Anatahan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anatahan
Anatahan seen from the south (1994)
Anatahan seen from the south (1994)
Waters Pacific Ocean
Archipelago Mariana Islands
Geographical location 16 ° 21 '5 "  N , 145 ° 40' 43"  E Coordinates: 16 ° 21 '5 "  N , 145 ° 40' 43"  E
Location of Anatahan
length 9 km
width 4 km
surface 33.9 km²
Highest elevation 790  m
Residents uninhabited
main place Anatahan Village
(evacuated in 1990)

Anatahan (also Anatagan , Anatajan , Anaksan or San Joaquin ) is a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean . It belongs geographically to the archipelago of the Marianas and politically to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands . Anatahan has been uninhabited since 1990.

geography

Anatahan is approximately 60 kilometers northwest of the Farallon de Medinilla and about 120 kilometers north of Saipan , the main island of the Northern Mariana Islands. The island is a good nine kilometers long and up to four kilometers wide and has an area of ​​33.9 km². At the highest point in the west, the island reaches a height of 790 m above sea level. The interior of the island is occupied by a five kilometer long and 2.3 kilometer wide caldera . In general, the caldera is divided into a west and an east crater , with the east part of the caldera about 250 meters lower than the west part. No eruptions of the volcano are known from historical times, but ash deposits are found on the island , the age of which is estimated to be a few hundred years.

Eruption of the volcano on May 10, 2003 with an approximately 4.6 kilometer high ash cloud
Erupting cloud moving northwest (satellite image from April 2005)

On April 4, 1990, the 23 residents of the settlement on the west coast of the island were evacuated because of a feared volcanic eruption. A swarm of earthquakes had been registered in the previous days ; In addition, the activity of the fumaroles in the caldera had increased and the lake there was discolored. Another swarm of earthquakes occurred in May 1993.

Between 2003 and 2008 there was a series of volcanic eruptions in the east crater. During the first eruption on May 10, 2003, an ash cloud rose about 12 kilometers high. The eruption had a magnitude of three on the volcanic explosive index (VEI). The ash eruptions temporarily impaired air traffic to the islands of Saipan and Guam . In the east crater, the emergence of lava was observed in the summer of 2003 ; a newly created small lava dome was destroyed in subsequent eruptions.

history

When Anatahan was visited by the Spanish missionary Diego Luis de Sanvitores in 1668 , it was densely populated by Chamorros . In 1695 all residents were deported to Saipan and three years later to Guam . Until 1899 a Spanish colony , the island was used for the production of copra ; around 1884 an estimated 125 tons of copra were exported. After the Northern Mariana Islands were sold to the German Empire , Anatahan was part of the German New Guinea colony until 1918 . According to the German district official Georg Fritz , the island was uninhabited in May 1901; In the years before, 20 to 30 tons of copra had been extracted from around a dozen residents. In 1902 the island was leased to the Pagan Society ; a company that mainly traded in copra. In September 1905 and September 1907, severe typhoons almost completely destroyed the coconut plantations . In 1912 there were an estimated 80 hectares of coconut plantations, but these were not managed systematically because the Pagan Society had got into economic difficulties due to the storm damage. The island was also used for the production of copra during the Japanese South Sea mandate (1919–1944).

During the Second World War , a ship of the Japanese Navy was sunk near Anatahan in June 1944 . 30 survivors were able to save themselves on the island; After the crash of an American B-29 bomber on Anatahan, the group was in possession of a weapon. At that time there were two Japanese and about 45 locals living on Anatahan; the latter were evacuated by American authorities after the end of the war. The Japanese refused to believe that the Second World War would end and held out on the island as so-called holdouts . In 1950, Kazuko Higa, the only woman on Anatahan, left the island. After eleven castaways died, the holdouts gave up in June 1951. During her time on Anatahan, Higa had been married to five men, three of whom died. This led to speculation that the island was a "hotbed of crimes of passion". Publications by survivors declared as factual reports fueled the speculation even though they denied that people were violently killed.

The story of the holdouts on Anatahan was filmed in 1953 by Josef von Sternberg as " The Saga of Anatahan ". The book Anatahan was published in 1954 . Island of the wretched by one of the survivors, Michiro Maruyama, in German. The Japanese writer Natsuo Kirino took up the story in 2008 in Tōkyō-jima ; the novel was filmed in 2010 by director Makoto Shinozaki .

literature

  • Russell E. Brainard et al.: Coral reef ecosystem monitoring report of the Mariana Archipelago: 2003-2007. (= PIFSC Special Publication. SP-12-01) NOAA Fisheries, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center 2012 ( Chapter Anatahan (English, PDF, 8.4 MB)).

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry Anatáhan in the German Colonial Lexicon (1920), Volume I, p. 50 (accessed on December 27, 2012).
  2. ↑ Brainard, Coral reef ecosystem monitoring report , p. 1 (English, PDF, 8.4 MB)
  3. ^ Local earthquakes and strong thermal activity; youngest surge deposits appear no more than a few hundred years old. Monthly report 04/1990 in the Global Volcanism Program (accessed December 18, 2012).
  4. ^ Felt earthquakes and increased thermal activity. Monthly report 03/1990 in the Global Volcanism Program (accessed December 18, 2012).
  5. ↑ Earthquake swarm; island declared off-limits. Monthly report 05/1993 in the Global Volcanism Program (accessed December 18, 2012).
  6. ↑ Anatahan - Eruptive History in the Global Volcanism Program (accessed December 18, 2012).
  7. ↑ Small lava dome in inner crater destroyed by explosion; activity declines. Monthly report 06/2003 in the Global Volcanism Program (accessed December 18, 2012).
  8. ↑ Gerd Hardach: King Copra. The Mariana Islands under German rule 1899–1914. Steiner, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-515-05762-5 , p. 33.
  9. ^ Georg Fritz: Journey to the northern Marianas. In: Communications from explorers and scholars from the German protected areas , 1902 (15), pp. 96–118, here p. 98 (pdf, 3.7 MB).
  10. ↑ Hardach, König Kopra , pp. 124, 135-137.
  11. ↑ Brainard, Coral reef ecosystem monitoring report , p. 2 (English, PDF, 8.4 MB)
  12. ↑ Beatrice Trefalt: Japan Army stragglers and memories of the War in Japan, 1950-1975. (= Routledge studies in the modern history of Asia , Volume 13) Routledge Shorton, London 2003, ISBN 0-415-31218-3 , pp. 52-55. See also: Photographs of the holdouts in the Trust Territory Archives Photograph Collection (Retrieved January 13, 2013).
  13. ↑ Michiro Maruyama: Anatahan. Island of the wretched . Lothar Blanvalet Verlag, Berlin 1954, OCLC 73575536 .
  14. ↑ Mark Schilling: 'Tokyo-jima (Tokyo Island)'. Lust, power, death and deception - welcome to paradise. In: Japan Times , August 27, 2010 (accessed December 27, 2012).