New Zealand. Despite being forgotten on so many maps that there is an entire Subreddit dedicated to it, being projected as the literal end of the world, and all other continents seemingly fleeing from it, New Zealand has quite a lot to offer. It is home to some beautiful landscapes and nature spectacles such as Mount Ngauruhoe, the plains of the Mackenzie Basin, the mountains around Port Waikato, or the Putangirua Pinnacles, which all seem like they are depictions of an epic fantasy world.
Chapter 1) The North Island
New Zealand marks the start of the Ring of Fire, and the resulting vulcanism can be felt especially in the northern one of the two main islands of New Zealand. Dormant and active Stratovolcanoes such as Mount Ruapehu, Mount Taranaki and mount Ngauruhoe characterize the central “North Island Volcanic Plateau”, and the Lake Taupo, the third largest lake of the country is a water-filled cauldron of one of earths most violent super volcanos which caused the largest eruption on planet earth of the past 5000 years. The North Island is also where you can find Auckland and Wellington, the largest city and the capital of New Zealand.
With a combined population of 2.000.000 people in their metro areas, these two cities make up the cultural, political and economic hub of the country. Just south of the capital Wellington, is the Cook Strait, a 22km narrow stretch of the Pacific Ocean, which brings us to.
Chapter 2) The South Island
The only 1.2 million inhabitants of Te Waipounamu have an extremely diverse environment to enjoy. The Fjordlands extend along the western coast and are a largely inaccessible coastal area with strong similarities to the Norwegian fjords. Just inland from the fjords are the Southern Alps, a mountain range which splits the Island in a north south divide, with peaks rising up to 3700 meter above the sea level.
Thousands of glacier fields feed into elongated mountain lakes and make this a stunning backdrop for the planes of Canterbury, the agriculturally most productive region of New Zealand. The rapid meltwater streams from the many glaciers of the Southern Alps also allow for large scale hydropower plants, specifically on the river Waitaki, Clutha and Waiau, which combined provide 92% of the Islands electricity needs.
Chapter 3) History of New Zealand
The Islands of New Zealand were some of the very last spots on earth to be settled by humans after Polynesians arrived in the middle of the 14th century. The Maori would go on to live a life centered on kinship and nature until Europeans first sighted the islands in 1642. 125 years later, James Cook was the first European to circumnavigate and map the islands, which kicked off a half decade of British missionaries arriving and setting up stations.
Relations between British settlers and Māori were rather peaceful, and the indigenous quickly picked up Christianity and spread it even faster then the missionaries could. A huge influx of immigrants in the 19th century caused a population boom and self-governance started in the 1850’s which would eventually lead to a slow process of estrangement from the British and the independence of New Zealand.