The Cook Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean from 156 to 167° W and 3 to 23° S. The total land area is only 91.4 square miles with a coastline of the 74 miles, but their exclusive economic zone, the territorial waters, stretches for nearly 772,395 square miles.
With fifteen islands occupying less than a hundred square miles in land area, dotted over almost 700,000 square miles of ocean, the Cook Islands are among the most widespread island territories in the world.
The Cook Islands are geographically divided into North and South groups. The 7 northern islands are mostly low-lying coral atolls. The southern group, with Rarotonga as its capital, consists of 8 elevated islands, is volcanic in origin and where the majority of the population lives. The Cook Islands is an independent state in an associated-state relationship with New Zealand. It has its own parliament and government and its own laws and judiciary.
