Cook IslandsKūki ʻĀirani

Polynesians from the Society Islands settled the southern Cooks about a thousand years ago, and the northern atolls drew people from Samoa and elsewhere. Rarotongan tradition names the chiefs Tangi'ia from Tahiti and Karika from Samoa as founders, and the islands sat on the voyaging routes that led on to Aotearoa. The inland road on Rarotonga, the Ara Metua, is said to date from the 11th century.

Spanish sailors sighted Pukapuka in 1595, and James Cook passed several southern islands in the 1770s, though he never saw Rarotonga. A Russian cartographer later named the group after him. The Bounty mutineers may have called at Rarotonga in 1789; it was only in 1823 that the missionary John Williams and the Tahitian convert Papeiha brought Christianity to the island, after Papeiha had landed on Aitutaki two years earlier.

The London Missionary Society reshaped island life within a generation: villages moved to the coast around coral-lime churches, and a code of laws banned tattooing, dancing and kava. Diseases cut the population sharply. In 1888, worried about French expansion from Tahiti, the chiefs accepted a British protectorate, and in 1901 the islands were annexed to New Zealand.

New Zealand rule brought schools, a hospital, and from the 1950s migration to NZ factories. In 1965 the Cook Islands became self-governing in free association with New Zealand, with Albert Henry as first premier; he was removed in 1978 after a court found that his party had flown in voters with public money. The opening of Rarotonga's international airport in 1973 began the tourist economy.

Each island is divided among traditional chiefs. The highest are the ariki, of whom Rarotonga has six, supported by lesser titleholders (mataiapo and rangatira). The House of Ariki advises parliament on custom and land, and the Koutu Nui gathers the lesser chiefs. Titles pass within families but are decided by consensus, and disputes over them can last years.

Land is the heart of it. Customary land cannot be sold, only leased, usually for up to 60 years, and every Cook Islander with a family link has rights in it. That is why resorts sit on leased land, why many plots stay empty while owners live in Auckland, and why a beach that looks public may belong to a family.

The ra'ui, a traditional ban on taking fish and shellfish from a stretch of lagoon, is declared by chiefs to let stocks recover. It has been revived on Rarotonga and Aitutaki since the 1990s and is marked by signs; visitors should respect it as they would a marine reserve.

Family ties run through every part of life. Big events such as a hair-cutting ceremony for a boy, a wedding or a funeral draw relatives from New Zealand and Australia, and gifts of food, money and tivaevae quilts are exchanged and remembered.

The Cook Islands Christian Church, heir to the missionaries, has a white coral-lime church in every village, many built in the 1840s and 1850s. Sunday services at 10:00 are the high point of the week, with women in white dresses and woven hats and men in suits, and 'imene tuki, the rhythmic, grunting harmonies that blend Polynesian chant with hymns.

Visitors are welcome if they dress neatly and stay for the whole service; seats in the side or back pews are best. Afterwards there is often morning tea or lunch, and saying yes is the polite answer.

The church keeps Sunday special. Most businesses close, and swimming or loud activity near a church in service time offends. On some outer islands, fishing and even working in gardens stop for the day.

Dance survived the missionary era and today is a matter of national pride. Cook Islands drumming, fast and complex, is often called the best in the Pacific, and the hip movements of women and knee-flapping of men are judged with care at Te Maeva Nui.

The umu is an earth oven. Stones are heated with firewood in a pit, then pork, chicken, fish, taro, kumara and breadfruit wrapped in banana leaves are laid on top, covered with leaves and sacks and left for hours. The meal it makes, umukai, is the centre of Sunday lunches, weddings and island nights.

Ika mata, raw fish cured in lime and mixed with coconut cream, is the everyday dish. Rukau (taro leaves in coconut), poke (a pudding of fruit and arrowroot) and mitiore (fermented coconut) complete the table. Imported New Zealand food fills supermarkets, and diet-related diseases are high.

When missionaries banned kava, Atiu found a substitute. The tumunu was a hollowed coconut-palm stump used for brewing orange beer, and the name passed to the drinking clubs that meet in the bush. A barman pours, drinkers take turns, and someone says a prayer; visitors welcome with a small contribution.

Saturday morning at Punanga Nui market in Avarua is where food and social life meet: ika mata, coconut buns, sweet potato, fresh fish and live music.

About 15,000 people live in the Cook Islands, but more than 80,000 Cook Islanders live in New Zealand and many in Australia. Free movement with NZ is a safety valve and a drain: nurses, teachers and young families leave, and many resort workers are now from Fiji and the Philippines.

Free association means the Cook Islands run their own affairs but share citizenship, and NZ helps with defence and budget support. In early 2025 Prime Minister Mark Brown signed a partnership with China without consulting Wellington, which then paused aid money. A proposed Cook Islands passport was dropped. The row raised questions about how the two countries should consult (check the current state).

The ocean is the real territory: an exclusive economic zone of about 2 million km², all declared the Marae Moana marine park in 2017. Parts of the seabed hold manganese nodules rich in cobalt, and the government has licensed exploration while campaigners warn against mining. How that choice is made will shape the islands' future.

Climate change threatens the northern atolls most, and tourism depends on a handful of flights from Auckland, Sydney and Los Angeles. Still, the islands remain one of the easiest places in the Pacific to visit.