The

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

can be divided into two groups: the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands. The country is located in

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of and a population of around 44.5 million ...

, in the South

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

, about one-half of the way from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. From March to December, the Cook Islands are in the path of tropical cyclones, the most notable of which were the cyclones Martin and

Percy The English surname Percy is of Norman origin, coming from Normandy to England, United Kingdom. It was from the House of Percy, Norman lords of Northumberland, derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy. From there, it came into use ...

. Two

terrestrial ecoregions An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

lie within the islands' territory: the Central Polynesian tropical moist forests and the Cook Islands tropical moist forests.

Islands and reefs

Southern Cook Islands

* Aitutaki *

Atiu Atiu, also known as Enuamanu (meaning ''land of the birds''), is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is northeast of Rarotonga. The island's population has dropped b ...

Mangaia Mangaia (traditionally known as A'ua'u Enua, which means ''terraced'') is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga. It is a roughly circular island, with an area of , from Rarotonga. Originally heavily popul ...

* Manuae *

Mauke Mauke (Ma'uke also Akatokamanava) is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is northeast of Rarotonga. Geography Mauke is a raised coral atoll, with a central volcani ...

Mitiaro Mitiaro, the fourth island in the Cook Islands group, is of volcanic origin. Standing in water deep it is across at its widest point. Geography Mitiaro, also known as Nukuroa, is part of the Nga-Pu-Toru island group formerly, a volcano that bec ...

Palmerston Island Palmerston Island is a coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean about northwest of Rarotonga. James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartogr ...

* Rarotonga (capital) *

Takutea Takutea is a small uninhabited island in the Cook Islands, north-west of Atiu. Administratively, the island is considered part of Atiu, the closest island. It is owned equally by all inhabitants of Atiu and not allocated to one specific village ...

Northern Cook Islands The Northern Cook Islands is one of the two chains of atolls which make up the Cook Islands. Lying in a horizontal band between 9° and 13°30' south of the Equator, the chain consists of the atolls of Manihiki, Nassau, Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Rakah ...

Manihiki 250px, Map of Manihiki Atoll Manihiki is an atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands known informally as the "Island of Pearls". It is located in the Northern Cook Island chain, approximately north of the capital island of Rarotonga, ma ...

* Nassau * Penrhyn atoll *

Pukapuka Pukapuka, formerly Danger Island, is a coral atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of most remote islands of the Cook Islands, situated about northwest of Rarotonga. On this small island, an ancient ...

Rakahanga Rakahanga is part of the Cook Islands, situated in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. The unspoilt atoll is from the Cook Islands' capital, Rarotonga, and lies south of the equator. Its nearest neighbour is Manihiki which is just away. Raka ...

Suwarrow 200px, Map of Cook Islands with Suwarrow near the middle Suwarrow (also called Suvorov, Suvarou, or Suvarov) is an island in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. It is about south of the equator and north-northwe ...

Table

Note: The table is ordered from north to south. Population figures from the 2016 census.

Statistics

; Area: :* Total: :* Land: 236 km² :* Water: 0 km² ; Area - comparative: : 1.3 times the size of Washington, DC ; Coastline: : ; Maritime claims: :* Territorial sea: :* Continental shelf: or to the edge of the

continental margin A continental margin is the outer edge of continental crust abutting oceanic crust under coastal waters. It is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margi ...

:* Exclusive economic zone: ; Climate: : Tropical; moderated by trade winds; a dry season from April to November and a more humid season from December to March ; Terrain: : Low coral atolls in north; volcanic, hilly islands in south ; Elevation extremes: :* Lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m :* Highest point:

Te Manga Te Manga, on Rarotonga, is the highest point of the Cook Islands, a self-governing parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It co ...

; Natural resources: : coconuts ; Land use: :* Arable land: 4.17% :* Permanent crops: 4.17% :* Other: 91.67% (2012 est.) : ; Natural hazards: : Typhoons (November to March) ; Environment - international agreements :* Party to:

Biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection

References

External links

Maritime Boundaries
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