Country guide
New Zealand
Capital, flag, borders and quick geography facts for New Zealand.
Key facts
- Capital
- Wellington
- Region
- Oceania
- Area
- 268,838 km²
- Population
- 5,324,700
Neighboring countries
New Zealand has no land borders in the country data.
Learn New Zealand
Wellington is New Zealand's capital. Polynesian voyagers settled New Zealand by around 1300 CE, making it one of the last major landmasses on Earth reached by humans.
New Zealand covers 268,838 square kilometers and has no land borders: the country consists entirely of islands. Bats are the only land mammals native to New Zealand. They reached the isolated islands by flight long before humans arrived.
The kiwi is the only bird in the world with nostrils at the very tip of its beak, and its sense of smell is strong enough to sniff out food underground.
Trivia
- The kiwi is the only bird in the world with nostrils at the very tip of its beak, giving it an exceptional sense of smell for finding food underground.
- Tongariro became New Zealand's first national park in 1887, when Maori chief Te Heuheu Tukino gifted its sacred peaks to the Crown.
- New Zealand was one of the last major landmasses on Earth to be settled by humans, with Polynesian voyagers arriving by around 1300 CE.
- Bats are the only land mammals native to New Zealand, having reached the isolated islands by flight long before humans arrived.
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