Makatea

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Makatea
NASA image of Makatea
NASA image of Makatea
Waters Pacific Ocean
Archipelago Tuamotu Archipelago
Geographical location 15 ° 50 ′ 0 ″  S , 148 ° 15 ′ 30 ″  W Coordinates: 15 ° 50 ′ 0 ″  S , 148 ° 15 ′ 30 ″  W
Makatea (French Polynesia)
Makatea
length 7.5 km
width 7 km
surface 24 km²
Highest elevation Mont Puutiare
110  m
Residents 61 (2007)
2.5 inhabitants / km²
main place Moumu
The Temao harbor on Makatea
The Temao harbor on Makatea

Makatea , old name Aurora , is to French Polynesia belonging coral island in the northwest of the Tuamotu Archipelago . The island is a so-called raised atoll , i.e. an atoll that was raised above the sea surface after the reef formation. Makatea means “white stone” in Polynesian, after the limestone that emerges during the uplift process. The island is a sub-municipality ( Commune associée ) of the municipality Rangiroa , to which three other atolls belong.

history

Makatea old map

The island was discovered in 1722 by the Dutchman Jakob Roggeveen . He gave it the name "Eiland van Verkwikking" (island of refreshment) because he supplied himself there with fresh herbs, which were useful for his crew suffering from scurvy .

At the 2007 census , Makatea had 61 inhabitants.

geography

The island is located south of the Palliser Islands , its area is 24 km². The highest point is the Mont Puutiare at 110 meters in the north of the island. The Mont Aetia in the west, the second highest point, reaches 90 meters.

The main town is the village of Moumu on the east coast. Vaitepaua is a ghost town , with a nearby, abandoned port Temao from the time of phosphate mining from 1917 to 1964. Makatea was, next to Nauru and Banaba , one of the richest phosphate islands in the Pacific .

Other place or structure names are Teaupototo (north), Anapoto (east), Vaiaua (south-east) and Tahiva (south-west).

The residents make a living from subsistence farming , copra cultivation , fishing and trading in palm thief crabs to a small extent.

See also

Web links

Commons : Makatea  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carl Friedrich Behrens : The well-attempted southerner, trip around the world 1721/22. Reprinted by Brockhaus-Verlag Leipzig 1923, p. 80.
  2. ↑ Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF) - Recensement de la population 2007 ( Memento of the original of September 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( french ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ispf.pf
  3. ↑ Surveillance épidémiologique de la ciguatéra: Makatea ( French )