New Zealand Culture, Economy and Society

Economic History, Primary Industries, Trade and Innovation

58 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 58 questions

  1. Which animal gives the name 'Kiwi' to New Zealanders in everyday speech?
  2. Which product is the largest agricultural export of New Zealand?
  3. Which fruit, once sold as Chinese gooseberry, was renamed after the national bird and became a major export?
  4. Which region produces most of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc wine?
  5. Which tree is grown in huge plantation forests in the central North Island for timber?
  6. Which physicist, born near Nelson in 1871, is known as the father of nuclear physics?
  7. Which Nobel Prize did Ernest Rutherford win in 1908?
  8. Which New Zealand-born scientist shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for conductive polymers?
  9. Which New Zealand-born scientist shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the structure of DNA?
  10. Who, with Tenzing Norgay, first reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1953?
  11. Which sport did A. J. Hackett turn into a commercial business at the Kawarau Bridge near Queenstown in 1988?
  12. Which New Zealander developed the modern jet boat, suited to shallow rivers, in the 1950s?
  13. Which New Zealand inventor is known for the Indian motorcycle record at Bonneville?
  14. Which qualification do most New Zealand secondary students work towards?
  15. Between which ages is school attendance compulsory in New Zealand?
  16. Which university, founded in Dunedin in 1869, is the oldest in New Zealand?
  17. On which side of the road does traffic keep in New Zealand?
  18. What is New Zealand's international telephone dialling code?
  19. Which two time zone offsets from UTC does New Zealand use in standard and daylight time?
  20. Which shellfish, called paua in Maori, has an iridescent shell used in jewellery?
  21. Which type of Maori carving decorates meeting houses, canoes and gateways?
  22. Which industry earns New Zealand large sums from visitors drawn to its mountains, fiords and cities?
  23. Which city is nicknamed the City of Sails because of its harbours and yachts?
  24. The Maori term iwi refers to which group in Maori society?
  25. The Maori term whanau refers to which group?
  26. What historic voyage in 1882 revolutionized New Zealand's agrarian export economy?
  27. What was the economic impact of the 1950-1951 'wool boom' driven by the Korean War on New Zealand?
  28. What major dairy cooperative was formed in 2001, processing over 90% of New Zealand's milk collection?
  29. Where is New Zealand's only primary aluminum smelter located, operating since 1971?
  30. What was the collective name for the major state-led industrial energy projects launched in the early 1980s by Robert Muldoon?
  31. What major bilateral free trade agreement was signed between New Zealand and Australia in March 1983?
  32. On which date did the New Zealand government float the New Zealand Dollar, ending fixed exchange rates?
  33. What major consumption tax was introduced in New Zealand on 1 October 1986 under Finance Minister Roger Douglas?
  34. What shallow-water marine propulsion innovation was developed by Sir William Hamilton in Canterbury in 1954?
  35. What three ubiquitous medical and veterinary inventions were created by New Zealand inventor Colin Murdoch?
  36. What revolutionary motorcycle did mechanical engineer John Britten design and build in Christchurch in the early 1990s?
  37. What agricultural boundary device was pioneered in the 1930s by Bill Gallagher in the Waikato?
  38. What innovative home appliance was pioneered by Fisher & Paykel in New Zealand in 1997?
  39. Where is the commercial orbital launch complex of aerospace company Rocket Lab located in New Zealand?
  40. What cloud-based accounting software company was founded by Rod Drury in Wellington in 2006?
  41. What Wellington visual effects and prop company won five Academy Awards for The Lord of the Rings trilogy?
  42. What voluntary workplace retirement savings scheme was introduced in New Zealand on 1 July 2007?
  43. What is the name of the main stock exchange operating in New Zealand, headquartered in Wellington?
  44. What global destination marketing slogan was launched by Tourism New Zealand in 1999 to promote overseas visitors?
  45. Which New Zealand port is the country's largest maritime port by export cargo tonnage?
  46. What unique antibacterial property makes New Zealand manuka honey prized worldwide and graded under the UMF system?
  47. Which distinctive green-lipped shellfish (Perna canaliculus) is native to New Zealand and farmed extensively in the Marlborough Sounds?
  48. What type of coarse wool constitutes the bulk of New Zealand's wool production and is used primarily for carpets?
  49. What unique agricultural industry did New Zealand pioneer on a commercial pastoral scale in the 1970s?
  50. What successful commercial apple variety was developed in Havelock North, New Zealand, by crossing Royal Gala and Braeburn in 1985?
  51. What historic free trade agreement signed in Beijing in April 2008 made New Zealand the first developed nation to complete such a deal?
  52. What telecommunications regulatory reform occurred in New Zealand in 2011 to build the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) fibre network?
  53. What major food company based in Hastings was founded in 1934 by Sir James Wattie to can local surplus fruit and vegetables?
  54. What family-owned confectioner established in Porirua in 1896 is celebrated as New Zealand's favorite chocolate maker?
  55. What retail store chain founded in Auckland in 1982 by Sir Stephen Tindall pioneered big-box discount department shopping?
  56. What is the oldest commercial bank in continuous operation in New Zealand, founded in 1861?
  57. What is the function of the Quotable Value (QV) system in New Zealand real estate?
  58. What is the name of the state-owned postal bank established in 2002 to keep retail banking profits within New Zealand?

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