The Cook Islands in the South Pacific

1 July 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Parliament of the Cook Islands © Mr Bullitt

Parliament of the Cook Islands © Mr Bullitt

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It is composed of 15 small islands whose total land area is 240 square kilometres (92.7 sq mi), divided into two distinct groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands of coral atolls.. The Cook Islands’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), however, covers 1,800,000 square kilometres (690,000 sq mi) of ocean. The main population centres are on the island of Rarotonga (14,153 in 2006), where there is an international airport. There is a much 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 Island Māori descent.   read more…

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