Raraka

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Raraka
LANDSAT image of Raraka
LANDSAT image by Raraka
Waters Pacific Ocean
archipelago Tuamotu Archipelago
Geographical location 16 ° 10 ′  S , 144 ° 54 ′  W Coordinates: 16 ° 10 ′  S , 144 ° 54 ′  W
Raraka (French Polynesia)
Raraka
Main island Motupapu
length 25.3 km
width 19.8 km
Land area 7.2 km²
Lagoon area 342 km²
Residents 96 (2017)
Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / HoeheFehlt

Raraka is an atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago in the South Pacific and politically belongs to the municipality ( commune associée ) Kauehi of the municipality of Fakarava in French Polynesia . The inhabited island is around 475 km northeast of Tahiti .

geography

The oval atoll with a diameter of approximately 19 × 24 km has a land area of ​​only 7.2 km², while the lagoon covers 342 km². Raraka is part of the "Tuamotu Seamount Trail" of the Pacific Plate . At 51.8 to 53.8 million years old, the atoll is relatively old, and the central mountain, formed from volcanic rocks, has long since sunk below sea level. All that remains is the reef wreath with the low motus of different sizes made of coral sand and debris . Numerous shallow tidal channels ( Hoa ) ensure the exchange of water with the open ocean, but there is only one navigable access to the lagoon, the Passe Manureva at the settlement in the northwest of the atoll. The landscape today is dominated by planted coconut palms . Remnants of original vegetation still exist on the smaller Motus. It is similar to the flora on the rest of the Tuamotu Islands and consists mainly of Pisonia grandis , heliotropes of the species Heliotropium foertherianum (synonyms: Argusia argentea , Tournefortia argentea ) and Pandanus tectorius with bushy and creeping plants as a growth and undergrowth.

population

Raraka has only one village on the Motu Tapu in the northwest and, like all remote islands of Polynesia, is suffering from a constant decline in population. In 2017 the island had 96 inhabitants, a decrease of 12% compared to 2012.

Economy and Infrastructure

Large areas of land ownership are the property of the pearl trader Robert Wang from Tahiti . The uninhabited Motu Tohepuku belonging to the reef rim of the atoll is also privately owned and is currently (as of 2020) for sale.

Raraka does not have a central power supply; the water is supplied via cisterns. There are no paved roads. A harbor basin that is only suitable for small boats is located on the lagoon side by the settlement. The village is accessed via a low concrete wharf . The nearest airport is on the island of Fakarava , about 1 hour away by boat. There is no doctor and no hospital. The children can attend a one-class village school, the opportunity to acquire a higher level of education only exists outside the island (as of 2017). There is a small Catholic church in the village, the "Eglise Sainte Thérèse de l'enfant-Jésus".

The islanders live mainly from subsistence farming and export some copra . Tourism is limited to occasional visits by circumnavigators, as the island is difficult to reach and there is no tourist infrastructure.

history

Little is known about the early history of the atoll, the only thing that is certain is that Polynesians settled it before the arrival of the first Europeans. On October 1, 1831, Raraka was discovered for Europe by John Ireland, the captain of the British brig Adhemar .

In September 1838 the French Jules Dumont d'Urville reached the island with the ships Astrolabe and Zèlée . In his travel report it is described under its Polynesian name Raraka and the coastline is partially mapped

On August 29, 1839, the Vincennes , the flagship of the United States Exploring Expedition (US Ex Ex) under the command of Charles Wilkes , arrived at Raraka. The islanders received the sailors in a friendly manner. There was an exchange of gifts and the chief and his wife boarded the Vincennes . Wilkes knew that civilization had already reached the island by the fact that the chief was waiting for a bottle of whiskey as a present. On the island were travelers from Tahiti and Anaa who had come in two large double-hulled canoes, evidence of the diverse and long-distance contacts between the Polynesian islands. The visitors lived in the huts of their canoes made of curved branches and mats, which they had set up on land. A Catholic missionary from Tahiti and several local lay priests were already active, and an English pearl trader who had been left sick by a schooner three months earlier had settled. At the entrance to the lagoon, the islanders built a fish trap out of coral blocks (it can still be seen today on the east side of the Manureva Pass). Wilkes could watch men, women, and children line up in the lagoon - men in deep water, children in shallow water - driving the fish into the trap with palm fronds. Then the entrance was closed with coral blocks and the caught fish were harpooned with spears.

Wilkes returned for another short stay on December 18, 1840. He also brought some items to the US that he had traded for Raraka. Underneath is a wooden bowl that looks like an elongated shovel and bears a clear resemblance to a comparable piece from Napuka . It was used to prepare and serve food and is now in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC

1977 Raraka, together with other regions of the municipalities Aratika , Fakarava, Kauehi , Niau , Taiaro and Toau by the UNESCO as a biosphere reserve classified.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Raraka in the Seamount Catalog [1]
  2. ^ Dieter Mueller-Dombois , F. Raymond Fosberg: Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands, Springer-Verlag, New York-Berlin 1998, ISBN 0-387-98313-9 , pp. 433-437
  3. ↑ a b All information on population and infrastructure: Services et établissements de la Polynésie française [2]
  4. ^ Andrew Sharp: The Discovery of the Pacific Islands. Oxford University Press 1960, p. 219
  5. ^ Heinrich Pleticha, Hermann Schreiber: The most important discoverers and their travels. Matrix-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2014, ISBN 978-3-8438-0398-4
  6. ↑ Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville: Voyage au pole sud et dans l'Océanie sur les corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée: exécuté par ordre du roi pendant les années 1837-1838-1839-1840. Gide, Paris 1841-1846
  7. ^ Charles Wilkes: Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia 1845, Volume 1, pp. 339 f.
  8. ↑ Kenneth P. Emory: Material culture of the Tuamotu Archipelago. Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu 1975, pp. 18 and 58

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