Maupihaa
Encyclopedia
Atoll
An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...
in the Leeward group
Leeward Islands (Society Islands)
The Leeward Islands are the western part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. They lie south of the Line Islands , east of the Cooks and north of the Austral Islands . Their area is 395 km² with a population of over 33,000...
(Iles sous le Vent) of the Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
. This atoll is located 72 km southeast of Manuae
Manuae (Society Islands)
The atoll of Manuae, also known as Scilly, is located approximately to the northwest of Maupihaa and to the west of Maupiti, at . It is the westernmost of the Society Islands' Leeward Islands, located 217 mi. west of Bora Bora and 342 mi...
, its nearest neighbor.
Geography
Maupihaa atoll is roughly 8 km in length and contains a lagoon that is up to 40 m in depth and is surrounded by submerged reefs on three sides.The atoll's outer reefs are continuous except for a small passage on the western side of the atoll. The eastern side consists of a narrow, thickly vegetated, islet (Motu Maupihaa) and a number of smaller islets bring the total land area of Maupihaa to 2.6 km². The only village on the atoll is located on Motu Maupihaa and as of 1985, the population consisted of just 10 people.
History
Maupihaa Atoll was inhabited in very ancient times by Polynesians; archaeological remains and fish hooks have been found. The first European to arrive on Maupihaa, along with neighboring Fenua UraManuae
Manuae is an uninhabited atoll in the southern group of the Cook Islands, 100 kilometres south-east of Aitutaki. It is administratively part of Aitutaki, but does not belong to any district or tapere of Aitutaki. It is, however, part of Arutanga-Reureu-Nikaupara Constituency.Manuae is a true atoll...
and Motu One
Motu One
Motu One is the name of a small sandbank with no vegetation located on the western edge of a coral reef. The reef is approximately 5 km in diameter and the islet or islets are less than a hectare in surface, rising only a few feet above sea level and changing shape regularly owing to the...
, was Samuel Wallis
Samuel Wallis
Samuel Wallis was a Cornish navigator who circumnavigated the world.Wallis was born near Camelford, Cornwall. In 1766 he was given the command of HMS Dolphin to circumnavigate the world, accompanied by the Swallow under the command of Philip Carteret...
in 1767. In 1917, the atoll was leased to a Papeete
Papeete
-Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront esplanade*Bougainville Park -Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront...
company, with three employees making copra
Copra
Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake which is mainly used as feed for livestock.-Production:...
, and raising pigs and chickens and collecting turtles. It was later leased to another copra company and entirely planted with coconut palms.
In the same year, Count Felix von Luckner
Felix von Luckner
Felix Graf von Luckner was a German nobleman, navy officer, author and noted sailor who earned the epithet Der Seeteufel -- and his crew that of Die Piraten des Kaisers -- for his exploits in command of the sailing commerce raider SMS Seeadler in...
of the famed SMS Seeadler visited the island and established a small colony during his voyage to raid Allied shipping in the South Pacific during the First World War. The purpose of the stop was to make repairs to the Seedler's hull after a long journey through the Atlantic ocean and around South America. Since SMS Seeadler was too large to enter Mopelia lagoon, she was anchored on the outside of the atoll. After a short time, rough seas and wind caused the Seeadler to run aground on Mopelia's reef, leaving Luckner and about 50 others marooned. Some of the stranded sailors were American POWs captured on the ocean by Luckner's raiders. Eventually Luckner chose a few men and rigged a long boat with a sail to journey about 2000 miles to the Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
islands where Luckner intended to capture another sailing ship and go back and rescue the remaining seamen on Mopelia. However, the plan did not work very well, for while Luckner was able to reach his destination, he ended up surrendering to a British lieutenant. Felix von Luckner spent the rest of the Great War as a POW in New Zealand, though he successfully escaped on one occasion, stealing the boat of the prison warden and sailing off with several other prisoners, only to be recaptured later. Meanwhile, the rest of his crew captured a French schooner, Lutece, which called at Mopelia, and sailed it to Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
arriving on 4 October and running aground there, after which they were interned by the Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an authorities. Four American seamen then sailed an open boat 1600 km to Pago Pago, where they arranged for their colleagues' rescue from Mopelia.
Administration
The atoll is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of MaupitiMaupiti (commune)
Maupiti is a commune of French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The commune is in the administrative subdivision of the Leeward Islands....
, itself in the administrative subdivision of the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands (Society Islands)
The Leeward Islands are the western part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. They lie south of the Line Islands , east of the Cooks and north of the Austral Islands . Their area is 395 km² with a population of over 33,000...
. Presently Maupihaa is listed as permanently uninhabited.