Culture of the Cook Islands Culture of the Cook Islands The culture of the Cook Islands reflects the traditions of its fifteen islands as a Polynesian island country, spread over in the South Pacific Ocean. It is in free association with New Zealand. Its traditions are based on the influences of those who settled the islands over several centuries. Polynesian people from Tahiti settled in the Cook Islands in the 6th century. The Portuguese captain, Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, made the first recorded European landing in the islands in the early 17th century, and well over a hundred years later, in the 18th century, the
The Girl Guides Cook Islands Association The Girl Guides Cook Islands Association The Girl Guides Cook Islands Association is the national Guiding organization of the Cook Islands. It served 1,111 members (as of 2003). Founded in 1928, the girls-only organization became an associate member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in 1993 and a full member in 2014. Guiding began in the Cook Islands in 1928, when the first Guide company began in the capital, Avarua on Rarotonga, and the islands were regarded as a province of the Girl Guide Association of New Zealand. Ranger patrols were first set up in 1935