* Ranked #1 most peaceful nation — Global Peace Index (multiple years)
The East Cape of New Zealand is one of the first places on Earth to greet each new day when the sun rises over the Pacific Ocean.
New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world to grant women the right to vote, in 1893 — 27 years before the United States.
For every human in New Zealand, there are roughly six sheep. At peak in the 1980s there were over 70 million sheep for just 3 million people.
Sir Edmund Hillary — a beekeeper from Auckland — was the first person to summit Mount Everest, on 29 May 1953, alongside Tenzing Norgay.
Peter Jackson filmed all six Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies in New Zealand, putting Matamata, Queenstown, and Wellington on every film fan's bucket list.
Signed in 1840 between the British Crown and over 500 Māori chiefs, Te Tiriti o Waitangi is New Zealand's founding constitutional document.
I can't believe Nelsonians get to wake up in this amazing paradise every morning.
New Zealand is the most English country I have seen outside England itself � and more beautiful than England.
New Zealand is a fairy land � beautiful beyond anything I had been led to expect. The government should lock it up and charge admission.
There's a real purity in New Zealand... It's actually not an easy thing to find in our world any more.
New Zealand is the most achingly beautiful place I have ever seen. Every valley, every mountain � it is almost unbearably lovely.
New Zealand feels like you took all the best bits of Canada and squished them onto a tiny island.
Because NZ was isolated for 80 million years, around 80% of its bird species are found nowhere else on Earth — including the kiwi, kākāpō, and tūī.
The tuatara is a living reptile whose lineage dates back 250 million years — older than the dinosaurs. It is found only in New Zealand.
Deep underground in the Waikato, thousands of tiny glowworms (Arachnocampa luminosa) — a species found nowhere else on Earth — coat the cave ceiling like a living night sky.
The Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve (2012) was the first in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the largest on Earth — the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye.
Rotorua sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Its geysers, boiling mud pools, and natural hot springs are powered by one of the most active geothermal systems in the world.
The wētā is one of the world's largest insects, weighing up to 71 grams — heavier than a sparrow. Some species are heavier than a mouse.
New Zealand's rugby team is the most successful national sports team in history by win percentage — over 77% — and gave the world the iconic haka war dance before each match.
Originally called "Chinese gooseberry," the fruit was renamed kiwifruit by New Zealand exporters in 1959 to honour the national bird and help export sales.
Both New Zealand and Australia claim to have invented the pavlova meringue dessert. New Zealanders assert it was created in 1926 in Wellington — the debate rages on.
Richard Pearse, a South Canterbury farmer and inventor, may have flown a powered aircraft in March 1903 — months before the Wright Brothers, though the exact date is disputed.
New Zealand recognises English, Māori (te reo Māori), and New Zealand Sign Language as official languages — one of only a handful of countries to include a sign language officially.
A tiny nation of 5 million has produced Lorde, Crowded House, OMC ("How Bizarre"), and Fat Freddy's Drop — all internationally acclaimed artists.
Beekeeper & mountaineer. First person to summit Everest (1953). His face appeared on the NZ $5 note.
Father of nuclear physics. Split the atom and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908. Born in Brightwater, Nelson.
Ella Yelich-O'Connor became a global pop icon at 16 with "Royals." Born in Takapuna, Auckland in 1996.
Director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Started making horror films in Wellington as a teenager with a Super-8 camera.
Oscar-winning writer-director of Jojo Rabbit and director of Thor: Ragnarok. Born in Wellington to a Māori father.
Four-time World Champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist in shot put. One of NZ's greatest ever athletes.
Pioneering modernist short story writer, born in Wellington in 1888. A major influence on 20th-century literature.
Peter Beck founded Rocket Lab in Auckland. Their Electron rocket launched from Māhia Peninsula, making NZ only the 4th country with orbital launch capability.
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