Geography of New Zealand – The Ultimate Free Guide 2021
Learn facts and Geography of New Zealand including Major Geographical Features, Natural resources, Region, area, Capital, Border countries, rivers in New Zealand.
- New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island and the South Island — and over 700 smaller islands, covering a total area of 268,021 square kilometers (103,500 sq mi).
- The country’s varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand’s capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland.
- A developed country, New Zealand ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, education, protection of civil liberties, government transparency, and economic freedom.
- New Zealand underwent major economic changes during the 1980s, which transformed it from a protectionist to a liberalized free-trade economy. The service sector dominates the national economy, followed by the industrial sector, and agriculture.
- New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, OECD, ASEAN Plus Six, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Pacific Community and the Pacific Islands Forum.
- New Zealand is located near the center of the water hemisphere and is made up of two main islands and more than 700 smaller islands.
- The country owes its varied topography, and perhaps even its emergence above the waves, to the dynamic boundary it straddles between the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates.
- New Zealand is part of Zealandia, a microcontinent nearly half the size of Australia that gradually submerged after breaking away from the Gondwanan supercontinent.
- New Zealand is part of a region known as Australasia, together with Australia. It also forms the southwestern extremity of the geographic and ethnographic region called Polynesia
Geography of New Zealand
Region:
Oceania
Area:
Ranked 75th
Capital:
Wellington
Population:
5,131,870
Bordering Countries:
Bordering countries are New Caledonia, Tonga and Fiji.
Total Size:
268,710 km2
Geographical Coordinates:
42°S 174°E
World Region or Continent:
Oceania
General Terrain:
Mostly mountainous or steep hills, volcanic peaks in the central North Island, and fiords in the far south west.
Geographical Low Point:
Taieri Plain −2 m
Geographical High Point:
Aoraki / Mount Cook 3,724 m (12,218 ft)
Climate:
Mostly temperate, with some areas being tundra and sub Antarctic.
Major cities:
- Auckland
- Christchurch
- Wellington
- Hamilton
- Tauranga
- Lower Hutt
- Dunedin
- Palmerston North
- Napier
- Porirua
Major Land forms:
- New Zealand floats like a broken-up, high-bow Polynesian canoe on the edge of the southwestern Pacific, 1,000 miles southeast of Australia.
- It straddles the fault between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, and sits on the seismically active Ring of Fire.
- Hundreds of smaller coastal and outlying islands lie off the main North and South islands.
Major Rivers and Lakes:
Major Rivers
- Waikato
- Clutha / Mata-Au
- Whanganui
- Taieri
- Rangitīkei
- Mataura
- Waiau (Southland)
- Waitaki
- Ōreti
- Rangitaiki
Major Lakes:
- Lake Taupo.
- Lake Te Anau.
- Lake Wakatipu.
- Lake Ellesmere
- Lake Wanaka.
- Lake Manapouri.
- Lake Hawea
- Lake Pukaki.
Natural Resources:
Natural Resources are coal, silver, iron ore, limestone and gold
Major Geographical Features:
Biomes & Ecosystems:
The Northland temperate kauri forests is an ecoregion in northern New Zealand, within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome.
Topography:
Mostly mountainous or steep hills, volcanic peaks in the central North Island, and fiords in the far south west. New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country located in the south-western Pacific Ocean, near the centre of the water hemisphere.
Oceans:
South Pacific Ocean
Islands:
- South Island or Te Waipounamu
- North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui
- Stewart Island
- Chatham Island
- Auckland Island
- Great Barrier Island (Aotea Island)
- Resolution Island
- Rangitoto ki te Tonga
- Campbell Island
- Adams Island
Mountain Ranges:
- Aoraki / Mount Cook
- Mount Tasman
- Malte Brun
- Mount Sefton
- Mount Elie de Beaumont
- La Perouse
- Douglas Peak
- The Minarets
- Mount Aspiring / Tititea
- Mount Hamilton
Provinces of New Zealand:
- Auckland
- New Plymouth
- Hawke’s Bay
- Wellington
- Nelson
- Marlborough
- Westland
- Canterbury
- Otago
- Southland
See Also:
