How New Zealand was Formed

Bit by bit its lands have separated and joined, erupted and subsided, tilted and turned on its molten core. Oceans have come and gone.

About 250 million years ago there was just one supercontinent – Pangea – surrounded by ocean. Its separation lead to the creation of the continents and landmasses we know today.

One of Pangea’s major rifts formed Laurasia (today’s North America and Eurasia) and Gondwana.

Gondwana went on to separate into Africa, South America, India and Antarctica/Australia.

Continental drift broke New Zealand away from New Caledonia, New Guinea and Australia about 80 million years ago, sending this country into the longest period of isolation of any non-polar landmass.

New Zealand today

Today New Zealand is a small archipelago in the South Pacific, about the same size as the British Isles or Japan.

Species remain as reminders of New Zealand’s unique evolutionary past – wren, wattlebirds, weta, the giant podocarp forests – and the kiwi. How this unusual species evolved has a lot to do with how New Zealand’s land mass changed over time.