The Cook Islands can be divided into two groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands. The country is located in Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand.
The flag of the Cook Islands, officially known as the Cook Islands Ensign, is based on the traditional design for former British colonies in the Pacific region. It is a blue ensign containing the Union Flag in the upper left, and on the right, fifteen stars in a ring. The Union Flag is symbolic of the nation's historic ties to the United Kingdom and to the Commonwealth of Nations. The stars stand for the fifteen islands that make up the Cook Islands. The blue represents the ocean and the peaceful nature of the inhabitants.
Ātiu, also known as ʻEnuamanu, is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is 214 km (133 mi) northeast of Rarotonga. The population of the 26.9 square kilometres (10.4 sq mi) island has dropped by two-thirds in the last 50 years.
The Cook Islands Federation was created in 1891, after the Kingdom of Rarotonga was given the island of Aitutaki. It lasted until 1901, when it was given to New Zealand.
A Tapere or Sub-District is a low level of traditional land subdivision on five of the Southern Cook Islands, comparable to the ahupua'a of the main Hawaiian Islands or to the kousapw of Pohnpei. Among the populated raised islands, only Mitiaro is not subdivided into tapere. The remaining Southern Cook Islands, Manuae, Palmerston and Takutea are atolls and/or uninhabited, and therefore not subject to this type of traditional subdivision. The atolls of the Northern Cook Islands are subdivided into motu, instead.
Metrosideros collina is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is a tree or shrub native to French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, and the Pitcairn Islands.
The Samoan tropical moist forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Samoan Islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Ngamaru Rongotini Ariki was a sovereign of the Cook Islands. He was the ariki of the Ngamaru dynasty on the island of Atiu, one of the chiefdoms of Ngaputoru, which consisted of three adjoining islands —Atiu, Mitiaro, and Mauke. In the 1860s he married Makea Takau, a princess of Rarotonga. In 1871 Makea Takau became ariki of Rarotonga and queen regnant of the newly established Kingdom of Rarotonga, as a consequence making Ngamaru prince consort of the realm of the united Cook Islands.
Mauke is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is 277 km (172 mi) northeast of Rarotonga.
The New Britain–New Ireland montane rain forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in Papua New Guinea. The ecoregion includes the mountain rain forests on the islands of New Britain and New Ireland, which lie northeast of New Guinea.
The Fiji tropical moist forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in Fiji and Wallis and Futuna. It covers the windward sides of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, Fiji's largest islands, as well as the smaller Fijian islands and the three islands that make up Wallis and Futuna, an overseas territory of France. The drier leeward sides of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu are home to the distinct Fiji tropical dry forests ecoregion.
Pittosporum rarotongense is a species of shrub or small tree in the family Pittosporaceae. It is endemic to the Cook Islands, growing on the islands of Rarotonga, Mangaia, Mauke and Mitiaro. On Rarotonga, it grows inland in the island's temperate cloud forest habitat.
The Tubuai tropical moist forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in French Polynesia. It covers the Austral Islands.
The Society Islands tropical moist forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in the Society Islands of French Polynesia.
The Marquesas tropical moist forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia.
The Carolines tropical moist forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in Micronesia. It includes the central and eastern Caroline Islands in the Federated States of Micronesia.
There are fifteen Cook Islands, all being related to extinct volcanoes that have erupted in the volcanic hotspot highway of the south-central Pacific Ocean. Low islands include six of the more northern islands that are atolls, and four of the more southern being uplifted coral islands. Rarotonga, the largest island of the group is a mountainous volcanic island. Rock formations include late Pliocene to more recent volcanics, Oligocene and Miocene reefs and middle Tertiary limestone underlying atolls More recent emergence of the coral reefs is characterised in several cases consistent with sealevel fall at Mangaia, of at least 1.7 m in the last 3400 years. The northern Suwarrow Atoll rim has portions of reef dated to between 4680 and 4310 years B.P. and at the northeast of the atoll the three ridges are dated from the land out at 4220 years B.P., 3420 years B.P. and from 1250 years B.P. On Mitiaro the centre of the reef flat has regions dated 5140–3620 years B.P.
Pterophylla samoensis, formerly known as Weinmannia samoensis, is a species of plant in the family Cunoniaceae. It is a tree native to the Samoan Islands and to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
Ascarina diffusa is a species of flowering plant in the family Chloranthaceae. It is native to the tropical Pacific, ranging from the Bismarck Archipelago through the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Samoan Islands to the Cook Islands.
Cyclophyllum barbatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is a shrub or tree native to the South Pacific, including the Caroline Islands, Cook Islands, Fiji, Marquesas Islands, Pitcairn Islands, Samoan Islands, Society Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuamotu Archipelago, Tubuai Islands, and Vanuatu. It has been introduced to Hawaii.
