2013年7月4日木曜日

New Zealand and Te Wahipounamu





New Zealand



My name is Sho Ishiguro. I am a student of waseda university. I’d like to introduce New Zealand. I’ve divided my blog into 4 parts; basic information of the country, the history, the culture and the economy.

The State is New Zealand, often called NZ. It is south-west in Pacific Ocean. The structure is constitutional monarchy.

 





Almost al of people speaks English, 95.9%, and the others are Maori (4.2%) and New Zealand sign language (0.6%).

 

Also, in ethnic groups, the European has the majority (78.0%). There are also Maori (14.6%), Asian (9.2%) and Pacific people (6.9%). The great number of European is derived from its history, immigration from UK.



That brings me to its history. At first, I pick up why the country is called New Zealand. When the island was found out, it is given the name of “Nove Zeelandia”.  It means“New land in the sea”. After that, in , James cook, who is English explorer and , named it “New Zealand”.









Then, I tell you the transition of its position. After reaching of James cook, the number of immigrants from UK and the other European countries increased. In 1840, Waitangi treaty, which is between UK and New Zealand (Maori), was concluded. It promised mainly 2 point. The ruler of New Zealand is UK, Maori gets the rights as the people of UK. In 1907, the country was allowed to be self- governing dominion, and after WW, it became independent state at last.

And turn to its culture. The culture is mixed one. As I write above, there are a number of immigrants from European countries, Asian country and the many other countries. Accordingly, the native Maori culture had been blended with exotic one. The hybrid culture has developed in such special environment, and has become distinct one.

 
Moreover, I focus on food and sport here. Do you think of dishes of New Zealand? Maybe many don’t. Actually, there is no characteristic in the food culture.

 
Some say “It is why the country has been largely influenced by UK. (It is often said that people in UK are less interested in the food than the other countries in the world.)” In the other hand, the ingredients grown in New Zealand are very good, including kiwi fruit, meat, milk and honey. These are important exported goods for the country.
 

Also, one of the most famous New Zealand culture is rugby, I think. Everyone must have seen it at least once. The national team is often regarded as the best in the world.

 
Though the actual results are splendid, the performance before game is more fascinating for me. The performance is Haka dance, which is traditional dance of Maori. It has two meaning. One is delight for competition, the other is respect to opposite team. Furthermore, it is in teresting that the leader of the Haka dance is conventionally the person who is descended from Maori, even   though he is reserve player. This is the movie of Haka bellow.

 
Next topic is economy. In the food part, I wrote that there are a lot of good ingredients in New Zealand. Therefore the economy depends on primary industry. It makes up 60~70% for its exportation.

Also, the business in the office is not popular, so there is no high office building which is like Japanese. Because of the condition, the beautiful landscape has been kept for long years.

 
 
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Such pretty scenery contributes to the tourism.

It is thriving business for New Zealand.

 

I introduce one of these systems: “Qual mark”, which is official institution managed by administration. Its purpose is providing a tour with relief and safety,

for example, all lodgings in New Zealand are graded on 5 steps for tourists to select a lodge according to each require ments.






Te Wahipounamu – SouthWest New Zealand

 

 

Brief Description

     Te Wahipounamu is a World Heritage Site situated in the south west corner of the South West island of New Zealand. It is inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990, and covering about 26,000km². The Site incorporates four national parks: Fiordland National Park, Aoraki/ Mt. Cook National Park, Mt. Aspiring National Park and Westland Tai Poutini National Park. Te Wahipounamu means “the place of greenstone” in Maori.











Geographical Features
     There are the two tectonic plates: the Indo-Australian plate and the Pacific continental plate. Collision between the two tectonic plates constructs the main mountain range, known as the Southern Alps, which rise to nearly 4000m altitude within a mere 30km from the sea. Also, many glaciers formed fiords, lakes, deep U-shaped valleys and so on. The glaciers are historical products of the Ice Age. Natural Ecosystem of Te Wahipounamu is considered to be the best modern example of primitive biota. The flora and fauna represent the ancient biota, and there are many rare species in Te Wahipounamu. Also, it rains most in the world, and temperate rain forests grow.
 
Criteria for World Heritage
     There are six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. This is the natural criteria.
1, to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
2, to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
3, to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
4, to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.
Te Wahipounamu fulfills them.
 
History
     Firstly, Fiordland National Park was registered as a National Park in 1952. Secondly, Aoraki/ Mt. Cook National Park was registered as a   National Park in 1953. Thirdly, Westland Tai Poutini National Park was registered as a National Park in 1960. Then Mount Aspiring National Park was registered as a National Park in 1964. Finally, Te Wahipounamu was registered on UNECO’s World Heritage list in 1990.
 
Animals
There are many rare species in Te Wahipounamu. Takahe is a flightless bird and it was thought to be extinct. However, after a carefully planned search effort the bird was rediscovered. Kiwi is flightless birds too. They are the national bird of New Zealand but they are endangered. Kiwifruit was named after Kiwi. The Kea is a large species of parrot. They are known for their intelligence and curiosity. Also, there are other parrots, carnivorous land snails, fiord land penguin and so on.

Kiwi



Kea
Takahe
 
Fiordland Penguin


Fiordland National Park
     It is the largest of the 14 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of 12,500km². During the cooler past, glaciers carved many deep fiords, the most famous of which is Milford Sound. It is called pipiotahi in Maori. Other notable fiords include Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound. There are Southern Alps and other mountains, so at the northern end of the park, several peaks rise to over 2,000m. Several large lakes lie wholly or partly within the park’s boundaries, notably Lake Te Anau, Lake Manapouri and Lake Monowai. Also, the Sutherland Falls near Milford Sound is the tallest in New Zealand.

Milford Sound
Lake Te Anau

Aoraki/ Mt. Cook National Park
     This park covers about 707km². There is Aoraki/ Mount Cook, which is the highest mountain in New Zealand. It reaches 3,754m. Aoraki means “peak of cloud” in Maori and Mount Cook named after Captain James Cook who is a British explorer and captain in the Royal Navy. Also, Tasman Glacier is the longest in New Zealand.
Aoraki/ Mt. Cook
Tasman Glaciers








Westland Tai Poutini National Park
     Westland Tai Poutini Park covers 1,175km². There are two famous glaciers: Franz Josef Glacier and Fox glacier. They are popular tourist attractions of the west coast. The remains of old gold mining towns exist along the coast.


Mount Aspiring National Park
     Mount Aspiring National Park covers 3,555km². There are many mountains, for example Mt. Aspiring/ Tititea, Mount Pollux and Mt. Brewster. Especially, Mt. Aspiring has a height of 3,033 meters and it is called Tititea in Maori.
Franz Josef Glacier
Mt. Aspiring/ Tititea

Video