Pukapuka (Cook Islands)
| Pukapuka (Cook Islands) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| archipelago | Cook Islands | |
| Geographical location | 10 ° 54 ′ S , 165 ° 49 ′ W | |
|
||
| Number of islands | over 30 | |
| Main island | Pukapuka | |
| Land area | 3 km² | |
| Lagoon area | 5 km² | |
| Residents | 451 (2011) | |
 |
||
Pukapuka (also: Danger Islands) is a coral atoll in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean .
geography
In addition to the inhabited main island of the same name, the atoll includes the three uninhabited Motus (secondary islands) Toka , Motu Ko and Moto Kutawa . Among the inhabited islands of the Cook Islands, this atoll is one of the most isolated. Today about 500 people live on Pukapuka in three villages Roto , Yato and Ngake .
In the sports competitions popular on the island, the villages compete under the names (and with the flag and anthem of these states) Netherlands, Japan and the USA; these terms are also often used for the villages in everyday life.
traffic
Although the island has a well-developed and well-maintained runway for airplanes, it is rarely served. Air Rarotonga's only scheduled flight connection was canceled for economic reasons after rising fuel costs led to a sharp decline in the number of passengers. In addition, Pukapuka is closer to Samoa than to the other islands of the Cook Islands.
history
There is archaeological evidence of a settlement around 300 BC. BC as well as around 400 AD. It is not known whether the atoll was continuously populated, since the next records on the 13th / 14th. Date to the 16th century.
Pukapuka was discovered on August 20, 1592 by the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendana .
In February 2005, Pukapuka, like the neighboring island of Nassau , was badly hit by cyclone Percy .
language
The indigenous Polynesian language Pukapuka is spoken by 840 people in Pukapuka and neighboring Nassau . Another 1200 speakers of the Pukapuka now live in Rarotonga , New Zealand and Australia ( Ethnologue 2005). Pukapuka became literary known through the writer Robert Dean Frisbie in his book Island of Desire .
Web links
- Script and video of the part of the ARD series On the Date Line through the South Seas from 2004, which deals with Pukapuka ( Memento from July 22, 2010 on WebCite )
- Pukapuka - The Island of Danger - Homepage with information, photos and map ( English )
- Information about Pukapuka at www.janeresture.com ( English )
