Suwarrow

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Suwarrow
Satellite photo of Suwarrow
Satellite photo of Suwarrow
Waters Pacific Ocean
archipelago Cook Islands
Geographical location 13 ° 25 ′  S , 163 ° 7 ′  W Coordinates: 13 ° 25 ′  S , 163 ° 7 ′  W
Suwarrow (Cook Islands)
Suwarrow
Number of islands over 20
Main island Anchorage Island
length 15.3 km
width 12.8 km
Land area 40 ha
Residents uninhabited
Map of the atoll
Map of the atoll
Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / HoeheFehlt

Suwarrow , also called Suvorov or Suvarov , is an atoll in the northern part of the Cook Islands . It is located approximately 1,300 kilometers south of the equator and 825 kilometers northwest of Rarotonga , from where it is administered. The atoll has dimensions of 15.3 × 12.8 km and has a land area of ​​only 0.4 km². The two largest islands in the atoll are Anchorage Island and Motu Tou .

Islands

island Area
km²		 population
Anchorage Island 0.139 1
East Island 0.278 0
Entrance Island 0.014 0
Manu Island 0.121 0
Motu tou Island 0.31 0
One Tree Island 0.134 0
Other (Brushwood Island, Whale Island, Gull Island) 0.39 0
Turtle Island 0.214 0
Suwarrow totally 1.6 1

history

The atoll was uninhabited when it was discovered on September 17, 1814 by the crew of the Russian ship "Suvorov". After that, the island was only inhabited for a short time. During the Second World War , the writer Robert Dean Frisbie lived there as a naval observer. Frisbie described his experience about it in the novel The Island of Desire . Frisbie left the island in 1942 after a hurricane devastated 16 of the atoll's 22 islets. All that remained were domestic chickens and domestic pigs that went wild on the islands.

Anchorage Island

The New Zealander Tom Neale also lived as Robinson on Suwarrow after Frisbie raved about his dream island after the war. So in 1952 he packed his belongings, covered up extensively from 79 pounds and arrived at Suwarrow. He stayed until 1954 and was found sick from a sailing yacht after a supposed herniated disc, which later turned out to be arthritis. He did not come back to the island until 1960 and this time stayed until 1963 when he believed that for reasons of age (he was now 65 years old) he could no longer cope on his own. He finally returned a third time in 1967 and stayed until 1977, before developing stomach cancer at the age of 75. He died in Rarotonga Hospital within a few months. He wrote his experiences in 1966 on Rarotonga in the report "An Island to Oneself". The German title is "South Sea Dream Island".

National park

In 1978 the island was declared a National Park of the Cook Islands because of its unique fauna and flora . Among other things, this atoll is populated by palm thieves , a type of crab (English coconut crab). The only way to visit this remote region is by private ship or a chartered expedition from Rarotonga , the main island of the Cook Islands.

Web links