Akiaki

Akiaki
Map of Akiaki
Waters	Pacific Ocean
Archipelago	Tuamotu Archipelago
Geographical location	18 ° 33 ′ 0 ″  S , 139 ° 13 ′ 0 ″  W Coordinates: 18 ° 33 ′ 0 ″  S , 139 ° 13 ′ 0 ″  W
length	2 km
width	1 km
surface	1.4 km²
Residents	uninhabited
main place	Hitiaga (historical)

Akiaki , old names Thrum Cap Island and Île des Lanciers , is a small, now uninhabited island in the southeast of the Pacific Ocean . It is located in the central-eastern group of the Tuamotu Archipelago and politically belongs to French Polynesia . The next inhabited island is Vahitahi, about 50 km to the southeast .

geography

Akiaki has a land area of ​​only 1.4 km², the east-west extension is 2.5 km, from north to south Akiaki is a maximum of 1 km wide. The fringing reef is relatively close to the island, which is surrounded by white, natural beaches. The interior of the island is densely overgrown, although the vegetation does not correspond to the original. The flora was changed considerably for the creation of coconut plantations at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. After the drop in copra prices and the abandonment of the settlement, however, a secondary forest consisting of Pisonia grandis , Pemphis acidula , Heliotropium foertherianum (synonym: Tournefortia argentea ) and pandanus trees gradually recaptured the no longer maintained plantations.

geology

The island is located on a 39.3 to 39.7 million year old deep sea plateau of 1975 km², which rises from the 3400 m deep ocean floor. The plateau is part of the "Tuamotu Seamount Trail" and emerged from a hot spot on the Pacific plate .

Akiaki is an upscale atoll made entirely of limestone . The former, now completely silted up lagoon is barely noticeable as a shallow, densely overgrown hollow a little east of the center of the island.

history

The so far only published archaeological investigation of Akiaki was carried out by the American ethnologist Kenneth P. Emory on behalf of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum Honolulu in July 1930. He found the remains of two ceremonial platforms ( marae ) as evidence of early Polynesian settlement. The Marae Hitiaga, north of the village, had already been largely destroyed, so that Emory only found a few disordered stones. The Marae Takaua (also Tahuka), located on the western tip, was somewhat better preserved, although it was also badly damaged. A roughly 18 m long, rectangular platform built from unworked limestone blocks was decorated at the corners with approx. 60 cm high, hewn stone slabs. A single Pisonia tree shaded two small orthostats in front of it . The ceremonial site was about 30 m from the beach. Today no remains of the buildings can be seen in the thick vegetation. Emory also discovered a number of pits for growing taro along an inland path that connected the acreage to the village.

Akiaki was discovered for Europe in 1768 by the French naval officer Louis Antoine de Bougainville . In search of the fabulous “Davisland” (possibly identical to Easter Island ), Bougainville reached the Tuamotu Archipelago in March 1768 with the frigate La Boudeuse and the Fleute L'Étoile . On March 21, 1768, Vahitahi came into view and to the northwest of it another small island, lined with a sandy beach and densely covered with forest. Because of the strong surf, Bougainville saw no possibility of landing with boats. Since the island was a "magical sight", the ships followed the coast two miles apart to the western tip in order to find an anchorage. To his astonishment, Bougainville saw two men on the beach who ran into the water at the sight of the French ships. At first he assumed that they were shipwrecked people who were calling for help, because he had not expected that such a small island could be inhabited. The men ran back into the woods, however, and soon fifteen to twenty naked, muscular warriors gathered on the beach, brandishing long spears threateningly. After this demonstration, the islanders withdrew into the thicket, where Bougainville could see several huts with the telescope. He called the island "Île des Lanciers" (Island of the Lancers), but did not go ashore.

James Cook saw Akiaki on his first voyage to the Pacific on April 5, 1769. He describes the island as "round in shape, no more than a mile in diameter," but never landed. Cook saw no sign of residents and named the island, which is overgrown with trees and bushes, "Thrum Cap", after a round hat, thickly covered with woolen threads, that his sailors wore.

The British captain and trader Edward Lucett (1815-1853) arrived in Akiaki on June 22, 1844 and describes the island as follows:

“[…] It is only a small patch, and although we sailed along with half a mile distance from the south to the northwestern tip, no lagoon could be seen from the masthead. Two coconut trees were all we could make out above the low matted bush vegetation that apparently covered the entire island. We saw no signs of residents or settlements. "

- Edward Lucett

In the period before the Second World War, Akiaki still had a functioning community, the village of Huripuga was in the northwest of the island. Today only a few dilapidated huts and open shelters for drying copra can be seen there.

Infrastructure and administration

Akiaki is no longer permanently inhabited, the last inhabitants migrated to Vahitahi after the cyclone "William" on April 20, 1983 completely devastated the island. From time to time, however, the coconuts are harvested for copra production . There is no infrastructure on the island, neither accommodation nor roads, no port or airport and no drinking water. Akiaki can hardly be reached by tourists as there is no regular boat connection from the neighboring islands.

Akiaki is administered by a subdivision ( Subdivision administrative des Îles Tuamotu-Gambier ) of the High Commission of French Polynesia ( Haut-commissariat de la République en Polynésie française ) based in Papeete. The island belongs to the municipality ( Commune associée ) Vahitahi of the municipality of Nukutavake ( Commune de Nukutavake ).

See also

• List of Tuamotu Islands

Individual evidence

1. ^ Seamount Catalog - Akiaki Seamount . earthref.org. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
2. ↑ Kenneth P. Emory: Tuamotuan stone structures, Honolulu 1934, pp. 57-59
3. ^ Louis-Antoine de Bougainville: Voyage autour du monde, par la frégate du roi La Boudeuse, et la flûte L'Étoile; en 1776, 1767, 1768, & 1769, Paris 1771 , p. 180
4. ^ John Hawkesworth: An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His present Majesty in the southern hemisphere and successively performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret, and Captain Cook, in the Dolphin, the Swallow, and the Endeavor: drawn up from the journals which were kept by the several commanders , London 1773, Vol. II, Chapter 2
5. ↑ Edward Lucett: rovings in the Pacific, from 1837 to 1849 with a glance at California , Vol II, London 1851, p. 57