The Cook Islands are a semi-indipendent state in free association with New Zealand, made up of 15 small islands located between French Polynesia and Samoa Islands, at a latitude south of equator between 9°S and 22°S. The country have a total land area of around 240 square km (just over the island of Elba), the islands are scattered over a ocean surface whose area reaches 1,800,000 square km (as a comparison of the total area of Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal). To give an idea of the vastness of the area, the distance between the most distant islands of the state, Pukapuka in the northern group, and Mangaia in the southern, is 1,470 km. Rarotonga is about 3,000 km northeast of Auckland in New Zealand, 1,140 km southwest of Tahiti in French Polynesia, 2,300 km east of Fiji and 4,700 km south of Hawaii. The islands can be divided into two areas, the Southern Cook Islands and the Northern Cook Islands. In the southern group are mostly volcanic islands, with fertile soil and tropical vegetation, they represent 90% of the total area of Cook Islands. Here lies the main island of Rarotonga (67 sq km), where there is also the highest peak of the state, Mount Te Manga (652 meters), other islands belonging to the southern group are Aitutaki (18 sq km), Atiu ( 27 sq km), Mangaia (52 sq km), Manuae (6 sq km), Mauke (18 sq km), Mitiaro (22 sq km), Palmerston (2 sq km) and Takutea (1 sq km) of which only Manuae and Palmerston are atolls, while Takutea is a sandy islet, all other islands are of volcanic origin. The northern group of islands is composed almost exclusively of coral atolls, they are Manihiki (5.4 sq km), Penrhyn (9.8 sq km), Pukapuka (5.1 sq km), Rakahanga (4.1 square kilometers) and Suwarrow ( 0.4 sq km), while Nassau (1.2 square kilometers) is a sandy islet. The main sources of income for the archipelago are tourism, pearl farming, fishing, agriculture and financial services.