Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
Voyagers from Samoa first settled on Niue around A.D. 900, and a second main group of settlers came from Tonga around 1500. With only one reliable source of fresh water, conflict was high on the island. Samoan and Tongan customs heavily influenced Niuean culture, including the formation of an island-wide elected kingship system in the early 1700s. In 1774, British explorer James COOK landed on the island and named it Savage Island because of the Niueans' hostility.
- Capital
- Alofi
- Government
- parliamentary democracy
- Population
- 1,815
- Area
- 260 sq km
- Location
- Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Tonga
- Climate
- tropical; modified by southeast trade winds
- Natural resources
- arable land; fish
- Languages
- Niuean 46% (official; a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan); Niuean and English 32%; English (official) 11%…
- Religions
- Ekalesia Niue 61.7%; Latter Day Saints 8.7%; Roman Catholic 8.4%; other 8.2%…
- Independence
- 19 October 1974 (Niue became a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand)
- Administrative divisions
- no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the US government, but 14 villages are considered second-order
- Currency
- New Zealand dollars (NZD)
- Export partners
- USA 54%; Germany 8%; Canada 5%; UK 5%…
- Import partners
- NZ 87%; Fiji 6%; UAE 2%; Slovakia 1%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain