Tenararo

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Tenararo
File:Tenararo.JPG
NASA picture of Tenararo Atoll
Tenararo is located in French Polynesia
Tenararo
Geography
Location Pacific Ocean
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Archipelago Tuamotus
Area Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1851: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value).  (lagoon)
1.6 km2 (above water)
Country
France
Overseas collectivity French Polynesia
Administrative subdivision Tuamotus
Commune Gambier Islands
Demographics
Population Uninhabited[1] (as of 2012)
File:Atoll Tenararo.jpg
Map of Tenararo Atoll

Tenararo is the smallest atoll in the Acteon Group in the southeastern part of the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia. It is administratively a part of the Gambier Islands. It is uninhabited.

Geography

Tenararo is located 6 km west of Vahanga, the nearest island, 115 km west of the Gambier Islands and 1370 km southeast of Tahiti. It is a circular atoll with an land area of 1.6 km2 and a land area of 2 km2. The atoll has a landing place on its NW side between the small boulders which encumber the reef. There is no entrance to the lagoon.

History

The first recorded sighting of this atoll was made during the Spanish expedition of the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 5 February 1606 under the name Las Cuatro Coronadas (the "four crowned" (by coconut palms)),[2][3] however these observations were not fully documented. As such, the first unambiguous approach to the island was made in 1833 by navigator Thomas Ebrill on his merchant vessel Amphitrite and again in 1837 by Lord Edward Russell, commander of the H.M.S Actaeon, the name given to the group.[4] It was previously owned by a man named Captain Nicholas but was redeemed in 1934.[5]

In the nineteenth century, Tenararo became a French territory, with a population of about 20 Aboriginal people in 1850.[6]

Flora and fauna

The atoll is an important habitat for many endangered species. Species such as the Polynesian ground dove (of which there are less than 120 remaining in the wild), atoll fruit dove, Tuamotu sandpiper, bristle-thighed curlew and Murphy's petrel live on the island.[7] The atoll is free of introduced mammalian predators, making it an essential conservational habitat.

See also

External links

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.136.
  3. Kelly, Celsus, O.F.M. La Australia del Espiritu Santo. The Journal of Fray Martín de Munilla O.F.M. and other documents relating to the Voyage of Pedro Fernández de Quirós to the South Sea (1605-1606) and the Franciscan Missionary Plan (1617-1627) Cambridge, 1966, p.39,62.
  4. Pacific Island: Eastern-Pacific - Geographical handbook series, James Wightman Davidson and Naval Intelligence Division, editions Naval Intelligence Division, 1945, p.224.
  5. Archaeology of Mangareva and neighboring atolls by Kenneth Pike Emory, editions Kraus, 1971, p.58-60.
  6. Notices sur les colonies françaises, Étienne Avalle, éditions Challamel aîné, Paris, 1866, p.642 Google Books
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Sailing Directions, Pub 126, "Pacific Islands" NIMA 2002; page-12