New Zealand in a nut shell

Playing in the background is New Zealand's National Anthem. Click to download.

    Rising between the South Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea, New Zealand is a land of spectacular contrasts. It is loaded with fjords and beaches, glaciers and volcanoes, snowcapped mountains and subtropical bush, clear streams and geysers. Over wide areas the agricultural landscape, grass-green or checkered with crops, contributes to the scenic beauty. Cook Strait divides the two main areas, the North Island and the South Island. Stewart Island, much smaller than the two main islands, lies to the south. There are several outlying groups, including the Chathams, which lie 500 miles to the east.
New Zealand lies in temperate latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. The South Island is halfway between the equator and the South Pole, about 1,000 miles to the southeast of Australia. The main islands extend slightly more than 1,000 miles along the line of their curve "from North Cape to the Bluff," and their greatest width is 280 miles. The indented coastline is over 3,500 miles long, and no settlement is more than 75 miles from the sea.
    Originally inhabited by the Maori, New Zealand was settled by Europeans after it became a British colony in 1840. It is now an independent nation and a member of the Commonwealth. Although the country is about the same size as Japan, it is not as densely populated; in 1992 the total population numbered about 3,481,000, including some 330,000 Maori. Three fourths of New Zealanders, including most of the Maori, live on the North Island.
The capital of New Zealand is Wellington, at the southern tip of the North Island. The largest city and chief commercial center is Auckland, in the northern part of the North Island.
    The country is isolated, but not insulated. Isolation has played an decisive role in the development of New Zealand's social, cultural, and economic characteristics. Yet economically the country is heavily dependent upon the export of its agricultural products, which are derived chiefly from such livestock as sheep and cattle. Great Britain was traditionally its principal trading partner, but by the 1980s Britain had been surpassed by Australia, Japan, and the United States. New Zealand ranks among the leading countries of the world in value per capita of international trade.
    Since the 1930s manufacturing has increased and diversified considerably, along with the development of hydroelectric and other power resources. Besides the typical factories of modest size producing a wide variety of goods, chiefly for domestic consumption, New Zealand now has a steel mill, an aluminum smelter, an oil refinery, a synthetic gasoline plant, and several automobile assembly plants.
    The standard of living in New Zealand is high. The state provides extensive social services for the welfare of its citizens. New Zealanders have long enjoyed the benefits of a social security program and one of the most comprehensive health care programs in the world. However, since the mid-1980s, a sluggish economy has forced efforts to cut costs and ease economic strains. This has encouraged restructuring of public services and medical care, along with more reliance on private insurance.