I'm a kiwi who has lived in North America for over a decade. It's astounding to me how many people I've met have no idea where New Zealand is or believe it is near Scandinavia or Iceland - I'm not sure that issue is due to NZ missing from a map occasionally though! Likewise with the number of people who believe New Zealand is really part of Australia.
Its readily taught in the US that NZ is apart of the Australian continent and not Zealandia. We are taught 7 continents thus NZ is closest to Australia so we go with that, no need for specifics...
I guess this is a domain specific issue? Right here in Australia, I know that Tasmanians are regularly upset at being left off even localised maps of Australia. I am sure other countries have small islands or principalities who get left off due to time/scale/space constraints.
I also recall that when growing up in Malaysia, our school books always had maps of the world with Malaysia itself being at the center of the page, and usually scaled up to be proportionally far bigger that it really is in comparison to its neighbouring countries?
Maybe that is is though - perhaps the Lamberts conformal orthogonic projection will make the very southern latitude New Zealand look almost as big as Australia and other powerful countries? Can't have that for a "mostly harmless" country - one of the few countries in the world with NO Navy or Air Force... ;) (For the record, I have visited, and LOVE NZ).
EDIT: Apologies to NZ HNers about the 'no navy or air force' comment - it appears I was misinformed by the former NZAF pilot I met at a bar in Auckland on one of my trips there. :)
At the movie theater before films. And those commercials—even as an avowed peacenik—always made us chuckle as both my wife and I remembered the over-the-top US military recruitment ads. By comparison the NZ navy’s ads felt downright quaint.
We lived in Devonport for some time, and so were pretty accustomed to seeing at least one or two naval ships whenever we took the ferry into downtown Auckland, which was all the time because jobs, friends, and stuff to do were all in town.
We have both an an air force and a navy. But given the high cost of maintaining fighters/strike aircraft, it's not a very potent air force in a fight - but it's a very potent air force when it comes to humanitarian assistance and monitoring our EEZ.
In addition to its current small but capable armed forces, New Zealand has a storied military history-- in World War II the nation suffered twice as many casualties as the United States, as a percentage of population.
In addition to that, New Zealanders are remarkably familiar with statistics, as the country tends to only ever measure its achievements on a per capita basis.
yep. the 'mainland' in NZ refers to a chunk of the Sth Island - from back in the day when english migrants were busy recreating the english aristocracy.
He's out in-joke-ing me. West Island is a derogatory reference to Australia, implying it's just a minor territory of NZ (north and south island being 'mainland').
But, 'mainland' is often used by South Island NZers to suggest that the north island (by far the most populous) is nothing more than a secondary 'non-main' island.
> Most world maps use the Mercator projection. This 16th-century projection leaves New Zealand in the bottom right-hand corner of the world, and places Europe in the center.
It's amazing how one, admittedly enormous, place in pop-culture history can define an entire country in the mind's of a majority of the first world's population. I imagine you feel the same way as people from Alabama and/or the Louisiana coast feel about Forrest Gump references.
Bad news mate, much like we claim anyone famous from NZ, we also claim the entire land mass:
Australian constitution, premable [corrected]:
"The States shall mean such of the colonies of New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia, including the northern territory of South Australia [...] and each of such parts of the Commonwealth shall be called a State."
Apparently those words mean NZ is "pre-approved" to join the Commonwealth of Australia and she can unilaterally join at a time of her choosing [1]. If true, it would make for an interesting scenario if acted upon.
Hah, yeah I wasn't really suggesting it. Just one of those quirks. I am no lawyer but I suspect we couldn't write up some paperwork to claim a country without them agreeing to it anyway.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 67.1 ms ] threadhttps://mashable.com/2018/05/01/get-new-zealand-on-the-map/
http://worldmapswithout.nz
[1] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/103196185/new-zealands-moos... [2] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/104071821/there-are-signs-m...
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practi...
I also recall that when growing up in Malaysia, our school books always had maps of the world with Malaysia itself being at the center of the page, and usually scaled up to be proportionally far bigger that it really is in comparison to its neighbouring countries?
Maybe that is is though - perhaps the Lamberts conformal orthogonic projection will make the very southern latitude New Zealand look almost as big as Australia and other powerful countries? Can't have that for a "mostly harmless" country - one of the few countries in the world with NO Navy or Air Force... ;) (For the record, I have visited, and LOVE NZ).
EDIT: Apologies to NZ HNers about the 'no navy or air force' comment - it appears I was misinformed by the former NZAF pilot I met at a bar in Auckland on one of my trips there. :)
New Zealand has a navy [1]! Back when I lived in Wellington they ran recruiting commercials non-stop.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_New_Zealand_Navy
We lived in Devonport for some time, and so were pretty accustomed to seeing at least one or two naval ships whenever we took the ferry into downtown Auckland, which was all the time because jobs, friends, and stuff to do were all in town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xUYbI64QHI
albeit tongue in cheek!
(Potentially where the no army/navy/air force myth came from?)
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/352785/rnzaf-orion-j...
But, 'mainland' is often used by South Island NZers to suggest that the north island (by far the most populous) is nothing more than a secondary 'non-main' island.
Semi-relevant: https://xkcd.com/977/
Also related: https://xkcd.com/1500/ https://xkcd.com/1784/ https://xkcd.com/1799/
That's not intrinsic to a Mercator projection...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_We_Do_in_the_Shadows
Australian constitution, premable [corrected]:
"The States shall mean such of the colonies of New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia, including the northern territory of South Australia [...] and each of such parts of the Commonwealth shall be called a State."
[1] http://www.diskiller.net/nzstatehood/
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The words are actually in section 6 (definitions) of the preamble, not section 6 in the main body of the constitution.