Nga-Pu-Toru is the generic name give to the islands of Atiu

Atiu

Atiu, also known as Enuamanu , is an island lying at 187 km to the northeast of Rarotonga, in the Southern Islands group of the Cook Islands Archipelago.-Geography:...

, Ma'uke, Mitiaro

Mitiaro

Mitiaro, the fourth island in the Cook Islands group, is of volcanic origin. Standing in water 14,750 feet deep it is four miles across at its widest point.-Geography:...

 and Takutea

Takutea

Takutea, in the Cook Islands, is a small uninhabited island 21 km northwest of Atiu in the southern Cook Islands. Because it is only 1.22 km² in size and has a very dangerous landing at the northwest corner of the reef, it has been designated a wildlife sanctuary, mainly for the red-tailed tropic...

 in the Cook Islands

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

 archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

. In Cook Islands Māori

Cook Islands Maori

The Cook Islands Māori language, also called Māori Kūki 'Āirani or Rarotongan, is the official language of the Cook Islands. Most Cook Islanders also call it Te reo Ipukarea, literally "the language of the Ancestral Homeland"....

 language, the term means "the (nga) roots (pu) three (toru)", or in English "the three roots". Nga-Pu-Toru, which is a term used locally, refers to family ties of the ariki

Ariki

An Ariki , ‘Ariki , Aliki , Ali‘i , Ari'i or ‘Eiki is or was a member of a hereditary chiefly or noble rank in Polynesia.-Aotearoa Ariki:Political leadership or governance in Māori society has traditionally come from two...

 (chiefs) of Atiu, Ma'uke and Mitiaro. The island of Takutea is uninhabited. These islands are in the easternmost part of the Southern Cook Islands.