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Three Kings Islands
Three Kings Islands, outlying island group of New Zealand, in the South Pacific Ocean, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of North Island. Of volcanic formation, the islands have a total land area of 2.7 square miles (7 square km). Great Island, the largest (875 acres [354 hectares]), has steep coasts and is rocky. The group, which was reached on the eve of the Epiphany in 1643 by the Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman, was named for the three kings (Magi) who visited Christ in the manger. Without human habitation since 1840, the islands contain evidence of early Polynesian and Maori settlement. The islands, forming a bird sanctuary, have attracted the interest of ecologists, as their isolation provides ideal conditions for environmental study.
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