Tūpai

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tūpai
NASA image of Tupai
NASA image of Tupai
Waters Pacific Ocean
archipelago Society Islands
Geographical location 16 ° 16 ′  S , 151 ° 49 ′  W Coordinates: 16 ° 16 ′  S , 151 ° 49 ′  W
Tūpai (Society Islands)
Tūpai
Number of islands 5
Main island îlot au nord
Land area 11 km²
total area 38 km²
Residents uninhabited
Tupai as part of the municipality of Bora-Bora
Tupai as part of the municipality of Bora-Bora
Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / HoeheFehlt

Tūpai or Motu Iti is an atoll in the Society Islands archipelago in the Pacific Ocean and belongs to French Polynesia . It is located about 17 kilometers northwest of Bora Bora and 460 km northwest of Tahiti and is one of the Leeward Islands ("Îles sous-le-Vent") of the Society Islands. Administratively, the atoll belongs to the Commune associée (sub-municipality) Faanui-Tupai of the municipality of Bora-Bora .

geography

Two larger and some smaller islands surround the lagoon almost completely, the land area is about 11 km². The total area is 38 km², and the lagoon is up to 10 meters deep. In the east there are three smaller islands between the two larger islands, the North Island ( îlot au nord ) and the South Island ( îlot au sud ). From north to south these are Hautumaire , Motu nono and Urareva . There is an airfield on the North Island ( IATA airport code TPX, ICAO code NTTU) through which the workers from Bora-Bora are brought to the coconut palm plantations on Tupai. This location is shown on maps as Hihopu . However, the atoll has no permanent residents. There used to be a second village in the east of the North Island, called Fareapaea . It was on Passe Teavamoa , which separates the North Island from the smaller island of Hautumaire .

history

Tupai was discovered by James Cook in 1769 as the first European.

The atoll was part of Bora-Bora before. After the coconut plantations were established, the southern part of the atoll was allocated to the people of Faanui for copra harvest , with the boat passages Passe Teavamoa , Passe Apooparai and Passe Tetapae in the east. The west was given to the people of Vaitape .

In 1860, the King of Bora-Bora Tapoa II left the atoll to the Nova Scotia plantation operator N. Stackett, who planted numerous coconut palms there. For decades, a few dozen people worked on the plantation and produced coconut oil from the copra yields of around 155,000 coconut trees with a steam-powered oil mill. In 1997 the territorial government bought the atoll back from the then owner, the notary Marcel Lejeune from Papeete, for US $ 8 million in order to be able to plan holiday resorts. Around 1,000 traditional landowners are asserting rights to property in the atoll.

Historical maps

  • Map of the Tupai Atoll

  • Traditional terres outline of Tupai

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Atoll Area, Depth and Rainfall . (PDF) geosociety.org
  2. ↑ M.-H. Sachet: Botanique de l'Île Tupai, Îles de la Societé. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 276, December 1983 , p. 3
  3. ↑ David Stanley: South Pacific Handbook, 7th edition, Emeryville 2000, ISBN 1-56691-172-9 , p. 247 ( online )

Web links

Commons : Tupai  - collection of images, videos and audio files