Ua hookah
| Ua hookah | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| Archipelago | Marquesas | |
| Geographical location | 8 ° 54 ′ S , 139 ° 33 ′ W | |
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| length | 14.5 km | |
| width | 9.5 km | |
| surface | 83.4 km² | |
| Highest elevation | Mont Hitikau 857 m |
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| Residents | 571 (2007) 6.8 inhabitants / km² |
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| main place | Vaipaee | |
_50_Prozent_verkleinert_(cropped).jpg) |
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Ua Huka , other names: Roahonga , Huahuna , old names: Washington Island ( Ingraham ), Île du Solide ( Marchand ), Riou's Island ( Hergest ), is a sparsely populated island in the Pacific Ocean , which is geographically part of the northern group of the Marquesas and politically Belongs to French Polynesia .
geography
Ua Huka is one of the smaller islands in the Marquesas and is 42 km east of Nuku Hiva , 98 km northwest of Hiva Oa and 56 km northeast of Ua Pou . The island is 14 km long and up to 10 km wide and has the shape of a crescent moon that opens to the south. It is crossed from east to west by a mountain range that forms a watershed . Shorter gorges descend to the north and longer, deeply cut gorges to the south. Small beaches have formed at some valley cuts. On the south coast, three large, populated valleys open out towards the sea.
In contrast to the lush, larger islands of the Marquesas, Ua Huka gives a rather bare and unwelcoming impression, the vegetation is only sparse. The rugged peaks are not quite as high as those of the other islands of the archipelago, about 600 m in the west and up to 800 m in the east. The highest point is Mount Hitikau at 857 meters. The overall lower altitude means that fewer clouds will rain down. Ua Huka has a much drier climate than the neighboring islands. A large part of the island consists of extensive, arid plateaus and deep, fertile valleys in which the settlements are located.
The rugged coast is not protected by a coral reef , so that strong surf reaches the banks immediately. The main island is preceded by a few rocky, small islets ( motus ). Motu Hane ♁ is particularly spectacular . This is a 163-meter-high rock cone shaped like a sugar loaf, which is in front of the bay of Hane on the south coast. The island is 410 meters long in a north-south direction and up to 210 meters wide and lies 250 meters south of the headland at Tekaepa, which separates the Hane and Hokatu valleys.
geology
Like the other islands of the Marquesas, Huka is of volcanic origin. It is the northern fragment of a long-collapsed caldera of a volcano that grew up from the depths of the sea. A geologically younger volcano has formed on its floor again, the caldera of which also almost completely collapsed. The 857 m high Mont Hitikau in the west is one of the remnants. The oldest rocks of Ua Huka investigated so far were dated 2.9 to 2.8 million years ago. Younger basaltic rocks from volcanic activity in the southwest region of the island are 1.6 to 1.4 million years old.
flora
The domestic animals introduced by humans and now released into the wild are largely responsible for the poorness of the vegetation. Goats, pigs and horses have largely destroyed the vegetation. Among other things, Huka proudly calls itself the “Island of Horses”, suppressing the serious damage they have caused.
In the valleys there are small remnants of the original rainforest, which consists of Hibiscus tiliaceus , Piper latifolium and Metrosideros (ironwood) and Weinmannia trees. Lush stands of moss and ferns thrive in the damp and shady areas of the narrow gorges. In the west of the island, the rainforest changes into drier forest, which is mainly composed of hibiscus , pandanus , guava and glochidion . Coconut palms and breadfruit trees were planted in the lower areas of the great valleys . In the lower area of the bay of Hane there is still a remnant of Pisonia grandis .
The short valleys on the north coast are almost without vegetation, the upper layers of the mountains are even arid desert.
fauna
Due to the sparse vegetation, there are only a few species of indigenous land animals on Ua Huka, mainly insects, lizards, land birds and spiders. The island has given its name to a genus of spiders endemic to the Marquesas, which belongs to the family of canopy spiders (Linyphiidae) (see → Uahuka ).
There are six endemic and meanwhile endangered land bird species on Ua Huka:
- Iphis flycatcher ( Pomarea iphis )
- Marquesas reed warbler ( Acrocephalus mendanae )
- Marquesas Salangans ( Callocalia ocista )
- Marquesas fruit pigeon ( Ducula galeata )
- Ultramarine Lorikeet ( Vini ultramarina )
- White-capped fruit pigeon ( Ptilinopus dupetithouarsii )
Large animals only contain species introduced by humans: reintroduced horses, goats and pigs.
Ua Huka has several small side islands on which large colonies of sea birds have settled. In particular, the rocky islands of Hemeni and Teuaua in the southwest of the Haavei Bay are important breeding areas for terns and are now under nature protection.
history
Ua Huka was colonized by Polynesians around 1700 years ago. The first colonists lived in settlements near the beach. In 1998 a French team of archaeologists researched settlement remains buried by a dune near Hane. It is the oldest settlement of the Marquesas to date, it is dated to 350 AD. The researchers found seventeen human skeletons, fishhooks, a harpoon tip, net weights, and scrapers. From the debris from the settlement, it can be seen that the aborigines mainly fed on fish, birds (skeletons of a dozen extinct bird species have been found) and mussels.
As on the other islands of the Marquesas, with increasing population density the people settled in the upper areas of the valleys and a strictly stratified tribal society developed, favored by the secluded location . From the places of worship in the valleys it can be seen that there must have been at least five independent tribes, possibly more.
Karl von den Steinen assigns the tribes to the valleys as follows:
Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap
| tribe | valley |
|---|---|
| Noho-kea | Hanei ♁ |
| Titit-tea | Hane ♁ |
| Maku-oho | Hokatu ♁ |
| Ati-kao | Vainaonao ♁ |
| Naiki | Vaipaee ♁ |
Archaeological remains of cult and residential platforms still visible today can be found in the valleys of Vaipaee, Hanei, Hokatu, Hinaehi ♁ and Hane.
The American merchant captain Joseph Ingraham , who sailed with the Hope Brigantine from Boston around Cape Horn to China , discovered Ua Huka on April 19, 1791. He named the island "Washington Island" after the American President George Washington .
Another early 18th century visitor was the Frenchman Étienne Marchand . He sailed from Marseille on December 14, 1790 with the newly built merchant ship Solide , rounded Cape Horn and arrived on the Marquesas in June 1791. He named Ua Huka after his ship "Île du Solide".
Lieutenant Richard Hergest , commander of the Daedalus , the supply ship of the Vancouver expedition , reached Ua Huka on March 30, 1792 and named the island "Riou's Island".
On June 2, 1842, the French Rear Admiral Abel Aubert Dupetit-Thouars took possession of the northern group of the Marquesas for France. Ua Huka became a French colony.
Politics and administration
Today the island is politically part of the French Overseas Zealand ( Pays d'outre-mer - POM ) French Polynesia and is thus affiliated to the EU. It is administered by a subdivision ( Subdivision administrative des Îles Marquises ) of the High Commission of French Polynesia ( Haut-commissariat de la République en Polynésie française ), based in Papeete . Ua Huka forms an independent municipality ( Commune de Ua Huka ) with 633 inhabitants (2012). The population density is around 7 people / km².
The official language is French ; The currency is (still) the CFP franc, which is linked to the euro . There are three villages on Ua Huka, all of which are on the south coast: Vaipaee, Hane and Hokatu. The main town and seat of the local administration is the village of Vaipaee. Vaipaee is the largest and Hokatu the smallest of the three settlements. The entire northern part of the island is uninhabited.
Infrastructure
Ua Huka is supplied with goods that are not manufactured on the island by a regular cargo and passenger ship from Tahiti. The Aranui 5 starts Ua Huka once a month. This is also the best way for tourists to get to the island. The ship can not dock at the small pier at Vaipaee, so it has to be loaded and unloaded with boats.
Ua Huka Airport ( IATA : UAH, ICAO : NTMU), which opened in 1972, consists only of a 755 m long asphalt runway and is located between the villages of Vaipaee and Hane. It is only served by Air Tahiti with small aircraft via Nuku Hiva (flight time approx. 30 minutes).
The three villages and the airfield are connected by a paved road, the rest of the island is undeveloped, or can only be reached via paths and footpaths.
The tourist infrastructure is modest. There is no hotel, but there are a few privately operated guest houses and restaurants and small shops with limited supplies that are open at the owners' discretion. There is no bank on the island, credit cards are not accepted (as of 2000).
In Vaipaee, the town with the largest number of inhabitants, there is the town hall with the local administration, a post office (with satellite telephone), a first aid station and a kindergarten with pre-school and elementary school ( école maternelle et primaire ). Secondary schools and qualified medical care are only available on Nuku Hiva and in Papeete.
economy
The residents are mostly self-sufficient. Their food is based on the cultivation of taro , yams and tropical fruits of all kinds as well as the use of cultivated, fruit-bearing trees (breadfruit, coconut). A pulp made from crushed and fermented breadfruit, called popoi, is still part of almost every meal today. Pigs and chickens are kept and fishing is carried out to provide protein. The island exports a little copra , which is shipped to Tahiti on the regular supply ship. Recently, citrus fruits have also been grown for export.
Huka is said to have the best wood carvers and stone sculptors in the Marquesas. Their products are sold to the few tourists who visit the island with the Aranui .
Attractions
- In Vaipaee is the Archaeological Museum, which was inaugurated in 1989. It shows everyday objects and traditional handicrafts of the islanders: tiki, wood carvings, tapa bark fiber , decorated popoi bowls, bracelets, earrings, paddles, U'u clubs and stone tools of the indigenous people.
- The most important archaeological site on the island is Meiaute at the foot of Mont Hitikau on the south coast. It is an extensive, only partially exposed complex of stone platforms with paepae (residential platforms ) and mea'e (ceremonial platforms ) as well as three up to one meter high tiki made of red tuff .
- Near Vaikivi, in the Vaipaee Valley and only accessible on foot, there are around fifty carved petroglyphs , including faces (masks?), Geometric figures and - unique to the Marquesas - a sailing canoe. Further petroglyphs can be found in the upper, now uninhabited area of the Hane Valley, as well as numerous remains of residential and ceremonial platforms.
- The village of Hokatu, the smallest of the three island villages, is known for its excellent wood carvers. There is also a small community museum with an interesting collection of clams and sea snails, as well as historical items that belong to the villagers' families.
- Near Manihina, two kilometers east of the village of Vaipaee, the then mayor Leon Litchlé founded a botanical garden in 1974, the Arboretum Papuakeikaa ♁ , in which many of the species originally native to the whole island are preserved. Of particular interest to the visitor are the unique large-leaved Marquesas palms ( Pelagodoxa henryana ) and the collection of more than a hundred types of citrus fruits.
- The most beautiful white beach on the island is at Manihina, also a good place for snorkeling. There are other small sandy beaches with black-gray sand in the bays of Haavai and Hane.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rober Brousse et al .: Les Marquises (Polynésie française): volcanologie, géochronologie, discussion d'un modele de point chaud. In: Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France. No. 8, Paris 1990, pp. 937 and 940.
- ^ Dieter Mueller-Dombois, Raymond Fosberg: Vegetation of the Tropical Pacific Islands. New York 1998, pp. 456-457.
- ^ List of the "protected areas" of French Polynesia. Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie, archived from the original on October 20, 2012 ; accessed on December 23, 2015 .
- ^ Melvin Ember, Peter N. Peregrine: Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Volume 3: East Asia and Oceania. New York-Boston 2000, p. 250.
- ↑ Eric Conte: Current Research on the Island of Ua Huka, Marquesas Archipelago, French Polynesia. In: Asian Perspectives. Volume 41, No. 2, Honolulu 2002, pp. 258-268.
- ^ Ralph Linton: Archeology of the Marquesas Islands. Honolulu 1925, pp. 119-129.
- ↑ Karl von den Steinen: The Marquesans and their art. Volume 1, Berlin 1925, p. 16.
- ^ Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF) - Recensement de la population 2012
literature
- Guillaume Molle: UA HUKA, UNE ILE DANS L'HISTOIRE. HISTOIRE PRE- ET POST-EUROPEENNE D'UNE SOCIETE MARQUISIENNE. 2011 ( online )
