New Zealand is an archipelago of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It has a diverse landscape that includes snowy mountain peaks, fjords, and coastal sheep pastures. Wellington is its capital city, and its official languages are English and Maori. Some key facts about New Zealand are that it was the first country in the world to create a government department dedicated to tourism in 1901. Its waters are home to the smallest and rarest marine dolphin, the sea lion. And the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest was Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander.
3. New Zealand is an archipelago of islands
and fertile mountains of southwest Pacific.
"It's a high earth upward," wrote Abel
Tasman, Dutch navigator considered the
first European who sighted New Zealand in
1642. The snowy peaks, cut by fjords and
coasts dotted with sheep pastures are
images that define this country.
5. New Zealand created a government
department dedicated to tourism in 1901: the
first in the world.
The smallest and rarest marine dolphin sea
lions thrive only in New Zealand waters.
The summit of Everest was first conquered
by Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander.
