Nukufetau
| Nukufetau | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| archipelago | Ellice Islands | |
| Geographical location | 8 ° 0 ′ S , 178 ° 22 ′ E | |
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| Number of islands | 33 | |
| Main island | Fale | |
| length | 14 km | |
| width | 10 km | |
| Land area | 2.99 km² | |
| Residents | 536 (2012) | |
Nukufetau (historically De Peyster Islands ) is an atoll in the Pacific island state of Tuvalu . It is located around 57 kilometers southwest of Vaitupu .
geography
The atoll has approximately the shape of a rectangle 8 kilometers wide and 14 kilometers long. Nukufetau consists of a total of 33 Motu , the largest are Fale , Motulalo and Lafaga . The total area is 116 square kilometers , the land area is 2.99 square kilometers. The atoll has 536 inhabitants (as of 2012).
The lagoon has only two connections to the ocean. In the west, a deep passage (Teafuone or Teafua Pass) allows access to the lagoon for medium-sized ships. It was also used by the US Navy supply ships during World War II.
Islands
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and 12 other tiny islets. |
flora
The flora of Nukufetau is similar to that of the rest of the Tuvalu Islands, the vegetation of which was fundamentally changed during the long settlement first by the Polynesians and later by the Europeans. Today the dominant plant is the coconut palm . The few remnants of the original vegetation, mainly on the small motu, there are typical from the coral islands of the South Pacific, low-growing deciduous and scrub forest, with Pisonia grandis , Cordia subcordata , Pemphis acidula from the family of Lythraceae ( Lythraceae ), Scaevola taccata and Morinda citrifolia .
history
According to tradition, the island was settled from Tonga . When the Polynesian explorers landed, they saw a mighty fetau tree ( Calophyllum inophyllum ). They therefore gave it the name Nuku Fetau, translated: Island of the Fetau tree. The legend goes on to say that three different clans founded settlements on different Motu: on Lafaga (Lafanga) in the east, Motulalo in the southeast and Fale in the southwest. Today there is only one village on the Motu Savave in the southeast, a foundation of the missionaries.
Nukufetau was discovered for Europe on May 18, 1819 by Arent Schuyler de Peyster of New York, captain of the Brigantine Rebecca , which sailed under the British flag. However, he did not enter the islands.
In 1820 the Russian frigate Mirny reached the island of Nukufetau under the command of Mikhail Petrovich Lasarew . Some islanders rowed four canoes to the Mirny . Lazarev describes them as very peaceful people. A barter, writes Lazarev, did not really get off the ground because the islanders obviously had no idea of the needs of the foreign seafarers because they carried only a few fresh fruits and coconuts with them. On the other hand, they also showed no interest in the otherwise coveted hardware, the purpose of which, Lazarev supposed, they did not know.
The ships of the United States Exploring Expedition under the command of Charles Wilkes arrived at Nukufetau on March 18, 1841. Several fully occupied canoes with mat sails approached the ships. About 20 to 30 people came on board, they danced and sang and tried to exchange some coconuts, pandanus fruits and taro . Iron axes in particular were highly sought-after barter goods. In the evening a chief who obviously suffered from elephantiasis came on board. He listed six villages on the islands of the atoll, five in the northeast and one in the southwest. Wilkes estimated the population at a total of one thousand.
In 1863, Peruvian blackbirders raided the Tuvalu islands of Nukulaelae and Funafuti and abducted more than 400 people - over half the population - as contract workers to Chile and Peru. In May 1863 at least one ship also came to Nukufetau, but could only recruit three people there. Two of them managed to escape during a stopover on Rotuma Island , they are said to have finally found their way back to their home island.
Native missionaries from the London Missionary Society (LMS) of Samoa Christianized the islanders in the second half of the 19th century. Between 1865 and 1899 they organized 33 mission trips to the Tuvalu Islands, in which a total of 22 missionaries were involved.
On August 16, 1872, the sail and steam powered cruiser HMS Basilisk under the command of John Moresby arrived off Nukufetau. Moresby described the atoll as "densely covered by coco-nut trees". A brig was anchored in the lagoon , which was supposed to bring a cargo of coconut oil to Sydney. At that time there was only a white resident and a few missionaries from Samoa among the Polynesian natives who had built a church and a school out of coral rock.
In 1943, pioneers of the United States Naval Construction Forces (NCF) built a jetty for supply ships and an airfield on Motulalo, on which Consolidated B-24 bombers were temporarily stationed. Although Japanese bombers repeatedly attacked the neighboring island of Funafuti , Nukufetau remained undisturbed. The airfield was abandoned after the end of the Pacific War .
Today Nukufetau has no airfield and no port, only a jetty on the lagoon side at Savave, which can be reached via an artificially deepened channel through the coral reef. There is no tourist infrastructure, in particular there are no hotels and no restaurants. The island has no paved roads and there are no cars (as of 2002). The main means of transport is the boat.
The former Prime Minister of Tuvalu (2002–2004), Saufatu Sopoanga , is from Nukufetau, as has the Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga, who has been in office since 2013 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chunting Xue: Coastal Sedimentation, Erosion and Management of Southwest Nukufetau Atoll, Tuvalu. Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), Technical Report No. 238, 1996
- ^ Tuvalu Online GIS. Tuvalu Central Statistics Office, January 2015, accessed January 8, 2015 .
- ^ Dieter Mueller-Dombois , F. Raymond Fosberg: Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands . Springer-Verlag, New York-Berlin 1998, ISBN 0-387-98313-9 , p. 328
- ↑ a b c Simati Faaniu, Hugh Laracy (ed.): Tuvalu - A History. University of the South Pacific, Suva, 1983
- ^ NN: Military (1776 – '79) transactions of major, afterwards Colonel, 8th or King's foot, Arent Schuyler de Peyster. . . Details of the discovery of the Ellice and de Peyster Islands in the Pacific Ocean in May, 1819 [1]
- ^ Charles Wilkes: Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. By Charles Wilkes, USN Commander Of The Expedition, Member Of The American Philosophical Society, Etc. Volume 5, Lea & Blanchard, Philadelphia 1845, pp. 40-44
- ^ Henry Evans Maude : Slavers in Paradise. The Peruvian slave trade in Polynesia, 1862–1864. Stanford University Press 1981, p. 79
- ^ Doug Munro: The Lagoon Islands: A History of Tuvalu, 1820-1908. Macquarie University, Sydney 1982
- ^ Doug Munro, Andrew Thornley (eds.): The Covenant makers, Islander Missionaries in the Pacific. Pacific Theological College, Suva 1996, p. 134
- ^ John Moresby: Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea and the D´Entrecasteaux Islands. London 1876, p. 77
