Cook Islands

Coordinates: 21°14′S 159°46′W / 21.233°S 159.767°W / -21.233; -159.767

The Cook Islands (ⁱ/ˈkʊk ˈaɪləndz/; Cook Islands Māori: Kūki 'Āirani) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15 islands whose total land area is 240 square kilometres (92.7 sq mi). The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), however, covers 1,800,000 square kilometres (690,000 sq mi) of ocean.

The Cook Islands' defence and foreign affairs are the responsibility of New Zealand, but they are exercised in consultation with the Cook Islands. In recent times, the Cook Islands have adopted an increasingly independent foreign policy. Although Cook Islanders are citizens of New Zealand, they have the status of Cook Islands nationals, which is not given to other New Zealand citizens.

The Cook Islands' main population centres are on the island of Rarotonga (10,572 in 2011), where there is an international airport. There is a larger population of Cook Islanders in New Zealand, particularly the North Island. In the 2006 census, 58,008 self-identified as being of ethnic Cook Islands Māori descent.

Cook Island

Cook Island(s) may refer to

All of the above are named after Captain James Cook.

Cook Islands Māori

The Cook Islands Māori language, also called Māori Kūki 'Āirani or Rarotongan, is the official language of the Cook Islands. Most Cook Islanders also call it Te reo Ipukarea, literally "the language of the Ancestral Homeland".

History

Cook Islands Māori became an official language of the Cook Islands in 2003. According to Te Reo Maori Act, Māori:

These dialects of the Cook Islands Māori are :

It is closely related to Tahitian and New Zealand Māori, and there is a degree of mutual intelligibility with these two languages.