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3 unusual facts about Cook Islands


William Marsters

A handful of his descendants continue to live on Palmerston Island, while the majority now live in Rarotonga, or elsewhere in the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Australia.

William Marsters (born Richard Masters) (6 November 1831 – 22 May 1899) was an English adventurer from Walcote, Leicestershire who settled on Palmerston Island in the Cook Islands on 8 July 1863, with his Polynesian wife and two Polynesian mistresses.

He first settled in Penrhyn, the most Northern of the Cook Islands.


1995 Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament

A crowd of 4,147 was present at Gigg Lane, Bury for the final between the Cook Islands and Ireland.

Athletics at the 1985 South Pacific Mini Games

Athletics competitions at the 1985 South Pacific Mini Games were held at the Tereora National Stadium in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, between August 1-9, 1985.

Athletics at the 2009 Pacific Mini Games

Athletics competitions at the 2009 Pacific Mini Games were held at the Bank of the Cook Islands National Stadium in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, between September 22-26, 2009.

Colonial Fiji

One memorable incident occurred in September 1917 when Count Felix von Luckner arrived at Wakaya Island, off the eastern coast of Viti Levu, after his raider, the Seeadler, had run aground in the Cook Islands following the shelling of Papeete in the French territory of Tahiti.

Cook Islands First Party

The party was originally a faction within the Cook Islands Democratic Party which supported Prime Minister Robert Woonton over Terepai Maoate.

Cyclone Martin

On October 27, 1997 the Fiji Meteorological Service's Regional Specialized Meteorological Center in Nadi, Fiji (RSMC Nadi) started to monitor a weak tropical disturbance that had developed to the north of the Northern Cook Islands.

Denise Eisenberg Rich

In April 2013, as part of the Offshore leaks tax evasion scandal, financial records were released that showed that Denise Rich in April 2006 had USD 144 million protected from scrutiny by the Cook Islands in the South Pacific in the form of a trust including a Learjet 60 and a a 157-foot yacht called the "Lady Joy".

Elizabeth Baker

After the end of the Great War, she took off with her husband to the Pacific Ocean, living in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands for two years.

Ella Nicholas

Ella Nicholas (born December 15, 1990 in Tauranga, New Zealand) is a Cook Islands slalom canoer.

Immigration to New Zealand

Especially strong resemblances link Māori to the languages and cultures of the Cook and Society Islands, which after the 2010 Otago University archaeological research of Wairau Bar, are regarded as the most likely places of origin.

Jean Gabilou

In 2001 and 2002 he was invited to Rarotonga, Cook Islands where he had also lived previously, to sing in front of 3500 people.

Live rock

As of August 4, 2008 CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) banned the collection of live rock from Tonga, the Marshall Islands, and the Cook Islands.

Meadow Argus

The Meadow Argus can be found mainly on the Australian mainland, as well as in Tasmania, Kangaroo Island, Lord Howe Island, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Tuvalu, Samoa and Cook Islands.

Mrs. Pacific Islands

Pacific Islands represents married women across the Pacific Island chain to include the Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, the Midway Islands, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands and Easter Island and is a part of the Mrs. United America Pageant.

Nathaniel Lepani

Nathaniel played for Papua New Guinea U-20 in the 2001 OFC U-20 Championship held in the Cook Islands and New Caledonia.

Netball in Tonga

In the 1990 Oceania Netball Tournament, Tonga competed along with countries like Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands.

Raymond Ruaporo

Raymond Ruaporo is a Cook Islander professional rugby league and rugby union footballer of the 2000s and '10s, playing representative level rugby league (RL) for Cook Islands, and at club level for Canberra Raiders, and playing club level rugby union (RU) for Tuggeranong Vikings.

Seafarers

Recent maternal mitochondrial DNA analysis suggests that Polynesian seafarers, including Tongans, Samoans, Niueans, Cook Islanders, Tahitians, Hawaiians, Marquesans and Māori, are genetically linked to indigenous peoples of parts of Southeast Asia, including those of Taiwan.

Tui Manuʻa Elisala

Legends suggest that the Tui Manu'a kings governed a confederacy of far-flung islands which included Fiji, the Cook Islands as well as smaller western Pacific chiefdoms and Polynesian outliers such as Uvea, Futuna, Tokelau, and Tuvalu.

Ulamila Kurai Wragg

Ulamila Kurai Wragg born 18 June 1968 is a Fijian journalist currently based in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.


see also

Araura

Aitutaki, an island in the Cook Islands for which Araura is a traditional name

Blackbirding

Probably near Pukapuka (Cook Islands), it met another slaver, the General Prim, which had left Callao in March.

CICC

Cook Islands Christian Church, the largest religious denomination in the Cook Islands

Cook Islands at the Olympics

The Cook Islands are the only one of the three dependent territories of New Zealand to compete at the Olympic Games, Niue and Tokelau having not yet done so to date.

Dorice Reid

In April 2011, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tom Marsters announced Reid's appointment as High Commissioner of the Cook Islands to New Zealand, based in Wellington.

Driver's license

Cook Islands driving licences are issued at police headquarters on Rarotonga, on production of a valid licence from the visitor's home country.

Frederick Tutu Goodwin

Goodwin's sister-in-law is MP and Deputy Speaker of the Cook Islands Parliament Cassey Eggelton.

Jeremiah Pai

In 2006 Pai represented the New Zealand Māori side in a three match series against the Cook Islands.

Pa Upoko Takau Ariki

The following address of welcome was given by Pa Upoko Takau Ariki (Queen Pa) to Lord Glasgow, the Governor of New Zealand, and his family who visited the Cook Islands in 1894.

The Girl Guides Cook Islands Association

Guiding began in the Cook Islands in 1928, when the first Guide company began in the capital, Avarua on Rarotonga, and the islands were regarded as a province of the Girl Guide Association of New Zealand.