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Cook Islands: Difference between revisions

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For individual islands named "Cook Island", see Cook Island.

Cook Islands Kūki 'Āirani
Flag Coat of arms of Cook Islands Coat of arms
Anthem: Te Atua Mou E God is Truth
Capital and largest city	Avarua
Official languages	English Cook Islands Māori
Government	Constitutional monarchy
• Head of State	Queen Elizabeth II
• Queen's Representative	Sir Frederick Goodwin
• Prime Minister	Jim Marurai
Associated state
• Self-government in free association with New Zealand	4 August 1965
Population
• Mar 2006 estimate	18,700 (218th (2005))
• 2001 census	18,027
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	$183.2 million (not ranked)
• Per capita	$9,100 (not ranked)
Currency	New Zealand dollar (Cook Islands dollar also used) (NZD)
Time zone	UTC-10
Calling code	682
ISO 3166 code	CK
Internet TLD	.ck

The Cook Islands (Cook Islands Māori: Kūki 'Āirani) are a self-governing parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand. The fifteen small islands in this South Pacific Ocean country have a total land area of 240 square kilometres (92.7 sq mi).

Tourism is the country's number one industry, the leading element of the economy, far ahead of offshore banking, pearls, marine and fruit exports. A popular art form on the islands is Tivaivai, often likened to quilting.

Defence is the responsibility of New Zealand, in consultation with the Cook Islands and at its request. In recent times, the Cook Islands has adopted an increasingly independent foreign policy.

The politics of the Cook Islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic associated state, whereby the Queen of New Zealand, represented in the Cook Islands by the Queen's Representative, is Head of State, and the Chief Minister is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. The Islands are self-governing in free association with New Zealand and are fully responsible for internal affairs. New Zealand retains some responsibility for external affairs, in consultation with the Cook Islands. In recent years the Cook Islands has taken on more of its own external affairs and as of 2005 has diplomatic relations in its own name with eighteen other countries. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of the Cook Islands.

The Cook Islands are not part of the United Nations.

The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

The Cook Islands are in the South Pacific Ocean, north-east of New Zealand, between French Polynesia and Fiji. There are fifteen major islands, spread over 2.2 million square kilometres of ocean, divided into two distinct groups: the Southern Cook Islands, and the Northern Cook Islands of coral atolls.^[1]

The islands were formed by volcanic activity; the northern group is older and consists of six atolls (sunken volcanoes topped by coral growth). The climate is moderate to tropical.

The fifteen islands are grouped as follows:

• High Cook Islands
  • Aitutaki
  • Atiu (Enua-Manu or Island of Birds)
  • Mangaia
  • Mauke
  • Rarotonga (with capital, Avarua)

• Low islands of the Southern group
  • Manuae
  • Mitiaro
  • Takutea

• Northern Cook Islands
  • Manihiki
  • Nassau
  • Palmerston Island
  • Penrhyn Island also known as Tongareva
  • Pukapuka
  • Rakahanga
  • Suwarrow also called Suvorov

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The Cook Islands were first settled in the sixth century^{[citation needed]}byPolynesian people who migrated from nearby Tahiti,^{[citation needed]} to the southeast.

Spanish ships visited the islands in the late sixteenth century; the first written record of contact with the Islands came with the sighting of Pukapuka by Spanish sailor Álvaro de Mendaña in 1595 who called it San Bernardo. Another Spaniard, Pedro Fernández de Quirós, made the first recorded European landing in the islands when he set foot on Rakahangain1606, calling it Gente Hermosa ("Beautiful People").

British navigator Captain James Cook arrived in 1773 and 1779 and named the islands the Hervey Islands; the name "Cook Islands", in honour of Cook, appeared on a Russian naval chart published in the 1880s.^[2]

In 1813, John Williams, a missionary on the Endeavour (not the same ship as that of Cook), made the first official sighting of the Island Rarotonga.^[3]

The first recorded landing by Europeans was in 1814 by the Cumberland; trouble broke out between the sailors and the Islanders and many were killed on both sides.

The islands saw no more Europeans until missionaries arrived from England in 1821. Christianity quickly took hold in the culture and many islanders continue to be Christian believers today.

The Cook Islands became a British protectorate at their own request in 1888, mainly to thwart French expansionism. They were transferred to New Zealandin1901. They remained a New Zealand protectorate until 1965, at which point they became a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand. Sir Albert Henry, the Islands' first Prime Minister, led the county until he was accused of vote-rigging in 1978.

Today, the Cook Islands are essentially independent ("self-governing in free association with New Zealand") but are still officially placed under New Zealand sovereignty. New Zealand is tasked with overseeing the country's foreign relations and defence. The Cook Islands are one of three New Zealand dependencies, along with Tokelau and Niue.

After achieving autonomy in 1965, the Cook Islands elected Albert Henry of the Cook Islands Party as their first Prime Minister. He was succeeded in 1978byTom Davis of the Democratic Party.

On June 11, 1980, the United States signed a treaty with New Zealand specifying the maritime border between the Cook Islands and American Samoa and also relinquishing its claim to the islands of Penrhyn Island, Pukapuka (Danger), Manihiki, and Rakahanga.

In2006, the British television station Channel 4 broadcast the show Shipwrecked, filmed in the Cook Islands. The thirteenth season of CBS's Survivor series was also filmed in the Cook Islands during the summer of 2006. It was broadcast in the fall of 2006 as Survivor: Cook Islands.

Rugby league is a popular sport in the Cook Islands, as is football.

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• Definitions from Wiktionary

Media from Commons

News from Wikinews

Quotations from Wikiquote

Texts from Wikisource

Textbooks from Wikibooks

Resources from Wikiversity

• Cook Islands, the best kept secret in the Pacific Ocean - The Most Comprehensive Website
• Cook Islands - Detailed and non-commercial website
• Cook Islands Government
• Cook Islands Government (summary)
• Cook Islands Tourism Corporation
• Open Directory Project - Cook Islands directory category
• Cook Islands National Environment Service
• Cook Islands Biodiversity Database

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