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The Geography of New Zealand
New Zealand has an impressive economy that continues to grow, a physical landscape that attracts people from around the globe, and although small, New Zealand is a respected nation for its advanced civilization and stable government. The geography of this prestigious nation can be described through five principal categories, the physical geography, the cultural geography, the citizens' standard of living, the government, and the nation's economy.
New Zealand is located in the southern hemisphere, with an absolute location of 37 degrees south longitude to 48 degrees south longitude and 167 degrees east latitude to 177 degrees east latitude. It is composed of two major islands named the North and South Islands, and the total land area of the nation, approximately divided equally between the two islands, is 103,470 square miles. Surprisingly, only 2 percent of the land area is arable. New Zealand has an abundance of natural resources, explaining why the country is so wealthy compared to other nations. These resources include fertile grazing land, oil and gas, iron, coal, timber, and excellent fishing waters.
New Zealand's climate is basically moderate year round because of the nearby ocean that regulates the climate. New Zealand enjoys a marine west coast climate, that on average produces sixty to eighty degree temperatures in January and forty to sixty degree temperatures in July. Because it is surrounded by the ocean, New Zealand receives immense quantities of precipitation on both islands. The average annual precipitation on the North Island is thirty to forty inches and on the South Island it is forty to fifty inches. This climate produces mixed forests, mid-latitude deciduous forests, and temperate grassland vegetation. The terrain is dominated by meadows, pastures, wood lands, and a small chain of mountains called the Southern Alps. The land is blanketed with small lakes and rivers that drain the highlands and empty into the ocean. The extraordinary diversity of the physical geography found in the United States seems to have been duplicated in this relatively small country, where the ski slopes and the beaches may be only an hour apart.
The cultural geography of New Zealand is not as diverse as its physical geography. Currently 3,547,983 people live in New Zealand, but 83.7 percent of the population live in urbanized areas. The chief cities, each containing more than one hundred thousand people, are Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Manukau, and Wellington. The average population per square mile is only 34, but it is growing due to a 0.8 percent natural growth rate. Keeping in mind that only 2 percent of the land is arable, the crop land per capita is a meager 0.125 acres per person. Large portions of New Zealand are devoted to sheep stations, for there are more sheep in New Zealand than people.
The official language of New Zealand is English, although a small percentage of the people speak Maori, the native language. Somewhat corresponding to the language groups, the religious make up is 52 percent Christian, 15 percent Roman Catholic, and 33 percent unspecified or none. The country takes pride in a 99.9 percent literacy rate by having an excellent education system. The entire nation resides in a single time zone that would report 6:00 A.M. if the time in Amarillo, Texas was noon. From the country's cultural geography, it could be predicted that the nation would enjoy a good standard of living. In 1994 the gross national product of New Zealand was a colossal 56.4 billion United State's dollars, generating a per capita income of $16,640. For every 3.2 people there is a television, and for every 2.2 people there is a telephone, meaning there are over 2,600,000 televisions and telephones in New Zealand. Fortunately, 99.8 percent of the people are able to enjoy safe drinking water, including the natives who live in rural areas.
New Zealand has a superb health care industry that serves as a paragon to the rest of the world. There are presently 11,335 physicians and 31,122 hospital beds in New Zealand, for an ample ratio of one physician per 313 people and one hospital bed per 114 people. The population of New Zealand is provided with plenty of food and a healthy diet, the average person receives approximately 3,250 calories per day. New Zealand has one of the highest life expectancies in the entire world, that being 74 for men, 80 for women, and 77 for any person. Unfortunately, AIDS is a growing problem in New Zealand that continues to spread at a phenomenal rate. There have been 3,548 AIDS cases reported, affecting one out of every 1,000 people with the syndrome, not to mention the thousands more infected with the HIV virus.
New Zealand's government has contributed to its impressive standard of living. New Zealand achieved independence from the United Kingdom on September 26, 1907. The government was placed in Wellington, on the North Island, and still remains there today as the capital. The government is a constitutional monarchy that was designed to resemble the United Kingdom government. It includes an executive branch, legislative branch, judicial branch, and a King and Queen employed only as figureheads. The military is divided into three branches, the New Zealand army, the Royal New Zealand Navy, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Presently there are 742,871 men fit for military service, but only 10,500 active troops in service.
New Zealand has a flourishing economy that is based on three main economic activities, livestock raising, farming, and foreign trade. The economy is almost completely dependent on the export of goods, which include wool, lamb, mutton, beef, fish, and forestry products. Twenty percent of the exports go to Australia, 15 percent to Japan, 12 percent to the U.S., 6 percent to the U.K., and 47 percent to other countries. New Zealand's monetary unit is the New Zealand dollar, and the exchange rate is 1.46 N.Z. dollars equals 1 U.S. dollar. With a 6.2 percent economic growth rate, New Zealand could soon have one of the top five economies in the world.
New Zealand is among the world's finest countries, because of its exquisite landscape and first-rate economy. With an excellent standard of living, perfect climate, and majestic terrain, New Zealand for many people is an ideal place to live. Every year hundreds of thousands of people tour New Zealand just to catch a glimpse of what many proclaim to be paradise, and after researching this report, I intend to someday be one of those tourists.Works Cited
Baerwald, Thomas, and Celeste Fraser. World Geography: A World Perspective. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1995.
CIA "New Zealand." World Fact Book (1995). Site: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/ 95fact/nz.html.
Compton's Learning Company. Compton's Living Encyclopedia. New York: Soft Key, 1997.
t Famighetti, Robert. The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997. United States: World Almanac Books, 1997.
Novosad, Charles. The Nystrom Desk Atlas. Chicago: Division of Hereff Jones, Inc, 1994.
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