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same name at the southern tip of South America. In 1645 Dutch
cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of
Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to
New Zealand. The current Māori name for New Zealand is often translated

as "land of the long white cloud".
National flag. Proportion 1:2. Adopted 24 March 1902. In use
since 1869. The flag of New Zealand is a defaced Blue ‘Ensign with the

Union Flag in the canton, and four red stars with white borders to the right.
The stars represent the constellation of Crux, the Southern Cross.
Government. New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a
parliamentary democracy, although its constitution is not codified. Elizabeth

II is the Queen of New Zealand and the head of state. The Queen is
represented by the Governor-General, whom she appoints on the advice of
the Prime Minister. The powers of the Queen and the Governor-General are

limited by constitutional con’straints and they cannot normally be exercised
without the advice of Cabinet.
Local government and external territories. The early European settlers

divided New Zealand into provinces, which had a degree of autonomy.
Because of financial pressures and the desire to consolidate railways,
education, land sales and other policies, government was centralised and the

provinces were abolished in 1876. As a result, New Zealand now has no
separately represented subnational entities. New Zealand is one of 16 realms
within the Commonwealth. The Realm of New Zealand is the territory over
which the Queen of New Zealand is sovereign.

Demography. The population of New Zealand is approximately 4.5
million. New Zealand is a predominantly urban country, with 72 percent of
the population living in 16 main urban areas and 53 percent living in the four

largest cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and Hamilton. In 2010
Auckland was ranked the world's 4th most livable city and Wellington the
12th by the Mercer Quality of Life Survey ['s :r‚ve ].
Economy. New Zealand has a modern, prosperous and developed

market economy. The currency is the New Zealand dollar, informally known
as the "Kiwi dollar".
Language. English is the predominant language in New Zealand,

spoken by 98 percent of the population. New Zealand English is similar to
Australian English and many speakers from the Northern Hemisphere are
unable to tell the accents apart. The most prominent differences between the

New Zealand English dialect and other English dialects are the shifts in the
short front vowels: the short-"i" sound (as in "kit") has centralised towards

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