Cook Islands
The Cook Islands (Rarotongan: Kūki ‘Airani;[6] Penrhyn: Kūki Airani[7]) is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately 236.7 square kilometres (91 sq mi). The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,960,027 square kilometres (756,771 sq mi) of ocean.[8] Avarua is its capital.
For other uses, see Cook Islands (disambiguation) and Cook Island.
Cook Islands- Rarotongan: Kūki 'Airani
- Penrhyn: Kūki Airani
- Rarotongan: Kūki 'Airani
- Penrhyn: Kūki Airani
- Cook Islands Māori (including Pukapukan[a])
- English
- English (86.4%)
- Cook Islands Māori (76.2%)
- other (8.3%)[1]
- 78.2% Cook Island Māori
- 7.62% Part-Māori
- 14.18% other
Unitary constitutional monarchy
Sir Tom Marsters
4 August 1965
1992[3]
236.7 km2 (91.4 sq mi) (unranked)
63.3/km2 (163.9/sq mi) (138th)
2020 estimate
US$384 million[5] (not ranked)
US$21,994 (not ranked)
New Zealand dollar (NZD)
Cook Islands dollar (formerly)
UTC–10 (CKT)
left
The Cook Islands is self-governing while in free association with New Zealand. Since the start of the 21st century, the Cook Islands has directed its own independent foreign and defence policy, and also has its own customs regulations, although it has no armed forces and therefore generally relies on New Zealand for its external defence.[9] In recent decades, the Cook Islands have adopted an increasingly assertive and distinct foreign policy, and a Cook Islander, Henry Puna, currently serves as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum.[10] Most Cook Islanders are also citizens of New Zealand, but they also have the status of Cook Islands nationals, which is not given to other New Zealand citizens. The Cook Islands have been an active member of the Pacific Community since 1980.
The Cook Islands' main population centres are on the island of Rarotonga (10,863 in 2021).[4] The Rarotonga International Airport, the main international gateway to the country, is located on this island. The census of 2021 put the total population at 14,987. There is also a larger population of Cook Islanders in New Zealand and Australia: in the 2018 New Zealand census, 80,532 people said they were Cook Islanders, or of Cook Islands descent.[11] The last Australian census recorded 28,000 Cook Islanders living in Australia, many with Australian citizenship.[12] With over 168,000 visitors to the islands in 2018,[13] tourism is the country's main industry and leading element of its economy, ahead of offshore banking, pearls, and marine and fruit exports.
Etymology[edit]
The Cook Islands comprise 15 islands split between two island groups, which have been called individual names in indigenous languages including Cook Islands Māori and Pukapukan throughout the time they have been inhabited. The first name given by Europeans was Gente Hermosa (beautiful people) by Spanish explorers to Rakahanga in 1606.[14]
The islands as a whole are named after British Captain James Cook, who visited during the 1770s and named Manuae "Hervey Island" after Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol. The southern island group became known as the "Hervey Islands" after this. In the 1820s, Russian Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern referred to the southern islands as the "Cook Islands" in his Atlas de l'Ocean Pacifique.[15] The entire territory (including the northern island group) was not known as the "Cook Islands" until after its annexation by New Zealand in the early 20th century. In 1901, the New Zealand parliament passed the Cook and other Islands Government Act, demonstrating that the name "Cook Islands" only referred to some of the islands. However, this situation had changed by the passage of the Cook Islands Act 1915, which defined the Cooks' area and included all presently included islands.[16]
The islands' official name in Cook Islands Māori is Kūki 'Āirani, a transliteration of the English name.[17][18]
