Host Community Information
Coveted Pacific Paradise: The early inhabitants of the Cook Islands were fine Pacific seafarers in search of new lands to escape the over-populated Polynesian Islands. It was the French Polynesians who first arrived on Rarotonga around 800 AD. The northern islands were probably settled by expeditions from Samoa and Tonga around the same time.
Cook Islanders are convinced that the great Maori migrations to New Zealand began from Rarotonga - possibly as early as the fifth century. The most favored location for the starting point was Ngatangiia on the eastern side of Rarotonga at a gap in the fringing reef where the island's lagoon is the widest.
After a period of being claimed alternately by the French and British, the Cook Islands were formally annexed by New Zealand on October 7, 1900. In the early 1960s, New Zealand gave the Cook Islands self-rule. The islands became self-governing in association with New Zealand. This "special relationship" is recognized by New Zealand in the form of annual aid and by the automatic right Cook Islanders have to New Zealand citizenship. It is governed by a Parliament of 24 elected representatives including one who represents Cook Islanders living in New Zealand and Australia, as well as a House of Ariki or hereditary chiefs who provide consultation and advice.
