New Zealand is named after Zeeland, a province in the Netherlands (Holland). Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer, was the first European to "discover" these islands in 1642. Tasmania, an island south of Australia, and the Tasman Sea are named after Abel Tasman. The indigenous Maori people called these islands "Aotearoa", which means "land of the long white cloud."
New Zealand has a total population of about 4 million people, with 3/4 of them living on the North Island. Auckland is the largest city, with a population of about 1.4 million. The capital is Wellington, at the southern point of the North Island. The cost of living is quite high, with a 3 bedroom house starting at $800,000 in the bigger cities.
The scenery is breathtaking -- volcanic hills, lots of trees, blue water. The people are friendly, courteous, progressive and conservation conscious. The original indigenous people, the Maori, now make up only 14% of the population, but their culture and language can be seen everywhere in NZ. Maori are thought to have come to NZ from Tonga and the Cook Islands in the South Pacific about 900 years ago. Their language is phonetic, but doesn't have all 26 letters in English. For example, there is no letter "F" in Maori; the f sound comes from "wh."
The national sport is rugby and the "All Blacks" is the national union team. The team does the haka, the traditional Maori war dance, before their games.
The national bird is the Kiwi, a nocturnal, flightless bird with brown feathers and a long, pointed beak. We only saw them stuffed in museums.
NZ was the first country to give women the right to vote in 1893. The current prime minister is a woman, Jacinta Ardern.
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