What's the story with Te Ara?
‘Te ara’ means ‘the pathway’. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (www.TeAra.govt.nz) offers many pathways to understanding New Zealand.
In the first theme, ‘New Zealanders’ launched in February 2005, you’ll discover:
- Stories about immigrant groups to New Zealand: not only the large population groups such as the English, Scots and Irish, but also smaller groups from the Africans to the Welsh.
- Stories about the individual iwi of New Zealand from Ngā Puhi in the north to Ngāi Tahu in the south.
In the second theme, ‘Earth, Sea and Sky’, launched in June 2006, you’ll discover:
- Stories about natural hazards and disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
- Stories about seabirds like albatrosses and penguins and about the creatures which live beneath the waves from whales to blobfish.
- Stories about the climate and atmosphere.
In the third theme, ‘The Bush’ launched in September 2007, you’ll discover:
- Stories about native plants and fungi from kauri trees to liverworts.
- Stories about native insects including the strange peripatus.
- Stories about people’s enjoyment of wild New Zealand: caving, tramping and canoeing.
In the ‘Places’ theme which will eventually cover 22 regions, you will already discover:
- Stories about the big smoke, Auckland, and also about more rural areas of New Zealand like South Canterbury and the Wairarapa.
There are stories about almost everything in the country in the New Zealand in Brief section.
Stories from an earlier age with the complete three-volume 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand in an online and searchable format.