Tureia
Tureia | ||
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NASA image of Tureia | ||
Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
archipelago | Tuamotu Archipelago | |
Geographical location | 20 ° 50 ′ S , 138 ° 32 ′ W | |
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Number of islands | - | |
Main island | Tekaruga | |
Land area | 8.3 km² | |
Lagoon area | 47 km² | |
Residents | 311 (2007) | |
Map of Tureia |
Tureia (also called Papahena or Papakena , old name: Carysfort Island ) is an atoll in the southeastern Tuamotu Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean . It belongs to French Polynesia and is the most populous atoll in the municipality of the same name .
Tureia is located about 1,100 km southeast of Tahiti and about 115 km north of the Mururoa atoll, which has become known through nuclear weapon tests . With an extension of about 13 × 7 km, it is a comparatively small atoll. The area of the lagoon is about 47 km², the land area 8.3 km². The largest island in the atoll is the elongated Motu Tekaruga , which surrounds the lagoon in a semicircle and is also home to Tureia Airport ( IATA code : ZTA, ICAO code : NTGY). The atoll Tureia has 311 inhabitants (as of 2007), who live mainly in the main town of Fakamaru .
Tureia was discovered for Europe in March 1791 by the British captain and later admiral (rear admiral) Edward Edwards in search of the mutineers of the Bounty . He named the atoll Carysfort after John Proby, 1st Baron Carysfort (1720–1772), a British politician and Lord of the Admiralty. From 1966 to 1996 there was a station of the French Center d'Expérimentation du Pacifique on Tureia , to observe and monitor the nuclear weapons tests on the atolls Mururoa and Fangataufa .
See also
Web links
- Private page with pictures of Tureia (French)
- Satellite image on oceandots.com ( Memento from December 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF) - Recensement de la population 2007 ( Memento of February 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, French)