The Cook Islands are in the South Pacific Ocean, north-east of New Zealand, between French Polynesia and American Samoa.
The locals are adept at making items of clothing and items like necklaces and jewellery made from shells. Giving somebody a shell necklace and placing it around the recipients neck is a goodwill and love gesture.
The politics of the Cook Islands, an associated state, takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democracy within a constitutional monarchy. The Queen of New Zealand, represented in the Cook Islands by the Queen's Representative, is the Head of State; the Chief Minister is the head of government and of a multi-party system.