Tokelau

Tokelau (ISO 3166-1: TK) is a group of three tropical coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, a territory of New Zealand (09°S, 172°W). The islands are occasionally referred to by an older colonial name, The Union Islands. The United Nations Committee on Decolonization includes Tokelau on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

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Tokelau was originally settled by Polynesian emigrants from surrounding island groups. The islands were made a British protectorate in 1889, part of the British Colony of the Gilbert & Ellice Islands from 1916 and then transferred to New Zealand administration in 1925. They are still a territory of New Zealand administered under the Tokelau Act of 1948, as amended from 1963 to 1999, and defence is the responsibility of New Zealand. However, the Tokelauans are drafting a constitution, and developing institutions and patterns of self-government as Tokelau moves toward free association with New Zealand, like Niue and the Cook Islands.

ISO 3166-1: ISO 3166-1 as part of the ISO 3166 standard provides codes for the names of countries and dependent areas. It was first published in 1974 by the International Organization for Standardization and defines three different codes for each area:...

Atoll: An atoll is a type of low, coral island found in tropical oceans and consisting of a coral-algal reef surrounding a central depression. The depression may be part of the emergent island, but more typically is a part of the sea (that is, a lagoon), or very rarely is an enclosed body of fresh, bracki...

Pacific Ocean: :For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation)....