Editing Cook Islands (section)

==Etymology==
The Cook Islands comprise 15 islands split between two island groups, which have been called individual names in indigenous languages including [[Cook Islands Māori]] and [[Pukapukan language|Pukapukan]] throughout the time they have been inhabited. The first name given by Europeans was ''Gente Hermosa'' (beautiful people) by Spanish explorers to [[Rakahanga]] in 1606.<ref name="Hooker 1998 54–62">{{cite journal |first=Brian |last=Hooker |date=1998 |journal=[[Terrae Incognitae (journal)|Terrae Incognitae]] |volume=30 |issue=1 |title=European discovery of the Cook Islands |pages=54–62|doi=10.1179/tin.1998.30.1.54 }}</ref>

The islands as a whole are named after British Captain [[James Cook]], who visited during the 1770s and named [[Manuae (Cook Islands)|Manuae]] "Hervey Island" after [[Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol]]. The southern island group became known as the "Hervey Islands" after this. In the 1820s, Russian Admiral [[Adam Johann von Krusenstern]] referred to the southern islands as the "Cook Islands" in his ''Atlas de l'Ocean Pacifique''.<ref name="Hist1"/> The entire territory (including the northern island group) was not known as the "Cook Islands" until after its annexation by New Zealand in the early 20th century. In 1901, the New Zealand parliament passed the ''Cook and other Islands Government Act'', demonstrating that the name "Cook Islands" only referred to some of the islands. However, this situation had changed by the passage of the ''Cook Islands Act 1915'', which defined the Cooks' area and included all presently included islands.<ref>{{cite book |title=Discoverers Of The Cook Islands And The Names They Gave|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-KloDisc-t1-body-d10.html|date=1976|author=Alphons M.J. Kloosterman}}</ref>

The islands' official name in Cook Islands Māori is ''Kūki 'Āirani'', a transliteration of the English name.<ref name="telegraphname"/><ref name="radionzname"/>