Cook Islands

The Cook Islands are a self-governing island nation in the South Pacific, linked to New Zealand as an associated state. The country is made up of 15 islands, with a total land area of about 236.7 square kilometres. Its surrounding Exclusive Economic Zone is much larger, covering nearly 2 million square kilometres of ocean. The capital, Avarua, is on the island of Rarotonga.

Although the Cook Islands governs itself, it remains in free association with New Zealand. Since the early 2000s, it has managed its own foreign policy, defence, and customs. Like many Pacific Island nations, it has no military. For maritime security, the Cook Islands Police Service operates a Guardian Class patrol boat, the CIPPB Te Kukupa II, which was provided by Australia. In recent years, the country has pursued a more independent and assertive foreign policy. From 2021 to 2024, Cook Islander Henry Puna served as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum. Most people born in the Cook Islands hold New Zealand citizenship as well as a special status as Cook Islands nationals—a status not granted to other New Zealand citizens. The country has been an active member of the Pacific Community since 1980.

The main population centre is Rarotonga, which had 10,863 residents in 2021 and is home to the international airport, the primary gateway for visitors. The total population of the Cook Islands in 2021 was 14,987. However, many more people of Cook Islands heritage live abroad: the 2018 New Zealand census counted 80,532 people identifying as Cook Islanders or of Cook Islands descent, while the most recent Australian census recorded 28,000. Tourism drives the economy, with over 168,000 visitors in 2018. Other key industries include offshore banking, pearls, and exports of marine products and fruit.

The 15 islands have always had their own names in indigenous languages like Cook Islands Māori and Pukapukan. The first European name for any of them came in 1606, when Spanish explorers called Rakahanga "Gente Hermosa" (Beautiful People). The entire group is named after Captain James Cook, who visited in the 1770s and named Manuae "Hervey Island." The southern islands became known as the Hervey Islands. In the 1820s, Russian Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern used "Cook Islands" for the southern group on a naval chart. The whole territory only took that name after New Zealand annexed it in the early 20th century. The 1901 Cook and other Islands Government Act applied the name to only some islands, but the 1915 Cook Islands Act defined the current boundaries. The official name in Cook Islands Māori is Kūki 'Āirani, a transliteration of the English name.

Polynesians first settled the islands around AD 1000, likely migrating from Tahiti. The first European to sight an island was Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, who saw Pukapuka in 1595. In 1606, Portuguese captain Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, sailing for Spain, made the first European landing on Rakahanga. Captain Cook arrived in 1773 and 1777. Missionary John Williams sighted Rarotonga in 1813, and the first recorded European landing there was in 1814, ending in violence. English missionaries arrived in 1821, and Christianity quickly became established. Whaling ships from the US, Britain, and Australia visited regularly from at least 1826.

The islands became a British protectorate in 1888, partly to prevent French expansion. In 1900, chiefs and people signed instruments of cession, and a British proclamation declared the islands part of the British dominions, though Aitutaki was initially excluded.