In 1997, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), under contract with the US Department of Commerce, assigned the Internet Users Society-Niue (IUS-N), a private charity, as manager of the .nu top-level domain on the Internet. IUS-N's charitable purpose was — and continues to be — to use revenue from registering .nu domain names to fund low-cost or free Internet services for the people of Niue. In a letter to ICANN in 2007, IUS-N's independent auditors reported IUS-N had invested US$3 million for Internet services in Niue between 1999 and 2005 from .nu domain name registration revenue during that period. In 1999, IUS-N and the Government of Niue signed an agreement whereby the Government recognized that IUS-N managed the .nu ccTLD under IANA's authority and IUS-N committed to provide free Internet services to government departments as well as to Niue's private citizens. A newly elected Government later disputed that agreement and attempted to assert a claim on the domain name, including a requirement for IUS-N to make direct payments of compensation to the Government.^{22 - In 2005 a Government-appointed Commission of Inquiry into the dispute released its report, which found no merit in the government's claims;the government subsequently dismissed the claims in 2007.23 - Starting in 2003 IUS-N began installing WiFi connections throughout the capital village of Alofi and in several nearby villages and schools, and has been expanding WiFi coverage into the outer villages since then, making Niue the first WiFi Nation.24 - To assure security for Government departments, IUS-N provides the government with a secure DSL connection to IUS-N's satellite Internet link, at no cost.}

Christianity was first taught to the Mutalau people before it was spread to all the villages on Niue;originally other major villages opposed the introduction of Christianity and had sought to kill Peniamina. The people from the village of Hakupu, although the last village to receive Christianity, came and asked for a "word of god";hence their village was renamed "Ha Kupu Atua" meaning "any word of god", or "Hakupu" for short.

In 1887, King Fata-a-iki, who reigned from 1887 to 1896, offered to cede sovereignty to the British Empire, fearing the consequences of annexation by a less benevolent colonial power. The offer was not accepted until 1900.

Niue was a British protectorate for a time, but the UK's direct involvement ended in 1901 when New Zealand annexed the island. Independence in the form of self-government was granted by the New Zealand parliament with the 1974 constitution, following a referendum in Niue in 1974 whom Niueans were given 3 options independence, self-government or continue as a New Zealand territory. The majority selected self-government and Niue's written constitution<paclii.org/nu/legis/num_act/ca1974188/index.html>was promulgated as supreme law. Robert Rex, ethnically part European, part native, was appointed the country's first premier, a position he held until his death 18 years later. Rex became the first Niuean to receive a knighthood, in 1984.

In January 2004, Niue was hit by Cyclone Heta, which killed two people and caused extensive damage to the entire island, including wiping out most of the south of the capital, Alofi.

The assembly consists of 20 democratically elected members, 14 of whom are elected by the electors of each village constituency, six by all registered voters in all constituencies. Electors must be New Zealand citizens, resident for at least three months, and candidates must be electors and resident for 12 months. ^] Anyone born in Niue must register on the electoral roll. If two candidates have the same number of votes, the votes are recounted;if the number of votes is still equal, the name of the winning candidate is drawn out of a hat.

The Speaker is elected by the assembly and is the first official to be elected in the first sitting of the Legislative Assembly following an election. The new Speaker calls for nominations for premier;the candidate with the most votes from the 20 members is elected. The Premier selects three other members to form the Cabinet of Ministers, the executive arm of government. The other two organs of government, following the Westminster model, are the Legislative Assembly and the Judiciary. General elections take place every three years, most recently on 7 June 2008.

There are three geographically outlying coral reefs within the Exclusive Economic Zone that do not have any land area:

Niue is one of the world's largest coral islands. The terrain consists of steep limestone cliffs along the coast with a central plateau rising to about 60 metres above sea level. A coral reef surrounds the island, with the only major break in the reef being in the central western coast, close to the capital, Alofi. A notable feature is the number of limestone caves found close to the coast.

The island is roughly oval in shape (with a diameter of about 18 kilometres), with two large bays indenting the western coast, Alofi Bay in the centre and Avatele Bay in the south. Between these is the promontory of Halagigie Point. A small peninsula, TePā Point (Blowhole Point), is close to the settlement of Avatele in the southwest. Most of the population resides close to the west coast, around the capital, and in the northwest.

Some of the soils are geochemically very unusual. They are extremely highly weathered tropical soils, with high levels of iron and aluminium oxides (oxisol) and mercury, and they contain surprisingly high levels of natural radioactivity. There is almost no uranium, but the radionucleides Th-230 and Pa-231 head the decay chains. This is the same distribution of elements as found naturally on very deep seabeds, but the geochemical evidence suggests that the origin is extreme weathering of coral and brief sea submergence 120,000 years ago. Endothermal upwelling, by which mild natural volcanic heat draws deep seawater up through the porous coral, may also contribute.^{8 -}

No adverse health effects from the radioactivity or other trace elements have been demonstrated and calculations show that level of radioactivity would probably be much too low to be detected in the population. These unusual soils are very rich in phosphate, but it is not accessible to plants, being in the very insoluble form of iron phosphate, or crandallite. It is thought that rather similar radioactive soils may exist on Lifou and Mare near New Caledonia, and Rennell in the Solomon Islands, but no other locations are known.

The time difference between Niue and mainland New Zealand is 23 hours during the Southern Hemisphere winter and 24 hours when the mainland uses Daylight Saving Time.

In 2003 the Government made a commitment to develop and expand vanilla production with the support of NZAID. Vanilla has grown wild in Niue for a long time. Despite the setback caused by the devastation of Cyclone Heta in early 2004, there was ongoing work on vanilla production. The expansion plan started with the employment of unemployed or underemployed labour force to help clear land, plant supporting trees and plant vanilla vines. The approach to accessing land include having each household interested to have a small plot of around half to 1-acre (4,000 m) to be cleared and planted with vanilla vines. There are a lot of planting material for supporting trees to meet demand for the expansion of vanilla plantations, however there is a severe shortage of vanilla vines for planting stock. There is of course the existing vanilla vines, but cutting them for planting stock will reduce or stop vanilla from producing beans. At the moment the focus is in the areas of harvesting and marketing.

Niue's economy suffered from the devastating tropical Cyclone Heta on 4 January 2004. The Niue Integrated Strategic Plan - NISP) is the national development plan, setting national priorities for development. Cyclone Heta took away about two years from the implementation of the NISP, while national efforts concentrate on the recovery efforts. In 2008 Niue had yet to fully recover from the devastation of Cyclone Heta.

In the area of trade, Niue is currently in the process of negotiating with other Pacific countries free trade agreements(FTA) PICTA Trade in Services (PICTA TIS), Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union, and PACER Plus with Australia and New Zealand. The Office of the Chief Trade Adviser (OCTA) has already been set up to assist Niue and other Pacific countries in the negotiation of the PACER Plus.

Niue uses the New Zealand dollar.

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Agriculture

Agriculture is very important to the lifestyle of Niueans and the economy. Subsistence agriculture is very much part of Niue's agriculture, where nearly all the households have plantations of taro. Taro is a staple food, and the pink taro now dominant in the taro markets in New Zealand and Australia, is an intellectual property of Niue. This is one of the natural taro varieties on Niue, and has a strong resistance to pests.

Tapioca or cassava, yams and kumaras also grow very well, as do different varieties of bananas. Copra, passionfruit and limes dominated exports in the 1970s, but in 2008 vanilla, noni and taro are Niue's main export crops.

Coconut crab is also part of the food chain;it lives in the forest and coastal areas. The last agricultural census was in 1989.

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Tourism

Tourism has been identified as one of the three priority economic sectors (the other two are Fisheries and Agriculture) for economic development in Niue. In 2006, estimated visitor expenditure reached $1.6 million making Tourism a major export industry for Niue. Niue will continue to receive direct support from the Government and overseas donor agencies. Air New Zealand is the sole airline serving Niue, flying to Niue once a week. It took over after Polynesian Airlines stopped flying in November 2005. There is currently a tourism development strategy to increase the number of rooms available to overseas tourists at a sustainable level. Niue is also trying to attract foreign investors to invest in the tourism industry of Niue by offering import and company tax concessions as incentives.

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19th century
1800–1964 Malta
1801-1921 Ireland
1807–1890 Heligoland
1809–1864 Ionian Islands

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20th century
1921-1937 Irish Free State

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18th century
1701–1776 Delaware
1712–1776 North Carolina
1712–1776 South Carolina
1713–1867 Nova Scotia
1733–1776 Georgia
1763–1873 Prince Edward Island
1763–1791 Quebec
1763–1783 East Florida
1763–1783 West Florida
1784–1867 New Brunswick
1791–1841 Lower Canada
1791–1841 Upper Canada

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19th century
1818–1846 Columbia District / Oregon Country
1841–1867 Province of Canada
1849–1866 Vancouver Island
1853–1863 Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands
1858–1866 British Columbia
1859–1870 North-Western Territory
1862–1863 Stikine Territory
1866–1871 Vancouver Island and British Columbia
1867–1931 * Dominion of Canada ²

20th century
1907–1949 Dominion of Newfoundland ³

Occupied jointly with the United States
²In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. see Canada's name.
³Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949.

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18th century
1762–1974 * Grenada
1763–1978 Dominica
since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands

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19th century
1831–1966 British Guiana (Guyana)
1833–1960 Windward Islands
1833–1960 Leeward Islands
1860–1981 * Antigua and Barbuda
1871–1964 British Honduras (*Belize)
1882–1983 * St. Kitts and Nevis
1889–1962 Trinidad and Tobago

20th century
1958–1962 West Indies Federation

⁴Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia

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19th century
1806–1910 Cape Colony
1816–1965 Gambia
1856–1910 Natal
1868–1966 Basutoland (Lesotho)
1874–1957 Gold Coast (Ghana)
1882–1922 Egypt
1884–1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana)
1884–1960 British Somaliland
1887–1897 Zululand
1888–1894 Matabeleland
1890–1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
1890–1962 Uganda
1890–1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania)
1891–1964 Nyasaland (Malawi)
1891–1907 British Central Africa Protectorate
1893–1968 Swaziland
1895–1920 East Africa Protectorate
1899–1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

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20th century
1900–1914 Northern Nigeria
1900–1914 Southern Nigeria
1900–1910 Orange River Colony
1900–1910 Transvaal Colony
1906–1954 Nigeria Colony
1910–1931 South Africa
1911–1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)
1914–1954 Nigeria Colony and Protectorate
1915–1931 South West Africa (Namibia)
1919–1960 Cameroons (Cameroon) ⁵
1920–1963 Kenya
1922–1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania) ⁵
1954–1960 Nigeria

⁵League of Nations mandate

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18th century
1702–1705 Con Dao
1757–1947 Bengal ( West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh )
1762–1764 Philippines
1795–1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
1796–1965 Maldives

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19th century
1819–1826 British Malaya ( Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore )
1826–1946 Straits Settlements
1839–1967 Colony of Aden
1841–1997 Hong Kong
1841–1941 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia)
1858–1947 British India ( India , Pakistan and Bangladesh , Burma)
1882–1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia)
1885–1946 Unfederated Malay States
1888–1984 Sultanate of Brunei
1888–1946 Sultanate of Sulu
1891–1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate
1892–1971 Trucial States protectorate
1895–1946 Federated Malay States
1898–1930 Weihai Garrison
1878–1960 Cyprus

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20th century
1918–1961 Kuwait protectorate
1920–1932 Iraq ⁵
1921–1946 Transjordan ⁵
1923–1948 Palestine ⁵
1946–1948 Malayan Union
1946–1963 Sarawak (Malaysia)
1948–1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia)
since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia (before as part of Cyprus)
since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory

⁵League of Nations mandate

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19th century
1803–1901 Van Diemen's Land / Tasmania
1807–1863 Auckland Islands ⁶
1824–1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
1824–1901 Queensland
1829–1901 Swan River Colony / Western Australia
1836–1901 South Australia
since 1838 Pitcairn Islands
1841–1907 Colony of New Zealand
1851–1901 Victoria
1874–1970 Fiji ⁷
1877–1976 British Western Pacific Territories
1884–1949 Territory of Papua
1888–1965 Cook Islands ⁶
1889–1948 Union Islands (Tokelau) ⁶
1892–1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands ⁸
1893–1978 British Solomon Islands ⁹

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20th century
1900–1970 Tonga (protected state)
1900–1974 Niue ⁶
1901–1942 * Commonwealth of Australia
1907–1953 * Dominion of New Zealand
1919–1942 Nauru
1945–1968 Nauru
1919–1949 Territory of New Guinea
1949–1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea ¹⁰

⁶Now part of the * Realm of New Zealand
⁷Suspended member
⁸Now Kiribati and * Tuvalu
⁹Now the * Solomon Islands
¹⁰Now * Papua New Guinea

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19th century
since 1815 Ascension Island ¹¹
since 1816 Tristan da Cunha ¹¹
since 1833 Falkland Islands ¹²

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20th century
since 1908 British Antarctic Territory ¹³
since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ^{12, 13}

¹¹Dependencies of St. Helena since 1922 (Ascension Island) and 1938 (Tristan da Cunha)
¹²Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982
¹³Both claimed in 1908;territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)

Phones in Niue