Niuafo'ou

Niuafo'ou
Satellite image of Niuafoʻou
Waters	Pacific Ocean
Archipelago	Niuas
Geographical location	15 ° 36 ′ 12 ″  S , 175 ° 38 ′ 13 ″  W Coordinates: 15 ° 36 ′ 12 ″  S , 175 ° 38 ′ 13 ″  W
surface	52.3 km²
Highest elevation	250  m
Residents	493 (2016) 9.4 inhabitants / km²
main place	Esia
Map of Niuafoʻou

Niuafoʻou ( German  Niuafoou ) or Tin Can Island , old name: Proby's Island ( Edward Edwards ), is a volcanic island belonging to the Kingdom of Tonga in the southern Pacific , which is geographically part of the Niua group . The archipelago was discovered for Europe on May 11, 1616 by Willem Cornelisz Schouten . Niuafo'ou was given the name "coconut island", which is no longer in use today.

Surname

The name Tin Can Island ( Tin Can Island ) has its origins in the fact that a safe landing by boat on the rocky coast is hardly possible. From the end of the 19th century, mail was therefore soldered into tin cans and passed by swimmers to passing ships for onward transport or taken over from there. This was very dangerous because of the sharks in the waters and the strong surf, but remained - with interruptions - until the opening of the airfield in 1983. From the 1920s, the letters delivered were given a special "Tin Can Mail" stamp, which they to coveted collectibles.

geography

administration

The island also forms the administrative district of the same name with eight inhabited villages, all of which are in the north and east of the island.

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Village	Residents 2006	Residents 2016	Coordinates
Esia	170	127	15 ° 34 ′ 27 ″  S , 175 ° 38 ′ 19 ″  W.
Kolofo'ou	113	43	15 ° 34 ′ 24 ″  S , 175 ° 38 ′ 7 ″  W.
'Angahā	-	-	15 ° 34 ′ 27 ″  S , 175 ° 37 ′ 53 ″  W.
Sapa'ata	120	145	15 ° 34 ′ 28 ″  S , 175 ° 37 ′ 41 ″  W.
Fata'ulua	48	64	15 ° 34 ′ 45 ″  S , 175 ° 37 ′ 16 ″  W.
Mata'aho	34	16	15 ° 35 ′ 2 ″  S , 175 ° 36 ′ 57 ″  W.
Mu'a	33	15th	15 ° 36 ′ 12 ″  S , 175 ° 36 ′ 31 ″  W.
Tongamama'o	43	15th	15 ° 37 ′ 17 ″  S , 175 ° 36 ′ 44 ″  W.
Petani	85	68	15 ° 37 ′ 26 ″  S , 175 ° 37 ′ 3 ″  W.
Futu	-	-	15 ° 35 ′ 32 ″  S , 175 ° 40 ′ 25 ″  W.
Niuafo'ou	646	493	15 ° 36 ′ 12 ″  S , 175 ° 38 ′ 13 ″  W.

ʻAngahā in the north sank between September 9 and 17, 1946, resulting in the island being temporarily evacuated. Futu on the west coast sank in a volcanic eruption on June 25, 1929. ʻĀhau in the southwest was destroyed in 1853.

population

According to the 2016 census, the island has a total of 493 inhabitants. In the 1996 census it was 735.

The islanders are mostly self-sufficient. Main foods are: yams , taro , breadfruit , pork, chicken and fish, and all kinds of tropical fruits. A small amount of copra is produced for export and shipped from a warehouse in Futu as needed.

geology

Niuafoʻou consists of a single shield volcano that rises up to 250 m from the sea and is not surrounded by a coral reef .

In the caldera in the middle of the island is the extensive crater lake Vai Lahi ("Big Lake"). It has a diameter of 4.5 kilometers and, at 13.6 km², takes up almost a third of the entire island area of ​​52.3 km². A German-Polish expedition carried out, among other things, a precise measurement and chemical analysis of the water in 1968. According to the echo sounder measurements , the Vai Lahi is up to 121 m deep and, depending on the water level, contains around 0.98 km³ of water, which results in an average depth of 72 meters.

Four islands, densely covered with tropical vegetation, rise from the lake: Motu Lahi, Motu Siʻi, Motu Molemole and the Motu Aʻali, which is only visible when the water level is low. Motu Molemole has its own small crater lake. In the same caldera, separated from Vai Lahi only by a narrow land bridge, lies the much smaller and up to 31 m deep lake Vai Siʻi with a surface of 0.81 km². The crater lakes have no connection to the sea, no runoff and are only fed by rainwater. This leads to the fact that the water is constantly enriched with dissolved ingredients from the weathered volcanic rock. The lake water is only slightly salty, but highly alkaline and is therefore not suitable for supplying drinking water. There are hydrothermal springs in both lakes .

The volcano was often active in historical times. Larger eruptions are known from the years 1853 (destroyed the village of Ahau), 1929 (destroyed the village of Futu), 1943 and 1946. After the volcanic eruption of September 9, 1946, the administration of the Kingdom of Tonga had all residents evacuated to Eua . In some cases this happened against the will of those affected. They founded settlements on previously uncultivated land in the south of the island, which were given the names of their abandoned home villages. It was not until 1958 that some emigrants returned to Niuafo'ou. The volcanic activities, the last one took place in 1985, have shaped the landscape. In the west and south there are extensive, partly desert lava fields , which were created in the recent eruptions. Otherwise, the island is densely covered with tropical greenery and fertile cultivation areas.

Creation legend

According to a local legend, a demon from Samoa is responsible for the formation of the crater lake . At night he stole the mountain top of Niuafo'ou, at this point the deep crater remained. The shark god Seketoa of the neighboring island Niuatoputapu noticed this and sent the "Matapules", his assistants, to pursue the demon. The assistants crowed like roosters, so that the demon thought it was morning and he had lost his power. He dropped the mountain into the sea and the island of Tafahi was formed .

Flora and fauna

With the exception of the arid lava fields and the cultivated areas in the vicinity of the villages, the island is densely covered with tropical forest and scrubland, which is still largely natural.

The larger trees near the coast are mostly Casuarina equisetifolia , interspersed with coconut palms . The forests further inland consist mainly of Glochidion ramiflorum, Elaeocarpus tonganus, Rhus tahitensis , which belongs to the sumac family ( Anacardiaceae ), and various species of Ficus . The pre- and undergrowth consists of Premna tahitensis, Morinda citrifolia , Scaevola taccada and Pipturus argenteus from the nettle family ( Urticaceae ). The damp crevices are densely covered with ferns, mainly Davalliaceae and plants of the genus Nephrolepis sp . Pilot plants on the arid lava fields are the grasses Digitaria pruriens and Eragrostis amabilis .

In the crater endemic to Niuafo'ou breeds Pritchardhuhn ( Megapodius pritchardii ), which is critically endangered. The German biologist Dieter Rinke has settled some breeding pairs on Fonualei , an uninhabited island that also belongs to the Kingdom of Tonga. They have now multiplied there.

climate

The climate is tropical and humid with mostly abundant, but only brief, rainfall. The average annual rainfall is 2180 mm, the rainiest months are January to March. There are no distinct seasons. The temperature is relatively constant, does not fall below 20 ° C and is rarely more than 30 ° C. Niuafoʻou is located in the hurricane belt of the South Pacific. In 1998 hurricane "Ron" hit the island and caused considerable damage, 74 houses were destroyed. Hurricane "Waka" on December 30, 2001 also caused severe damage.

Infrastructure

The island is accessed by a ring road that connects the villages with each other, but there are only a few cars. The main means of transport are horses. The largest village is Esia in the north, not far from the airfield. Other villages are Angaha / Kolofoʻou , Sapaʻata , Fataʻulua , Mataʻaho , Muʻa , Tongamamaʻo and Petani .

The island has no port, just a concrete ramp as a loading point for small boats near the former village of Futu on the west coast, which was buried in a volcanic eruption.

The small airfield "Queen Lavinia Airport" ( IATA- Code NFO) with its 1065 m long runway is located in the north of the island and is currently approached once every three weeks with small propeller planes from Tongatapu / Tonga, with a stopover on Vavaʻu .

economy

The tourism is sparsely developed a tourist infrastructure with restaurants and hotels do not exist, only two or three modestly-equipped private accommodations (guesthouses). Niuafoʻou has no beach, only a few, only a few square meters large accumulations of black, volcanic sand.

Although it belongs to the Kingdom of Tonga , the island has had its own postal sovereignty since 1983 and can issue its own postage stamps , which are mainly sold to collectors around the world.

Web links

• Niuafou Island . In: The Gazebo . Issue 43, 1878, pp. 718-720 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
• Niuafoʻou in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
• Detailed topographic map

Remarks

1. ↑ The villages are listed clockwise in the table below, starting in the north. Two submerged villages that are not listed in the current census statistics are also listed because they have similar names on the southern Tonga island of 'Eua. Of the villages listed, only Kolofoʻou has no name equivalent to 'Eua.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the origin of this name see: Edward Edwards: Voyage of HMS Pandora: Despatched to arrest the Mutineers of the "Bounty" . Salzwasser Verlag, Paderborn, 2009, p. 42.
2. ^ NN: Mail from the tin can . In: Mint. The philately journal. November / December 2010, p. 26f.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Tonga 2016 - Census of Population and Housing, Vol 1, p. 19
4. ↑ Jósef Kazmierczak and Stephan Kempe: Genuine modern analogues of Precambrian stromatolites from caldera lakes of Niuafoou Island, Tonga in Naturwissenschaften, Volume 93, 2006, pp. 119–126
5. ^ Garth Rogers: The Evacuation of Niuafoʻou, an Outlier in the Kingdom of Tonga . In: The Journal of Pacific History , Vol. 16, No. 3, July 1981, pp. 149-163
6. ^ Peter Mueller-Dombois & Raymond Fosberg: Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands , New York 1998, pp. 357-358
7. ↑ Berliner Morgenpost of June 22, 2003
8. ↑ cidi.org ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 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. 
9. ↑ iys.cidi.org ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.