Ответ №1
New Zealand (1)
New Zealand is an
island country in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. It lies about
1600 km southeast of Australia and about 10 500 km southwest of
California. New Zealand belongs to a large island group called
Polynesia. The country is situated on two main islands — the
North Island and the South Island — and several dozen smaller
islands. Most of the smaller islands are hundreds of kilometers
from the main ones.
Wellington is the
capital of New Zealand and Auckland is the largest city. English
is the official language of New Zealand and is spoken throughout
the country. Many native people speak their own language» Maori,
in addition to English.
The country once
belonged to the British empire. Today it is an independent
member of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of Britain
and a number of its former colonies.
New Zealand is a
constitutional monarchy. The British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II
of the United Kingdom, is the monarch of New Zealand. She
appoints a governor general to represent her, but the governor
general has little power. The legislation, prime minister, and
Cabinet run the national government.
Britain gave New
Zealand a constitution in 1852, when it was a British colony.
But through the years the New Zealand legislature has changed
almost all its provisions. Today, the nation has no written
constitution.
The first people
who settled in New Zealand were a brown-skinned people called
Maoris. They came from Polynesian islands located northeast of
New Zealand. The country was discovered by Europeans in 1642,
but they did not start to settle in the islands until the late
1700's. Today, most New Zealanders are descendants of the early
European settlers. Maoris make up about 12 % of the country's
population
New Zealand has
one of the highest standard of living in the world. For many
years, the economy of the country depended largely on
agriculture. Today agriculture, manufacturing, and service
industries are all important to the economy. New Zealand's
economy depends on trade with many countries — Australia,
Britain, Japan and the United States.
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