Cook islands

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, image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, capital = Avarua
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Avarua
, official_languages =
, languages_type = Spoken languages
, languages =
, ethnic_groups =
, ethnic_groups_year = 2016 census
, demonym = Cook Islander
, government_type =
, leader_title1 = Monarch
, leader_name1 =
, leader_title2 = 's Representative
, leader_name2 = Sir Tom Marsters
, leader_title3 = Prime Minister
, leader_name3 = Mark Brown
, leader_title4 = President of the House of Ariki
, leader_name4 = Tou Travel Ariki
, legislature = Parliament
, sovereignty_type = Associated state of New Zealand
, established_event1 = Self-governance
, established_date1 = 4 August 1965
, established_event2 = UN recognition of independence in foreign relations
, established_date2 = 1992
, area_km2 = 236.7
, area_rank =
, area_sq_mi = 91
, percent_water =
, population_census = 17,459
, population_census_rank = 223rd
, population_census_year = 2016
, population_density_km2 = 42
, population_density_sq_mi = 111
, population_density_rank = 138th
, GDP_nominal = US$384 million
, GDP_nominal_rank =
, GDP_nominal_year = 2020
, GDP_nominal_per_capita = US$21,994
, GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank =
, HDI =
, HDI_year =
, HDI_rank =
, currency = (formerly)
, currency_code =
, time_zone = CKT
, utc_offset = -10
, utc_offset_DST =
, time_zone_DST =
, drives_on = left
, calling_code = +682
, iso3166code = CK
, cctld = .ck
, footnote_a = As per th
Te Reo Maori Act

, area_magnitude =
, HDI_category =

The Cook Islands ( Cook Islands Māori: ''Kūki 'Āirani'') is a self-governing island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15 islands whose total land area is . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean.

Since 2001, the Cook Islands has run its own foreign and defence policy. In recent decades, the Cook Islands have adopted an increasingly assertive foreign policy, and a Cook Islander, Henry Puna, currently serves as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum. Most Cook Islanders are 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 (13,007 in 2016), where there is an international airport. The census of 2016 put the total population at 17,459. 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. The last Australian census recorded 28,000 Cook Islanders living in Australia, many with Australian citizenship.

With over 168,000 visitors travelling to the islands in 2018, tourism is the country's main industry, and the leading element of the economy, ahead of offshore banking, pearls, and marine and fruit exports.

Etymology

The Cook Islands comprise 15 islands split between two island groups, which have carried 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.

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''. 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.

The islands' official name in Cook Islands Māori is ''Kūki 'Āirani'', a transliteration of the English name.

History

The Cook Islands were first settled around AD 1000 by Polynesian people who are thought to have migrated from Tahiti, an island to the northeast of the main island of Rarotonga.

The first European contact with the islands took place in 1595 when the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira sighted the island of Pukapuka, which he named ''San Bernardo'' (Saint Bernard). Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, a Portuguese captain at the service of the Spanish Crown, made the first European landing in the islands when he set foot on Rakahanga in 1606, calling the island ''Gente Hermosa'' (Beautiful People).

The British navigator Captain James Cook arrived in 1773 and again in 1777 giving the island of Manuae the name ''Hervey Island''. The ''Hervey Islands'' later came to be applied to the entire southern group. The name "Cook Islands", in honour of Cook, first appeared on a Russian naval chart published by Adam Johann von Krusenstern in the 1820s.

In 1813 John Williams, a missionary on the colonial brig ''Endeavour'' (not the same ship as Cook's) made the first recorded European sighting of Rarotonga. The first recorded landing on Rarotonga 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 English missionaries arrived in 1821. Christianity quickly took hold in the culture and many islanders are Christians today.

The islands were a popular stop in the 19th century for whaling ships from the United States, Britain and Australia. They visited, from at least 1826, to obtain water, food, and firewood. Their favourite islands were Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Mangaia and Penrhyn.

The Cook Islands became aligned to the United Kingdom in 1890, largely because of the fear of British residents that France might occupy the islands as it already had Tahiti. On 6 September 1900, the islanders' leaders presented a petition asking that the islands (including Niue "if possible") should be annexed as British territory.''"Commonwealth and Colonial Law"'' by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. P. 891 On 8 and 9 October 1900, seven instruments of cession of Rarotonga and other islands were signed by their chiefs and people. A British Proclamation was issued, stating that the cessions were accepted and the islands declared parts of Her Britannic Majesty's dominions. However, it did not include Aitutaki. Even though the inhabitants regarded themselves as British subjects, the Crown's title was unclear until the island was formally annexed by that Proclamation. In 1901 the islands were included within the boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand by Order in Council under the Colonial Boundaries Act, 1895 of the United Kingdom. The boundary change became effective on 11 June 1901, and the Cook Islands have had a formal relationship with New Zealand since that time.

The Cook Islands responded to the call for service when World War One began, immediately sending five contingents, close to 500 men, to the war. The island's young men volunteered at the outbreak of the war to reinforce the Maori Contingents and the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Rifles. A Patriotic Fund was set up very quickly, raising funds to support the war effort. The Cook Islanders were trained at Narrow Neck Camp in Devonport, and the first recruits departed on 13 October 1915 on the SS Te Anau. The ship arrived in Egypt just as the New Zealand units were about to be transferred to the Western Front. In September, 1916, the Pioneer Battalion, a combination of Cook Islanders, Maori and Pakeha soldiers, saw heavy action in the Allied attack on Flers, the first battle of the Somme. Three Cook Islanders from this first contingent died from enemy action and at least ten died of disease as they struggled to adapt to the conditions in Europe. The 2nd and 3rd Cook Island Contingents were part of the Sinai-Palestine campaign, first in a logistical role for the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Rifles at their Moascar base and later in ammunition supply for the Royal Artillery. After the war, the men returned to the outbreak of the influenza epidemic in New Zealand, and this, along with European diseases meant that a large number did not survive and died in New Zealand or on their return home over the coming years.

When the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 came into effect on 1 January 1949, Cook Islanders who were British subjects automatically gained New Zealand citizenship. The islands remained a New Zealand dependent territory until the New Zealand Government decided to grant them self-governing status. On 4 August 1965, a constitution was promulgated. The first Monday in August is celebrated each year as Constitution Day. Albert Henry of the Cook Islands Party was elected as the first Premier and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Henry led the nation until 1978, when he was accused of vote-rigging and resigned. He was stripped of his knighthood in 1979. He was succeeded by Tom Davis of the Democratic Party who held that position until March 1983.

On 13 July 2017, the Cook Islands established Marae Moana, making it become the world's largest protected area by size.

In March 2019, it was reported that the Cook Islands had plans to change its name and remove the reference to Captain James Cook in favour of "a title that reflects its 'Polynesian nature'". It was later reported in May 2019 that the proposed name change had been poorly received by the Cook Islands diaspora. As a compromise, it was decided that the English name of the islands would not be altered, but that a new Cook Islands Māori name would be adopted to replace the current name, a transliteration from English. Discussions over the name continued in 2020.

Geography

The Cook Islands are in the South Pacific Ocean, north-east of New Zealand, between American Samoa and French Polynesia. There are 15 major islands spread over of ocean, divided into two distinct groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands of coral atolls.

The islands were formed by volcanic activity; the northern group is older and consists of six atolls, which are sunken volcanoes topped by coral growth. The climate is moderate to tropical. The Cook Islands consist of 15 islands and two reefs. From March to December, the Cook Islands are in the path of tropical cyclones, the most notable of which were the cyclones Martin and Percy. Two terrestrial ecoregions lie within the islands' territory: the Central Polynesian tropical moist forests and the Cook Islands tropical moist forests.

Note: The table is ordered from north to south. Population figures from the 2016 census.

Gallery

File:Pukapuka Aerial efs 1280.jpg, Aerial photograph of Pukapuka
File:Aitutaki-Motu Tapuaetai.jpg, Tapuaetai (One Foot Island) on the southern part of Aitutaki
File:rarotonga beach.jpg, Beach on Rarotonga

Politics and foreign relations

The Cook Islands are a representative democracy with a parliamentary system in an associated state relationship with New Zealand. Executive power is exercised by the government, with the Prime Minister as head of government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of the Cook Islands. While the country is de jure unicameral, there are two legislative bodies with the House of Ariki acting as a de facto upper house.

There is a multi-party system. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The head of state is the of New Zealand, who is represented in the Cook Islands by the 's Representative.

The islands are self-governing in "free association" with New Zealand. Under the Cook Islands constitution, New Zealand cannot pass laws for the Cook Islands. Rarotonga has its own foreign service and diplomatic network. Cook Islands nationals have the right to become citizens of New Zealand and can receive New Zealand government services when in New Zealand, but the reverse is not true; New Zealand citizens are not Cook Islands nationals. Despite this, , the Cook Islands had diplomatic relations in its own name with 52 other countries. The Cook Islands is not a United Nations member state, but, along with Niue, has had their "full treaty-making capacity" recognised by the United Nations Secretariat, and is a full member of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, all UN specialized agencies, and is an associate member of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and a Member of the Assembly of States of the International Criminal Court.

On 11 June 1980, the United States signed a treaty with the Cook Islands specifying the maritime border between the Cook Islands and American Samoa and also relinquishing any American claims to Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Manihiki, and Rakahanga. In 1990 the Cook Islands and France signed a treaty that delimited the boundary between the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. In late August 2012, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the islands. In 2017, the Cook Islands signed the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Defence and police

Defence is the responsibility of New Zealand, in consultation with the Cook Islands and at its request.

The Cook Islands Police Service is the police force of the Cook Islands.

Human rights

Male homosexuality is ''de jure'' illegal in the Cook Islands and is punishable by a maximum term of seven years imprisonment; however, the law is not enforced, and legislation to change it is pending.

Administrative subdivisions

There are island councils on all of the inhabited outer islands (Outer Islands Local Government Act 1987 with amendments up to 2004, and Palmerston Island Local Government Act 1993) except Nassau, which is governed by Pukapuka (Suwarrow, with only one caretaker living on the island, also governed by Pukapuka, is not counted with the inhabited islands in this context). Each council is headed by a mayor.

The three ''Vaka'' councils of Rarotonga established in 1997 (''Rarotonga Local Government Act 1997''), also headed by mayors, were abolished in February 2008, despite much controversy.

On the lowest level, there are village committees. Nassau, which is governed by Pukapuka, has an island committee (Nassau Island Committee), which advises the Pukapuka Island Council on matters concerning its own island.

Demographics

Births and deaths

Religion

In the Cook Islands the Church is separate from the state, and most of the population is Christian. The religious distribution is as follows:

The various Protestant groups account for 62.8% of the believers, the most followed denomination being the Cook Islands Christian Church

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