The Acteon Group is a subgroup of the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia

French Polynesia

French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...

. It is located about 1,400 km south-southeast of Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

 and southeast of the main Tuamotu atoll cluster and is rather isolated. (Latitude: 21° 17' 60 S, Longitude: 136° 29' W).

Atolls

The Acteon Group includes four atolls of relatively small size:

• Matureivavao
  Matureivavao
  Matureivavao, or Mature-vavao is an atoll in the Acteon Group in the southeastern part of the Tuamotu Islands. It is the largest atoll within the Acteon Group....
  
  
• Tenararo
  Tenararo
  Tenararo is an atoll in the Acteon Group in the southeastern part of the Tuamotu Islands. This atoll is the smallest of the group.Tenararo Atoll has a landing place on its NW side between the small boulders which encumber the reef...
  
  
• Tenarunga
  Tenarunga
  Tenarunga or Tenania, formerly Minto Island, 15 km NNW of Matureivavao, is a low, wooded and uninhabited atoll in the Acteon Group in the southeastern part of the Tuamotu Islands...
  
  
• Vahanga
  Vahanga
  thumb|300px|NASA satellite image of VahangaVahanga is a small atoll 5 miles west of Tenarunga. It is located in the Acteon Group in the southeastern part of the Tuamotu Islands. Vahanga is a low atoll covered with coconut trees...
  
  

None of the islands on these atolls have permanent inhabitants.

History

The first recorded European to sight the Acteon Group was Pedro Fernández de Quirós on February 5, 1605. He described the group as "four islands crowned by coconut palms". On the different texts describing his voyage, the islands are named "Las Cuatro Coronadas", "Las Cuatro Hermanas" or "Las Anegadas".

In 1833 the captain of a Tahitian trading vessel visited the group and named it "Amphitrite" after his own ship.
In 1983 these atolls were struck by a cyclone.

Administration

Administratively the four atolls of the Acteon group belong to the commune of the Gambier Islands

Gambier Islands

There was a time when the Gambiers hosted a population of several thousand people and traded with other island groups including the Marquesas, the Society Islands and Pitcairn Islands...

.

External links

• Reefbase - Picture