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New Westminster

(Encyclopedia)New Westminster, city (1991 pop. 43,585), SW British Columbia, Canada, on the Fraser River, part of metropolitan Vancouver. Founded in 1859 as Queensborough, it was the capital of British Columbia unt...

Waitangi, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Waitangi, Treaty of (Feb. 6, 1840), a pact between some Maori tribes of New Zealand and the British Gov. William Hobson. The treaty protected Maori land interests in exchange for recognition of Britis...

Southern Alps

(Encyclopedia)Southern Alps, mountain range, on South Island, New Zealand, paralleling the west coast. It rises to 12,349 ft (3,764 m) at Mt. Aorangi (Mt. Cook), New Zealand's highest peak. Extensively glaciated, t...

Marsden, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Marsden, Samuel märzˈdən [key], 1764–1838, Anglican clergyman and chaplain of a convict colony in New Zealand. He introduced domestic animals (especially sheep) into New Zealand. As director of t...

Kirk, Norman Eric

(Encyclopedia)Kirk, Norman Eric, 1923–74, New Zealand political leader. A Labour party member, he rose in New Zealand politics, entering Parliament in 1957, and becoming vice president (1963) and then president (...

Kermadec Islands

(Encyclopedia)Kermadec Islands kərmădˈĕk [key], almost uninhabited, active volcanic group (c.13 sq mi/34 sq km), South Pacific, 450 mi (720 km) NE of New Zealand, of which they are a dependency. Raoul, or Sunda...

Chatham Islands

(Encyclopedia)Chatham Islands, island group, 385 sq mi (996 sq km), South Pacific, c.500 mi (800 km) E of New Zealand, to which it belongs. The two largest islands are Chatham Island, which has a large central lago...

Waikato

(Encyclopedia)Waikato wīˈkäˌtō [key], river, 264 mi (425 km) long, rising in Lake Taupo, central North Island, New Zealand, and flowing NW into the Tasman Sea. It is New Zealand's longest river. The Waikato po...

Fraser, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Fraser, Peter, 1884–1950, New Zealand political leader, b. Scotland. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1910. Previously active in Labour politics in London, he was elected to Parliament in 1918, becomi...

Aorangi, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Aorangi, Mount ouräkˈē [key] [both: Maori,=cloud in the sky], or Mount Cook, 12,254 ft (3,735 m) high, on the South Island, New Zealand, in the Southern Alps; highest peak of New Zealand. Several g...