and a large percentage of consumer goods are imported, any changes in the value of the New Zealand dollar has a strong impact on the economy. Its primary export industries are agriculture, horticulture, fishing, forestry and information technology. There are also substantial tourism and export education industries. The film and wine industries are considered to be up-and-coming.

Demographics

New Zealand has a population of about 4.1 million. About 70% of the population are whites of European descent. New Zealanders of Anglo-Celtic ancestry are known as Pākeha - this term is used variously and some Māori use it to refer to all non-Māori New Zealanders. A large proportion of white New Zealanders are of Scottish ancestry. Māori people are the second largest ethnic group (the percentage of the population of full or part-Māori ancestry is 14.7%; those who checked only Māori are 7.9%). Between the 1996 and 2001 censuses, the number of people of Asian origin (6.6%) overtook the number of people of Pacific Island origin (6.5%) (note that the census allowed multiple ethnic affiliations). Virtually all Māori are of mixed heritage (Māori/Pākeha), but a large portion of them marked themselves as Māori-only on the Census. New Zealand is positive about immigration and is committed to increasing its population by approx 1% per annum. At present migrants from the UK constitute the largest single group (30%) but new migrants are drawn from many nations, increasingly from East Asia. Christianity is the predominant religion in New Zealand, although nearly 40% of the population has no religious affiliation. The main Christian denominations are Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Roman Catholicism and Methodism. There are also significant numbers who identify themselves with Pentecostal and Baptist churches and with the Mormon church. The New Zealand-based Ratana church has many adherents among Māori. According to census figures, other significant minority religions include Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.

Culture

IslamNew Zealand has a diverse contemporary culture with influences from British, the Māori,and other European immigrants and most recently Polynesian cultures. There were many people from Scotland amongst the early British settlers and elements of their culture persist; New Zealand is said to have more bagpipe bands than Scotland. Cultural links between New Zealand and the UK are maintained by a common language, sustained migration from the UK and the fact that many young New Zealanders spend time in the UK on their "overseas experience (OE)". Pre-European contact Māori culture had no metal tools, relying on stone and wood. Modern Māori do not live a traditional lifestyle. Elements of Māori culture survive and the Government actively promotes it to all New Zealanders. Use of the Māori language (Te Reo Māori) as a living, community language remained only in a few remote areas in the post war years but it is currently going through a renaissance; with generous state support for Māori language medium schools and a Māori language television channel. New Zealand's landscape has appeared in a number of television programmes and films. In particular, the television series Hercules and Xena were filmed around Auckland, and the film Heavenly Creatures in Christchurch. The television series The Tribe is set and filmed in New Zealand as well. Director Peter Jackson shot the epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy in various locations around the country, taking advantage of the spectacular and relatively unspoiled landscapes, and Mount Taranaki was used as a stand-in for Mount Fuji in The Last Samurai. The latest of such major international films to be released are King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Sport

New Zealand's most popular sports are rugby union, cricket, netball, lawn bowling, soccer (the most popular sport amongst children) and rugby league. Also popular are golf, tennis, cycling and a variety of water sports, particularly sailing, whitewater kayaking, Surf Lifesaving and rowing. In the latter, New Zealand enjoyed an extraordinary Magic 45 minutes when winning four successive gold medals at the 2005 world championships. Snow sports such as skiing and snowboarding are also popular. Equestrian sportsmen and sportswomen make their mark in the world (Mark Todd being chosen international "Horseman of the Century"), and all the way down to the juniors at pony club level.

Olympic Games

The country is internationally recognised as achieving extremely well on a medals-to-population ratio at Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games. See, for example, New Zealand Olympic medallists and New Zealand at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Rugby

Rugby as a sport is closely linked to New Zealand's national identity. The national rugby team is called the All Blacks and has the best winning record of any national team in the world, including being the inaugural winners of the World Cup in 1987. The style of name has been followed in naming the national team in several other sports. For instance, the nation's basketball team is known as the Tall Blacks. New Zealand is to host the 2011 Rugby Union World Cup. New Zealand's national sporting colours are not the colours of its flag, but are black and white (silver). The silver fern is a national emblem worn by New Zealanders representing their country in sport. The haka—a traditional Māori challenge—is often performed at sporting events. The All Blacks traditionally perform a haka before the start of international matches.

Yachting, America's Cup

New Zealand is one of the leading nations in world yachting, especially open water long distance or around the world races. Round-the-world yachtsman, Sir Peter Blake was something of a national hero before his untimely death at the hands of river pirates while on an environmental exploration trip on the Amazon. In inshore yachting, Auckland hosted the last two America's Cup regattas (2000 and 2003). In 2000, Team New Zealand successfully defended the trophy they had won in 1995 in San Diego, which made them the only team in the history of the Cup to successfully defend a challenge other than a United States team, but in 2003 they lost to a team headed by Ernesto Bertarelli of Switzerland, whose Alinghi syndicate was skippered by Russell Coutts, the former skipper of Team New Zealand. Team New Zealand will compete for the America's Cup at the next regatta in Valencia in 2007. The team manager is Grant Dalton.

Public holidays

Statutory Holidays
(These holidays are legislated by several Acts of Parliament, such as the Holidays Act. New Zealand Statutes can be viewed at [http://www.legislation.govt.nz/browse_vw.asp?content-set=pal_statutes legislation.govt.nz]) There are also Provincial Anniversary Days to celebrate the founding days or landing days of the first colonists of the various colonial provinces. The actual observance of Anniversary days can vary even within each province due to local custom, convenience or the proximity of seasonal events or other holidays. This may differ from the historical observance day, and may be several weeks from the historic date of the events being commemorated. A full list of Anniversary days is listed in the article Holidays in New Zealand.

International rankings


- UN Human Development Index (HDI), 2005: 19th out of 177 behind Norway; United Nations Development Programme (pdf) [http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/pdf/HDR05_complete.pdf]
- Quality of Life Index, 2005: 15th out of 111 behind Ireland; The Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) [http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf]
- Environmental Sustainability Index, 2005: 14th (out of 146) behind Finland; Yale University Center for Environmental Law and Policy & Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (pdf) [http://www.yale.edu/esi/ESI2005_Main_Report.pdf]
- Index of Economic Freedom, 2005: 5th= (out of 155) behind Hong Kong; Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal [http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/]
- GDP Ranking, 2005: 25th out of 111 behind Luxembourg; The Economist Intelligence Unit (pdf) [http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf]
- Transparency International 2005: 2nd= (out of 159) behind Iceland on its list of least corrupt countries in the world. [http://ww1.transparency.org/cpi/2005/cpi2005_infocus.html#cpi]

See also

Notes

McGlone, S.M. and Wilmshurst, J.M. 1999. Dating initial Māori environmental impact in New Zealand. Quaternary International 59:5 - 16
Ministry for the Environment. 2005. Offshore Options: Managing Environmental Effects in New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone. [http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/water/offshore-options-jun05/html/page3.html Introduction]
Allan, H.H. 1982. Indigenous Tracheophyta - Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledons, Flora of New Zealand Volume I. Botany Division, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research

External links


- [http://www.teara.govt.nz/ Te Ara, the Encyclopedia of New Zealand]
- [http://webdirectory.natlib.govt.nz/index.htm Te Puna Web Directory ] - A directory to New Zealand web sites
- [http://www.mch.govt.nz/ Ministry for Culture and Heritage] - includes information on flag, anthems and coat of arms.
- [http://www.govt.nz/ New Zealand Government Portal]
- [http://www.nzte.govt.nz/ New Zealand Trade and Enterprise] - New Zealand's trade and economic development agency.
- [http://wikitravel.org/en/article/New_Zealand Wikitravel] - New Zealand travel guide.
- [http://www.metservice.co.nz/ New Zealand weather]
- [http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/ NZHistory.net.nz New Zealand history website]
- [http://www.stats.govt.nz/ Statistics New Zealand] - Official statistics.
- [http://www.newzealand.com/ Tourism New Zealand]
- [http://www.astronomy.net.nz/ Astronomy in New Zealand] The guide to astronomy in New Zealand
- [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ New Zealand Herald] - New Zealand newspaper online A
Category:Island nations Category:Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Former British colonies Category:Monarchies Category:Oceanic countries Category:Polynesia als:Neuseeland zh-min-nan:Aotearoa ko:뉴질랜드 ms:New Zealand ja:ニュージーランド simple:New Zealand th:ประเทศนิวซีแลนด์

Easter Island

Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui ("Great Island"); Polynesian: Te Pito o te Henúa ("Navel of the World") or Mata-ki-te-Rangi ("Eyes [Speaking] from the Heavens"); Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is an island in the south Pacific Ocean, a territory of Chile. Located 3600 km (2,237 statute miles) west of continental Chile and 2075 km (1290 statute miles) east of Pitcairn Island, it is the most isolated inhabited island in the world. It is located at 27°09'S 109°27'W, with a latitude close to that of the Chilean city of Copiapó, north of Santiago. The island is approximately triangular in shape, with an area of 163.6 km² (63 sq. miles), and a population of 3791 (2002 census), 3304 of which live in the capital of Hanga Roa. The island is famous for its numerous moai, the stone statues now located along the coastlines. Administratively, it is a province (containing a single municipality) of the Chilean Valparaíso Region. The standard time zone is six hours behind UTC/GMT (five hours behind including one hour of the daylight saving time).

History

See also: Kings of Easter Island, which is however likely very inaccurate

Early Settlement and overview

Easter Island's human history began with the settlement of the island by Polynesians, who are likely to have arrived from the