Lavishly illustrated with over 150 full color and black and white historical and contemporary photographs, artworks, and regional maps, Presenting New Zealand is a quintessential visual and informative account of how the country has developed in relative isolation into the independent nation that the rest of the world recognizes today. Starting with the huge rifts of prehistoric times that tore it apart from the mass of Gondwanaland, to the arrival of the first Polynesian canoes, to the exploration and subsequent settlement by Europeans and to the conflict engendered by the ensuing cross-cultural encounter, to the country's modern-day social, economic, and political achievements, Philip Temple's lively account explores the growth of this remarkable country.