Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

[Geography Now! theme]

Hey everyone, I'm your host, Barbs.

New Zealand is one of those places where a few people have made a powerful image for themselves.

It's one of the last places on Earth to be discovered and inhabited by humans,

and when they arrived, it was unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

Mostly because there were these massive, 12 feet tall bird monsters.

We'll get into that in a bit, but first...

♪♪

New Zealand is not only a key player in the ocean nations, but a geographic anomaly.

As in, half the time when you look at artwork or decorations or newscasts or even educational books,

New Zealand is forgotten from the map.

Kiwis even joke about it. Even their government website "404 Page Not Found" website pokes fun at it.

Anyway, New Zealand, or Aotearoa, is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean,

about 1,200 miles (or 2,000 kilometers) off the coast of Australia

and about 600 miles (or 1,000 kilometers) from the nearest major islands of Fiji, Tonga, and New Caledonia,

meaning technically, France is their closest neighbor.

The country is made up of 2 main large islands, aptly named the North Island, or Te-Ika a-Maui,

which makes up about 42% of the landmass yet holds about ¾ of the population,

and the larger yet less populated South Island, or Te Waipou-Namu, at about 56% of the land mass.

The remaining 2-ish% of the land mass is made up of hundreds of interior and outlying islands,

33 main ones that are either around the main 2 islands like the largest one, Stewart Island just south of South Island,

Then you have the outlying island chains, like the northernmost Kermadec Islands,

the easternmost Chatham Islands, and the Subantarctic southernmost point, the Campbell Islands.

The country is a unitary state divided into 16 councils; 11 regional councils and 5 unitary regional councils.

The Chatham Islands act as their own special territorial authority.

The second largest city, Wellington, is the capital, the southernmost capital in the world.

However, Auckland up north is the largest city, which holds about a third of the entire population of the country

with the largest and busiest airport, Auckland International.

Otherwise, Christchurch on South Island is the third largest city

and holds the second busiest airport, Christchurch International.

But wait, that's not all! The sovereignty claim extends even further

and then you get the 3 New Zealand Realm territories and free association island nations.

These are Tokelau, the Cook Islands, and Niue.

Tokelau is considered a non-self-governing dependent territory.

It also has a territorial dispute with American Samoa over Swains Island.

Whereas the Cook Islands and Niue are labeled as self-governing states in free association with New Zealand.

Finally, you have the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealand's claim to Antarctica,

which of course under the Antarctic Treaty does not actually fall under their sovereignty, but you know.

A lot of people like to say they have something they can't.

Whoo! For a nation that doesn't even show up half the time on maps, there's a lot going on here!

But wait! If New Zealand is just an island in the middle of the Pacific, which continent is New Zealand a part of?

Ah, good question. That is a question that has kind of stumped cartographers for centuries.

In the simplest sense, categorically New Zealand is part of the broader region known as Oceania,

which is basically just Australia plus everything else in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.

Technically, Australia and New Zealand together are called Australasia.

However, it's weird because New Zealand doesn't lie on the same continental shelf as Australia.

This has led to the consideration of New Zealand belonging to a newer sub-region known as Zealandia,

classified by some dude in the 90s as either a continental fragment or a "microcontinent"

made up of a submerged continental crust shelf that expands all the way from New Caledonia

to an empty spot in the ocean just south of the Campbell Islands.

93% of Zealandia is submerged, with New Zealand being the largest protruding segment.

Either way, however, you want to categorize it, New Zealand is kind of strange.

Wait! Go back to the self-governing island thing.

Do they belong to New Zealand or are they full countries?

Good question. It's kind of like this:

NEW ZEALAND: Okay guys, look, the British just kind of put you under my jurisdiction,

so I guess that means you're all New Zealand citizens, okay?

COOK ISLANDS: Yeah, but we all have our own languages and customs

and want to write a constitution for ourselves with free association status.

We're basically countries in our own right but under your overarching sovereignty, I guess.

NIUE: Like your military can come in for defense, but otherwise we got everything else covered.

TOKELAU: I mean, guys, I have less than 2,000 people on less than 5 square miles of land on 3 islands.

I think I'll just become a dependent territory state.

NZ: All right, fair enough. Two "kind of" countries with loose ties

and 1 dependent territory country with stronger ties. Got it.

TK: Plus, hey, I became the first completely solar-powered nation in the world.

NZ: Not exactly fully functional "sovereign nation state" by definition but yeah, good for you!

Some places of interest in New Zealand might include:

the world's steepest street at a gradient of 38°,

the National Museum,

Auckland Sky Tower (you can actually jump off of it),

the Rotorua geysers in traditional Māori village,

Rainbow's End and Splash Planet,

the International Antarctic Center,

Hobbiton,

so many wine fields like the ones in Marlborough,

Ninety Mile Beach (which is actually only 56 miles),

Waitomo caves with glowworms,

Frying Pan Lake,

and the Meraki spherical boulders.

And honestly, I could go on and on with all the natural wonders of this country,

but that would take like 50 videos and we gotta cram as much as we can in this one.

So let's just talk about all the natural stuff of New Zealand. Shall we?

♪♪

Now, New Zealand is an outdoors country, world-renowned for its mind-blowingly wonderful landscape,

displayed in a number of films and movies.

Fun fact: "The Lord of the Rings" gave them so much publicity and tourism money

that they even have a Minister of the Rings in their Parliament.

Oh, do they now?

You wrote the script for the episode and I'm just reading off the teleprompter, so I figured you would know that.

I did! First of all:

The country is located in the Ring of Fire on the convergence of the Pacific and Australian plates

that creates the mountainous Southern Alps of the southern island.

Here you can find the tallest peak, Mt. Cook, or Aoraki, at over 12,000 feet (or 3,700 meters),

whereas across the Cook Strait, the smaller Kaweka range can be found in the North Island.

This, in return, makes the country subject to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

There are about 83 known volcanoes of all types, and the largest active one being Ruapehu on North Island.

Otherwise, you can see other volcanic wonders like the dormant Banks Peninsula on South Island,

and the eerily perfect circular Mt. Taranaki on the west side of North Island.

Just a skip away you can find the largest lake, Lake Taupo, in the Taupo Caldera,

one of the largest super volcanoes on Earth.

From there, the lake is drained by the longest river of the country, the Waikato.

Now, New Zealand is interesting because due to its shape,

there is no part of the country that is more than about 80 miles or so from the ocean.

The flatter valleys on the sides of the mountains are where most people live and produce crops and livestock.

Skip a little further west and you get the least inhabited and difficult to access

but most breathtaking part of New Zealand, the fjordland.

Steep cliffs plunging into the Tasman Sea, with Milford Sound being the most popular spot

and the only one accessible by road.

New Zealand ranks as one of the topmost landform diverse countries on Earth,

having everything from alpine forests, glaciers, geothermal geysers -

they even have a small desert in the middle of North Island,

and on some of the coasts you have tropical beaches with magnetic black sand containing magnetite.

Seriously, I still have some. Check it out. This is from Piha Beach in North Island.

Whoa, it sticks on!

Now the one thing about New Zealand that set it apart upon discovery is that other than 2 species of bat,

the entire island had no mammals prior to human encounter.

Now this is usually the part where Noah comes in, but he had a scheduling conflict and couldn't be here today,

so therefore, I-sum-mon-random-Hannah!

[ethereal humming]

Hannah, take it away.

The country is a bird haven, with over 200 species, over half endemic to New Zealand.

And, the funny thing, many of which are flightless. It's like the flightless bird capital of the world.

Species such as the kakapo, the world's only flightless nocturnal parrot,

and they have more species of penguin than anywhere else on the planet.

At one point a long time ago, they used to have the moa, a 12-foot tall monster,

until it was hunted by the native Māori to extinction.

Then you have the national animal, the famous kiwi, a flightless bird which comes in 5 forms on both islands,

known for their hair-like feathers, long beaks with nostrils, making them some of the only few bird species that can smell.

Otherwise, with flying birds, you have the kea, the world's only Alpine parrot,

and if you see one, they are curious creatures, unafraid of humans, that love to chew on shiny objects or rubber.

Seriously, those guys tried to steal my stuff one time.

Outside of the bird world, you can find reptiles like the tuatara, which has a third parietal eye on the top of its head,

or the giant weta, the heaviest insect on earth. Eugh!

Resource-wise, the country is known for its huge dairy farming and livestock industry.

Jade, or greenstone, is a precious stone mined and sold here,

as well as often carved into jewelry or traditional Māori tools and ornaments.

Besides all that though, much of the country makes money through tourism,

specifically outdoor tourism, specifically Queensland on South Island.

This place offers everything from skydiving, paragliding, and zorbing, which, by the way, the Kiwis invented.

And speaking of Kiwi inventions, food!

Kiwis are without a doubt seafood folk.

Native species like gurnard, hoki, hake, hapuku, paua, and crayfish

are made into numerous dishes: cooked, raw, smoked, steamed, battered and fried with chips.

If that's not your thing, some non-fishy Kiwi dishes might include things like:

roast lamb,

savory meat pies,

hokey pokey ice cream,

Kiwi-style burger,

manuka honey,

kumara,

L&P drink,

pavlova cake,

and one of the most traditional Māori dishes, hangi.

And speaking of cultural tradition, we go to...

♪♪

Thank you, Hannah. Feel free to follow her on Instagram.

No problem.

[whooshing sound]

Yeah, that's a thing now.

Now, this is gonna be the best part of the episode because the people of New Zealand,

known as Kiwis, are the biggest treasure you'll find.

First of all, the country has about 5 million people and often ranks

as one of the top 3 ease of business index countries in the world, with the least corruption.

At somewhere around 74%, the country is made up primarily of peoples of European descent,

mostly of English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry.

About 15% of the country is native Māori, 7% Pacific Islander,

and the rest are mostly Asian of various countries like China, Korea, and Japan.

Yes, by the way, it's pronounced "moe-ri." Not "may-ori," "mow-ri"....

They use the New Zealand dollar as their currency, they use the type I plug outlet,

and they drive on the left side of the road.

Now we all know that English is the most widely spoken language in the country with a distinct Kiwi dialect.

To outsiders it sounds just like the Australian one, but they swear it's different.

They have some distinct Kiwi words. Here's my Kiwi buddy, Jared, explaining:

Nonetheless, there are actually 2 other official languages of New Zealand: Māori and New Zealand Sign Language,

making New Zealand the first country to adopt signing as an official language,

even though only half of 1% knows it.

Now, let's talk about culture and the whole Māori thing.

The Māori traditionally come from about 100 or so iwi, or tribes or peoples spread throughout both islands,

most in the north part of the country, the largest being the Ngā Puhi at over 100,000 people.

Their culture is a huge, integral factor that plays into what it means to be Kiwi.

I mean instead of "hello," you'll often hear the Māori word "kia ora" as a greeting.

Most schools teach the Māori language in elementary years and there are immersion schools as well.

In addition, they have a few television channels and radio stations that speak almost entirely in Māori.

Today, the majority of native speakers are found in the North Island,

most heavily concentrated in the Northland and Gisborne and Bay of Plenty regions.

And speaking of Māori, we cannot do this episode without talking about the haka.

Almost everyone on the island knows 1 form of the traditional war dance performed by both men and women,

known for its aggressive movements, loud chanting, and intimidating facial expressions.

Very often it's performed at sporting events.

The haka is not only used at games or as a means to intimidate, though.

It can be used in a variety of situations, ranging from birthday parties, funerals, even weddings,