!New Zealand New Zealand is a country, Region - Oceania, Capital - Wellington, Population in 2003 - 3,875,000, Population density - 14 per sq km, Surface area - 270,534 sq km and Currency - dollar. It is situated in the South Pacific, lying wholly within the temperate zone, 1200 m. E. of Australia; comprises North Island (45,000 sq. m.), South or Middle Island (58,000 sq. m.), Stewart Island (much smaller), and a number of islets; total area considerably more than that of Great Britain. The two main islands, separated by Cook Strait, are in no part broader than 150 m., and are traversed from end to end by a great and partly volcanic mountain chain, the range in South Island being known as the Southern Alps (highest peak Mount Cook, 12,350 ft), and that in North Island as the Ruahine Range and the Tararua Mountains; everywhere rivers abound, Waikato (North Island) and Clutha (South Island) being the largest; numerous lakes (Lake Taupo, six times the size of Loch Lomond), fertile valleys, and well-grassed plains, together with the mountains, make up a beautiful and diversified surface, which much resembles that of Scotland, while the climate, temperate and healthy, is warmer and more equable than in Great Britain. Sheep-farming, agriculture, and mining (gold and coal) are the chief industries, wool being the chief export. Formerly, it was a British island colony, and during that period almost all the animals had been imported, as well as the grains and fruits despite great forests of indigenous kauri pines existed. Auckland, the largest, and Wellington, the capital, in North Island, and Dunedin and Christchurch in South Island, are the chief towns. Education is free, secular, and compulsory, but no State aid is given to any form of religion. It was discovered in 1642 by Tasman, the islands were first surveyed by Cook in 1769; their formal cession to the British crown took place in 1840. In 1947, it became independent from British Parliament which could no longer legislate for New Zealand without the consent of the country.