The Cook Islands are a self-governing island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15 islands whose total land area is 240 square kilometres (93 sq mi). The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,960,027 square kilometres (756,771 sq mi) of ocean.
The Cook Islands are named after Captain James Cook, who visited the islands in 1773 and 1777, although Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendaña was the first European to reach the islands in 1595. The Cook Islands became a British protectorate in 1888.
This article lists transport in the Cook Islands.
Aitutaki, also traditionally known as Araʻura and Utataki, is the second most-populated island in the Cook Islands, after Rarotonga. It is an "almost atoll", with fifteen islets in a lagoon adjacent to the main island. Total land area is 18.05 km2 (6.97 sq mi), and the lagoon has an area of between 50 and 74 km2. A major tourist destination, Aitutaki is the second most visited island of the Cook Islands.
Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands, with a population of 10,649, out of the country's total resident population of 17,434. Captain John Dibbs, master of the colonial brig Endeavour, is credited as the European discoverer on 25 July 1823, while transporting the missionary Reverend John Williams.
Avarua is a town and district in the north of the island of Rarotonga, and is the national capital of the Cook Islands.
Manihiki is an atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands known informally as the "Island of Pearls". It is approximately 1,299 kilometres (807 mi) north of the capital island of Rarotonga, making it one of the most remote inhabitations in the Pacific Ocean. Its name has two possible meanings: It's believed that the original name of the island was Manuhiki, inspired by the aboriginal discovers Manu coming from the word Rua Manu and Hiki meaning ashore, so the literal translation would be canoe carried ashore. The second interpretation is that the original discoverers were from Manihi, an island in Tuamotus, so the name of the island would mean Little Manihi.
Survivor: Cook Islands is the thirteenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed from June 26, 2006, through August 3, 2006, and premiered on September 14, 2006.
Habenaria, commonly called rein orchids or bog orchids, is a widely distributed genus of orchids in the tribe Orchideae. About 880 species of Habenaria have been formally described. They are native to every continent except Antarctica, growing in both tropical and subtropical zones.
The Rarotonga monarch, also known as the Rarotonga flycatcher or kakerori, is a species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae. It is endemic to the Cook Islands.
The Kingdom of Rarotonga, named after the island of Rarotonga, was an independent kingdom established in the present-day Cook Islands in 1858. In 1888 it became a protectorate of the United Kingdom by its own request. In 1893 the name was changed to the Cook Islands Federation.
Habenaria dentata is a species of orchid native to the Himalaya, China, India, Indochina, Thailand and Myanmar. It is also found at Phalee. The whole plant is about 35 to 80 cm in height. It has a smooth round tuber that give rise to a single plant. Lower part of stem sheathed, middle leafy and upper part bracteate. Leaves 4 to 6 cm long, oblong to elliptic, 5 nerved, sometimes 7 also, the base of the leaf narrowed into a long tubular sheath. Spike 4 to 8 cm long, laxly flowered. Sepals sub-equal, broadly ovate, acute, spreading, the lateral pair sub-erect. Petals narrowly oblong, sub-acute, curved inwards, shorter than the sepals. Lip as long as the sepals, variable in breadth, with large cuneate or rounded, fimbriate or crenate side lobes and a small oblong entire apical lobe. Spur infundibuliform at the base, slender laterally compressed, geniculte, sub-clavate below the knee, longer than the shortly stalked beaked ovary. Stigmas separated by the area in the centre by the orifice of the spur. It generally blooms in August- September.
The Miss Cook Islands is the national beauty pageant in the Cook Islands in under Miss Cook Islands Association (MCIA). The current reigning titleholder is Tajiya Sahay who was crowned in October 2019.
Habenaria roxburghii, commonly known as Roxburgh's habenaria, malle leena gadda and as chekku dumpa in Telegu, is a species of orchid found in southern India. It is a tuberous terrestrial herb, 250–350 mm (10–10 in) tall. There are two or three more or less round leaves, about 70 mm (3 in) long and 50 mm (2 in) wide lying flat on the ground. The flowers pure white are arranged in long, dense cluster up to 80 mm (3 in) long. The sepals are broad egg-shaped, about 8 mm (0.3 in) long and the labellum has three lobes. The middle lobe is 8 mm (0.3 in) long and the side lobes are small. The species is usually found in shady places in the undergrowth of forests and is found in the Eastern Ghats.
Habenaria macraithii, commonly known as the whiskered rein orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to a small area in far north Queensland. It has up to eleven scattered leaves and up to twenty five relatively large green flowers with thread-like petal lobes.
The Cook Islands Progressive Association (CIPA) was the first indigenous political organisation in the Cook Islands. Initially focused on economic advancement for the islands, it came to advocate for greater self-rule. It was an ancestor of the Cook Islands Party.
Homalium acuminatum, the Cook Islands homalium, is a species of tree in the willow family, Salicaceae. It is endemic to the Cook Islands, growing on the islands of Rarotonga, where it is known as mato, and Mangaia, where it is known as moto. It grows to a height of up to 20 m (66 ft). On Rarotonga it dominates steep mountain slopes. The IUCN Red List calls it the Rarotonga homalium and considers it endemic to Rarotonga, though the Cook Islands Biodiversity Database lists it as also present, but "uncommon" on Mangaia.
Myrsine cheesemanii, known as the Cook Islands myrsine or ka‘ika makatea, is a species of shrub within the family Myrsinaceae. It is endemic to the Cook Islands, growing on the islands of Rarotonga, Mangaia, Mauke and Mitiaro.
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.
