Cook Islands

The Cook Islands are a group of islands in the southern Pacific. They form an independent state, but have strong ties with New Zealand. The 15 small islands have a total land surface of 240 square kilometers. About 18.000 people live on the islands, most of them from tourism. The largest island, Rarotonga, also holds the territory's capital, Avarua.

The nation also has a distinctive Polynesian language known as Cook Island Maori, which is closely related to the Maori language of New Zealand and to the Tahitian language