Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand is a free web reference covering all aspects of New Zealand life.
What Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand is
Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand is a free web reference covering all aspects of New Zealand life. It brings together almost 1,000 stories and around 25,000 images and other resources, alongside the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, which contains life stories of over 3,000 people. The site also makes the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand available online; its text has not been updated or corrected. Search spans Te Ara entries and the historic encyclopaedia, with results grouped into text, images and media, biographies, and 1966 encyclopaedia material. Search does not cover Further Sources pages. Te Ara presents its entries as accessible overviews for a general audience, backed by research and links to more in-depth sources. Māori perspectives appear throughout its sections, and stories with substantial Māori content are available in te reo Māori. Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage manages and updates the site from Wellington. Text is generally licensed for non-commercial reuse with attribution, while permission for images and other non-text items depends on each item’s rights information.
Good
- Free web access
- Includes nearly 1,000 stories and around 25,000 resources
- Search groups results by content type
- Māori perspectives appear throughout its sections
Watch out
- Search does not cover Further Sources pages
- The 1966 encyclopaedia text has not been updated or corrected
- Text reuse is generally limited to non-commercial use with attribution
- Media reuse permissions vary by item
Who it suits
Te Ara suits general readers, including people seeking accessible overviews of New Zealand life and history. Its stories, biographies and historic encyclopaedia may also be useful to readers looking for deeper reference material.
Verdict
Te Ara brings current reference stories, biographies and a historic encyclopaedia together in a free web resource. Readers should note the search boundary and check item-specific rights before reusing media.
The facts
Each one read from Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Audience
- Te Ara’s history page says many users were New Zealand school students, with visitors from almost every country on Earth.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Biographies
- The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography is part of Te Ara and includes online biographies and te reo Māori versions of biographies about Māori subjects.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Commercial reuse
- Commercial reuse of material licensed under the non-commercial licence may require specific permission from Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Contact support
- Te Ara welcomes feedback by email and lists a Wellington postal address, telephone number and Video Relay Service option for contact.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Content currency
- Te Ara says it is not currently commissioning new stories, though existing stories may be updated or revised.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Coverage
- Te Ara is a comprehensive guide to New Zealand’s peoples, natural environment, history, culture, economy, institutions and society.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Feedback
- Te Ara welcomes feedback by email and asks people reporting a page issue to provide its URL or title.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Historical reference
- The 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand is available online as part of Te Ara.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Historic encyclopedia
- Te Ara includes the full text of the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, which the site says has not been updated or corrected.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Image reuse
- Te Ara and the Ministry do not hold copyright for all images and other non-text items, so users should check the item-specific reuse information.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Māori content
- The Māori perspective appears throughout the sections, and stories with substantial Māori content are available in te reo Māori.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Media rights
- Te Ara does not hold copyright to all images and other non-text materials, so reuse permissions depend on the item’s rights information.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Operator
- Te Ara is managed and updated by Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage in Wellington, New Zealand.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Publisher
- Te Ara is managed and updated by Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage.checked 4 Oct 2026
- RSS
- RSS feeds may be reused without further permission if reproduced accurately, attributed to TeAra.govt.nz and not used misleadingly.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Search
- The site provides search for stories, images and other resources.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Search limit
- The search engine does not search the Further Sources pages.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Social media
- Te Ara’s history page says the site used Flickr, Twitter and Facebook to interact with users.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Stories and resources
- The site has almost 1,000 stories and around 25,000 images and other resources.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Text licence
- Unless otherwise stated, text is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0 New Zealand for non-commercial reuse with attribution.checked 5 Oct 2026
- Text reuse
- Unless otherwise stated, text is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand; commercial use may be requested.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Use case
- Te Ara describes its entries as accessible overviews for a general audience, supported by research and links to more in-depth sources.checked 5 Oct 2026
The company
- Founded
- 2001checked 28 Sep 2026
- Headquarters
- Wellington, New Zealandchecked 28 Sep 2026
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