Cook Islands

The Cook Islands, fifteen islands scattered over a wide stretch of the South Pacific between Tonga and French Polynesia, govern themselves in free association with New Zealand, whose passport their people carry. Rarotonga is a jagged volcanic peak circled by a reef and a coast road; Aitutaki’s turquoise lagoon is dotted with sandy motu; and Atiu and Mangaia are ringed by makatea, old coral raised into sharp, cave-riddled limestone. The northern islands, among them Rakahanga and Suwarrow, are low atolls.

Polynesian voyagers settled the islands around a thousand years ago, and Rarotongan tradition holds that canoes left Ngatangiia to settle Aotearoa, New Zealand. Mendaña’s expedition sighted Pukapuka in 1595, and James Cook charted several islands in the 1770s without seeing Rarotonga; his name was later given to the group. Papeiha, a teacher from the Society Islands, landed on Aitutaki in 1821 and the islands soon turned Christian. Britain proclaimed a protectorate in 1888, New Zealand annexed them in 1901, and self-government began in August 1965.

Sunday belongs to the church, where congregations sing imene tuki, hymns punctuated by rhythmic grunts, and women stitch tivaevae, appliqué quilts sewn in groups and given at weddings, birthdays and funerals. Log drums set the pace at Te Maeva Nui, the August festival marking the constitution. Ika mata, raw fish in lime and coconut cream, is the island dish. Tourism earns the bulk of the income, followed by black pearls from Manihiki and Penrhyn, offshore finance and fishing licences.