Gambier Islands
| Gambier Islands | ||
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| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| archipelago | Tuamotu Archipelago | |
| Geographical location | 23 ° 9 ′ S , 134 ° 57 ′ W | |
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| Number of islands | 43 | |
| Main island | Mangareva | |
| Land area | 31 km² | |
| Lagoon area | 450 km² | |
| Highest elevation |
Mont Duff 441 m |
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| Residents | 1310 (2012) | |
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The Gambier Islands (other name Mangarevainseln , French Îles Gambier ) are an archipelago comprising 43 islands east of the 140th longitude in the South Pacific, about 1800 kilometers southeast of Tahiti . Geographically, the Gambier Islands belong to the Tuamotu Archipelago , politically to French Polynesia .
geography
Although geographically belonging to the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Gambier Islands show a completely different landscape. In contrast to the flat coral atolls of the other Tuamotus, the Mangarevainseln consist of volcanic rocks. They are the remains of the former central volcano, located in the middle of a lagoon more than 25 km in diameter, which is surrounded by a fringing reef from which numerous flat motus rise.
Manga region islands
Located in the center of the group, eight kilometers long and on average one and a half kilometers wide, the main island Mangareva is of volcanic origin. The highest point is the Mont Duff with 440 meters in the south of the island. There are no rivers and streams, rainwater collected in cisterns serves as a water supply .
Of the 450 km² total area of the atoll, only 31 km² are land. Of this, 18 km² are on the main island of Mangareva.
Four islands are inhabited ( 2012 census ):
- Mangareva (1239, main town Rikitea , further districts Kirimiro, Gatavake, Atituiti, Akaputu, Taku)
- Aukena (40, historical place Purirau, current settlement not in the same place)
- Akamaru (22, historical place Tokani, current settlement not in the same place)
- Taravai (9, historical place Agonoko)
Other islands within the reef are:
- Agakauitai
- Atumata
- Kamaka (still four inhabitants at the 2002 census)
- Manui
- Makapu
- Makaroa
- Manui
- Mekiro
- Motu-o-ari
- Motu Teiku
- Rumarei
- Teohootepohatu
- Tepu-nui
Numerous other motus are - as usual with atolls - on the reef, especially in the north and east, including the elongated island of Totegegie with the airport. The tiny Tokorua group lies on the western corner of the fringing reef.
The largest settlement is the village of Rikitea in the southeast of the main island Mangareva with 511 inhabitants, mostly of Polynesian origin. The main source of income today is the breeding of the black-lipped pearl mussel ( Pinctada margaritifera cumingi ) for the production of black pearls . The trade in black pearls is predominantly controlled by Hong Kong Chinese. As a result of pearl farming, Chinese, Europeans and Japanese have settled on the islands in recent years.
More islands
Geographically, the uninhabited Temoe atoll about 50 km southeast of Mangareva also belongs to the Gambier Islands .
Further east there are two submarine coral reefs :
- The Portland Bank is 17 miles southeast of Temoe. It extends over an area of 8 km² and has a shallowest depth of 8.8 meters.
- The Minerve Reef (also: Ebril Reef) is 137 km northeast of Mangareva. It extends over an area of around 240 km² and has a minimum depth of 14 meters.
geology
The Gambier Islands emerged from a hot spot under the Pacific Plate that moves northwest at a rate of 12.5 cm per year. They are part of an atoll that was formed between 5.6 and 5.7 million years ago. The central island has already partially sunk, so that the former parts of the crater rim still protrude from the water as islands of igneous rocks . The long sunken caldera can still be guessed at from the location of the islands in the lagoon . The entire group sits on a submarine elevation that sinks relatively quickly in the south and east, so that the 65 km long fringing reef only protrudes above the water surface on three sides. Numerous low motus , consisting of coral sand and debris, rise only a little above the sea surface.
climate
The mean annual temperature is 23 ° C, with only minor differences between the months. An average of 1700 mm of rain falls annually (in comparison: Cologne 700 mm). The rainiest months are October and November. There are no distinct seasons.
Flora and fauna
The volcanic islands are covered with lush, tropical vegetation . The leeward side of Mt. Duff is dry grassland.
The coral islands of the fringing reef are species-poor because of the less fertile soil. Most of the coconut trees thrive here , which are used economically for a small copra production.
The species-poor fauna of the coral islands is limited to birds, insects and lizards. The wildlife under water is all the more species-rich. All kinds of coral fish make the lagoon a paradise for divers.
history
The ethnologist Kenneth P. Emory of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu assumed that the Gambier Islands, like the other East Polynesian islands, were settled from the Marquesas . In the meantime, however, it is assumed that settlement originated in the Society Islands , around 1000 AD.
Archaeological evidence shows that the islands of Mangareva, Taravai, Agakauitai, Akamaru, Aukena and Kamaka were inhabited by Polynesians in the protohistoric period. The form of society was a strictly stratified tribal society , which got itself up in constant wars between the clans , in which there was temporary food shortage and in which cannibalism was not unknown. There are indications that shortly before the European influence began, a radical change was underway that led to upheaval and civil war between the social classes. This social upheaval is likely to have made the conquest of the archipelago by King Pomaré II of Tahiti at the beginning of the 19th century much easier. Until the second half of the 19th century, the archipelago remained under the influence of the Pomaré royal dynasty of Tahiti.
The Gambier Islands were discovered for Europe in 1797 by James Wilson , captain of the Duff ship of the London Missionary Society , which set out from Great Britain to do missionary work in Tahiti, Tonga and the Marquesas . He named the islands after his model, the Huguenot James Gambier , who had financially supported the expedition.
In 1825 the Briton Frederick William Beechey reached the Gambier Islands with his ship HMS Blossom during an extensive research trip to the Pacific and arctic North America. He describes the residents as very friendly but thieving and describes them as follows:
“The natives were tall and handsome, with thick black hair and beards and tattoos everywhere… They had no weapons other than long clubs and were completely naked, with the exception of a banana leaf cut into strips that they had tied around their hips . One or two men wore white turbans. "
With the expansion of the French sphere of influence in the South Pacific, the Catholic missionary work in Polynesia began. The Gambier Islands were one of the few islands whose inhabitants had not already been converted by the ( Methodist ) London Missionary Society. In 1834 the Fathers Honoré Laval and François d'Assise Caret of the order “Pères et religieuses des Sacrés-Cœurs de Picpus” (short: Picpusiens), founded in 1800, arrived on the ship Peruviana on the island of Akamaru . At first King Maputeoa, the last king of Mangareva, resisted, but after he attributed the recovery from a serious illness to the new god, he came more and more under the influence of the Christian missionaries and was baptized in 1836. First with the toleration and later with the active support of the ruler, the Picpusiens developed an extensive development program for the islands. This included extensive construction activity with numerous church and other public buildings on all islands, the cultivation and processing of cotton, pearl and mother-of-pearl fishing (which brought the order considerable prosperity) and the creation of plantations and kitchen gardens. Large numbers of workers were shipped from Mangreva to Tahiti to build Papeete Cathedral in 1856 .
The forced employment of workers for the major projects depopulated the smaller Gambier Islands and led to famine , as the daily food procurement was neglected. This and the spread of previously unknown infectious diseases resulted in impoverishment and a drastic population decline. On the other hand, the missionaries suppressed the constant tribal wars and human sacrifice and fought cannibalism.
The French governor of Tahiti watched Father Laval's goings-on for many years. It was only when complaints from businessmen and merchant ships were mounting that he intervened. Père Laval had to leave Mangareva in 1871 at the behest of the Bishop of Tahiti, Florentin Etienne "Tepano" Jaussen. He died poor and bitter on November 1st, 1880 and was buried in Tahiti.
In 1881 France took over the administration of the islands. Today they are part of the overseas territory of French Polynesia .
The stationing of military personnel on the Gambier Islands for the French nuclear weapons tests on the Mururoa Atoll, about 400 km away , led to a temporary economic upturn in the 1960s to 1980s. The runway on the Motu Totegie in front of Mangareva ( ICAO ID: NTGY; just as long as that of Dortmund Airport) was built in 1967/68 by the French Air Force , measuring 2000 meters and now used by civilians .
The experiments probably also had unpleasant side effects. The radioactive fallout likely increased cancer rates among residents of the Gambier Islands. Data on this was collected, but has so far remained under lock and key. The French military built a bunker-like shelter on Mangareva, in which the inhabitants were supposed to get to safety during the nuclear weapon tests. The bunker is still standing today. Until the end of the 1980s, the Gambier Islands could only be visited with a special permit from the French military authorities.
Arts and Culture
Little is known about the art and culture of the Gambier Islands prior to the European influence. Ethnological investigations on a scientific basis could not take place because the works of art were almost completely destroyed by the missionaries in a very short time. Father Laval boasted of burning 40 wooden idols in a single day. The scant information that has come down to the religion and cult of the Gambier Islands comes mainly from letters from the missionaries to their superiors. Whether they are objective may be doubted.
Lieutenant Belcher from the Beechey expedition still had the opportunity to visit a place of worship on Mangareva Island. He describes them as:
“A thatched hut twenty feet long, ten feet wide and seven feet high contained the idols. In front of the structure, a twenty square foot space was paved with hewn coral blocks and bordered with curbs. Inside the hut was a three-foot-high demarcation along its entire length, in the middle of which stood a three-foot-high, finely carved and polished idol. The eyebrows, but not the eyes themselves, were formed and from the way the figure was carved it could be concluded that no consideration had been given to the human anatomy. The idol was positioned in an upright position and attached to the wall of the hut by its extremities. The head and loin were tied with a piece of white cloth and the feet were in a water-filled calabash. Various paddles, mats, pulleys and clothing were arranged next to the idol, apparently gifts to the deity. On each side of the idol were three-armed, carved stands, on which various objects were presented, such as decorated coconut shells, and pieces of bamboo, possibly intended to represent musical instruments. "
Worldwide only eight works of art from the Gambier Islands from the pre-European period have survived, including a carved deity like the one Beechey describes in the above text in the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie in Paris . The approximately one meter wide, remotely human-like wooden statue represents the god Rao is, as described by Father Caret said to be the "God of iniquity", the third most important deity in the pantheon of Mangereva. In the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, a four-armed stand - as also described in the text excerpt above - is on display. Another approximately one meter tall, naturalistically designed statue in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is believed to represent the god Rogo , the sixth son of Tagaroa and Haumea , the mythical founders of Mangareva. Rogo was the deity of peace and hospitality and revealed himself as a rainbow . His worship was associated with the cultivation of turmeric .
economy
The residents are self-sufficient. Yams , taro and breadfruit are grown , as well as all kinds of tropical fruits and, on a smaller scale, coffee for export . The basis of life is also fishing, pig and chicken breeding.
Black pearls are grown on Aukena and other islands.
Politics and administration
Politically, the Gambier Islands belong to French Polynesia . They form one of 17 communes ( Commune des Gambier ) administered by a subdivision ( Subdivision administrative des Tuamotu-Gambier ) of the High Commission of French Polynesia ( Haut-commissariat de la République en Polynésie française ) in Papeete , Tahiti . In addition to the Gambier Islands in a geographical sense (i.e. including the Gambier and Temoe atolls), the following atolls in the southeast of the Tuamotu Archipelago belong to the municipality of Gambier:
- Atoll de Maturei Vavao
- Atoll de Tenararo
- Atoll de Tenarunga (or Tenania)
- Atoll de Vahanga
- Atoll de Maria
- Atoll de Marutea Sud
- Atoll de Morane
The community of Gambier has a total of 1421 inhabitants, the population density is 43 inhabitants / km².
The official language is French. The currency is (still) the CFP franc, which is linked to the euro. The administrative budget of the Gambier Islands is largely subsidized with funds from France and the EU.
The main island is Mangareva, but only the seat of the local administration is located there.
literature
- FW Beechey: Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific an the Beering's Strait. London 1831.
- Hans-Otto Meissner: Islands of the South Seas . Bertelsmann Verlag 1979, new edition 1987, ISBN 3-570-04842-X (contains the detailed history of the South Seas Cathedral).
- Anthony JP Meyer: Oceanic Art . Könemann Verlag 1995, ISBN 3-89508-080-2 , pp. 540-543.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ National Geographic Map: The earth's fractured surface , Washington, DC, supplement to the April 1995 issue
- ↑ V. Cloutard & A. Bonneville: Ages of seamounts, islands and plateaus on the Pacific plate , Paris 2004
- ^ KP Emory, YH Sinoto: Preliminary Report on the Archaeological Investigations in Polynesia. Honolulu 1965
- ^ Patrick Vinton Kirch: On the Road of the Winds - An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact. University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 2000.
- ^ MI Weisler: An Archaeological Survey of Mangareva: Implications for Regional Settlement Models and Interaction Studies. In: Man and Culture in Oceania 12 (1996), pp. 61-85.
- ↑ Te Rangi Hiroa : Ethnology of Mangareva. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin No. 157, Honolulu 1938.
- ^ Patrick Vinton Kirch: On the Road of the Winds - An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands before European Contact. University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 2000, p. 267.
- ↑ a b Frederick William Beechey : Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Beering's strait, to co-operate with the polar expeditions: performed in His Majesty's ship Blossom, under the command of Captain FW Beechey… in the years 1825, 26, 27 , 28. Carey & Lea Philadelphia 1831.
- ^ Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF) - Recensement de la population 2012
