NewZealandisacountryinthesouth-westernPacificOceancomprisingtwolargeislands(theNorthIslandandtheSouthIsland)andnumeroussmallerislands,mostnotablyStewartIsland/RakiuraandtheChathamIslands.InMāori,NewZealandhascometobeknownasAotearoa,whichisusuallytranslatedintoEnglishasTheLandoftheLongWhiteCloud.TheRealmofNewZealandalsoincludestheCookIslandsandNiue,whichareself-governing,butinfreeassociation;Tokelau;andtheRossDependency(NewZealand'sterritorialclaiminAntarctica).

　　NewZealandisnotableforitsgeographicisolation,beingseparatedfromAustraliatothenorthwestbytheTasmanSea,approximately2000kilometres(1250miles)across.ItsclosestneighbourstothenorthareNewCaledonia,Fiji,andTonga.

　　ThepopulationismostlyofEuropeandescent,withtheindigenousMāoribeingthelargestminority.Non-MāoriPolynesianandAsianpeoplearealsosignificantminorities,especiallyinthecities.ElizabethII,astheQueenofNewZealand,istheHeadofStateandisrepresented,inherabsence,byanon-partisanGovernor-General;theQueen'reignsbutdoesnotrule',soshehasnorealpoliticalinfluence.Politicalpowerisheldbythedemocratically-electedParliamentofNewZealandundertheleadershipofthePrimeMinisterwhoistheHeadofGovernment.白雪公主