D'Urville Island (New Zealand)

D'Urville Island
	Aerial view
Waters	Marlborough Sounds ( South Pacific )
Geographical location	40 ° 50 ′ S , 173 ° 52 ′ E Coordinates: 40 ° 50 ′ S , 173 ° 52 ′ E
length	32.2 km
width	10.6 km
surface	150 km²
Highest elevation	Attempt Hill ; (Maunga Wetekia) ; 729 m
Residents	52 ; <1 inh / km²
main place	Owhata

D'Urville Island is an island in the Marlborough Sounds on the north coast of New Zealand's South Island . It is named after the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville and with an area of about 150 km² it is the eighth largest island in New Zealand. It has a permanent population of around 52. The main town is Owhata in the southwest. The island reaches its greatest height of 729 meters in Attempt Hill .

The name of the island in the Māori language is Rangitoto Ki Te Tonga , the local Māori tribes are the Ngāti Koata and Ngāti Kuia .

The Cook Strait , which separates the two main New Zealand islands, runs north of the island . The island is separated from the mainland by the dangerous French Pass (Māori: Te Aumiti ). When the tide changes, the water flows through the passage at up to 8 knots (14 km / h), then several vortices are created . D'Urville examined the passage for several days in 1827 and damaged his ship in the process. The French Pass Lighthouse was built on the passage in 1864 . The main tower is on the mainland, another on a reef that runs off the island.

Even before the arrival of the Europeans, the Māori used the island to mine minerals, especially the fine-grained sedimentary rock adzite , a particularly hard argillite that they used to make clubs and tools.

Large parts of the island are forested.

Smaller islands around D'Urville Island are:

in the north: Stephens Island , Te Wakaapani , Te Mokaipani , Nga Tamahineapani , Victory Island
in the southeast: Steward Island , Anatakupu Island , Penguin Island
in the northeast: Wakaterapapanui Island , Puangiangi Island , Tinui Island
in the south: Hautai Island
to the west: Puotewheke , Tu Araiawa Island , Rahuinui Island , Hapuka Island , Cone Island

Individual evidence

↑ Gerard Hindmarsh: Discovering D'Urville . Heritage New Zealand. 2006. Retrieved January 13, 2011.
^ Map of D'Urville Island . (PDF (816 kB)) Geographx , archived from the original on June 5, 2010 ; accessed on August 10, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).

The offshore islands of Wakaterapapanui, Tinui and Puangiangi in the east

[heritage-1] Gerard Hindmarsh: Discovering D'Urville . Heritage New Zealand. 2006. Retrieved January 13, 2011.

[geogra_1-2] Map of D'Urville Island . (PDF (816 kB)) Geographx , archived from the original on June 5, 2010 ; accessed on August 10, 2014 (English, original website no longer available).