New Zealand it operates the Scott Base research facility. New Zealand nationality law treats all parts of the realm equally, so most people born in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau and the Ross Dependency are New Zealand citizens. New Zealand is located near the centre of the water hemisphere and is made up of two main islands and a number of smaller islands. The two main islands (the North Island, or "Te Ika-a-Māui", and the South Island, or "Te Waipounamu") are separated by Cook Strait, wide at its narrowest point. Besides the North and South Islands, the five largest inhabited
Palk Strait Palk Strait The Palk Strait (, Sinhala: පෝක් සමුද්‍ර සන්ධිය "Pok Samudra Sandhiya") is a strait between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Mannar district of the Northern Province of the island nation of Sri Lanka. It connects the Bay of Bengal in the northeast with Palk Bay in the southwest. The strait is wide. Several rivers flow into it, including the Vaigai River of Tamil Nadu. The strait is named after Robert Palk, who was a governor of Madras (1755–1763) during the Company Raj period. Palk Bay is studded at its southern end with a chain of