Unity stood at the top of a steep green hill and looked out across the water. In every direction there was something different — a smoking volcano to the south, a golden beach curving around a bay to the east, and thick dark bush climbing up the hillsides all around.

"This," she said quietly, "is Aotearoa."

New Zealand sits in the South Pacific Ocean, thousands of kilometres from most other countries. We are one of the most remote nations on Earth — and one of the most extraordinary. Our country is made up of two main islands: Te Ika-a-Māui, the North Island, and Te Waipounamu, the South Island. Together with hundreds of smaller islands, they form a long, narrow country that stretches across more than 1,600 kilometres from top to bottom.

Our land was shaped by enormous forces. Volcanoes built our mountains. Earthquakes carved our valleys. Glaciers gouged out our fiords. That is why New Zealand has so many different landscapes crammed into such a small place — geothermal pools bubbling with steam, ancient rainforests, snowy peaks, wild rivers, and coastlines that seem to go on forever.

The name Aotearoa comes from te reo Māori and is often translated as Land of the Long White Cloud. Polynesian navigators found these islands roughly 700 years ago, guided by stars, waves, and the winds of the Pacific. They were the first people to call this place home. Today, around five million of us do — and there is no place quite like it on Earth.