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The Cook Islands are named from a Russian naval chart of the early 1880s, after Captain James Cook, who visited the islands in 1773 and 1779. The Cook Islands became a British protectorate in 1888.

By 1900, administrative control was transferred to New Zealand; in 1965 residents chose self-government in free association with New Zealand.

The Cook Islands contain fifteen islands in the group spread over a vast area in the South Pacific. The majority of islands are low coral atolls in Northern Group, with Rarotonga, a volcanic island in the Southern Group, as the main administration and government centre. The main Cook Islands language is Rarotongan Māori. There are some variations in dialect in the 'outer' islands.

The Cook Islands were first settled in the sixth century by Polynesian peoples who migrated from nearby Tahiti.

Spanish ships visited the islands in the late sixteenth century; the first written record of contact with the Islands came with the sighting of Pukapuka by Spanish sailor Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1595. Another Spaniard Pedro Fernandes de Queirós made the first recorded European landing in the islands when he set foot on Rakahanga in 1606.

British navigator Captain James Cook arrived in 1773 and 1779; Cook named the Cook Islands the Hervey Islands; the name "Cook Islands" was given by the Russians in honour of Cook when they published a Russian naval chart in the early 1880s.

In 1813, John Williams, a missionary on the Endeavour (not the same ship as Cook's), made the first official sighting of the Island Rarotonga. [1] The first recorded landing by Europeans was in 1814 by the Cumberland; trouble broke out between the sailors and the Islanders and many were killed on both sides.

The islands saw no more Europeans until missionaries arrived from England in 1821. Christianity quickly took hold in the culture and retains that grip today.

The Cook Islands became a British protectorate at their own request in 1888, mainly to thwart French expansionism. Then were transferred to New Zealand in 1901. They remained a New Zealand protectorate until 1965, at which point they became a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand. The first Prime Minister Sir Albert Henry led the county until 1978 when he was accused of vote-rigging.

Today, the Cook Islands are essentially independent (self-governing in free association with New Zealand), but are still officially placed under New Zealand sovereignty. New Zealand is tasked with overseeing the country's foreign relations and defence. The Cook Islands are one of three New Zealand dependencies, along with Tokelau and Niue.

After achieving autonomy in 1965, the Cook Islands elected Albert Henry of the Cook Islands Party as their first Prime Minister. He was succeeded in 1978 by Tom Davis of the Democratic Party.

On June 11, 1980, the United States signed a treaty with New Zealand specifying the maritime border between the Cook Islands and American Samoa and also relinquishing its claim to the islands of Penrhyn, Pukapuka (Danger), Manihiki, and Rakahanga.

The emigration of skilled workers to New Zealand and government deficits are continuing problems.

In 2006, the British television station Channel 4 broadcast the TV series show Shipwrecked, which was filmed in the Cook Islands.

The Fall 2006 (13th) season of CBS's Survivor TV series was filmed in the Cook Islands over the summer of the same year (see: Survivor: Cook Islands).