- Hikueru
Hikueru, Tiveru, or Te Kārena, is one of the Central
Tuamotu atoll s. The closest land to Hikueru isTekokota Atoll, located 22 Km to the north.Hikueru Atoll's shape is roughly oval and it is 15 Km in length and 9.5 Km in width. It covers a total surface of 107 km². There are many
motu on its reef with a combined land area of about 25 km². Its lagoon is deep, with numerous coral heads.The most important village on Hikueru is Tupapati, located in an island at the northwestern end of the atoll.
History
The first recorded European to arrive to Hikueru Atoll was
Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768.Spanish navigator
Domingo de Boenechea sighted Hikueru in 1774 on ship "Aguila". He named this atoll "San Juan".Like
Marokau , Hikueru used to be a large naturalpearl oyster reserve. The 1903cyclone wrought considerable damage, however, and caused the death of 377 people, including 261 from the island ofHao . In his "South Sea Tales",Jack London gives a vivid description of this disastroushurricane .In the 1988
census , only 124 inhabitants were found to be still living on Hikueru. The population of this island makes a living by collectingcopra . Up to the 1970s, it was one of the maindeep-sea diving centres in the Tuamotu atolls.There is a territorial airport on Hikueru which was opened in 2000.
And not to forget about the story of mafatu (the boy who was afraid) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_It_Courage.
Administration
The commune of Hikueru consists of the atolls of Hikueru,
Marokau ,Ravahere ,Reitoru andTekokota .Trivia
References
* [http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/tuamotu/hikueru.htm]
* [http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_8_1899/Volume_8,_No._4,_December_1899/Names_of_the_Paumotu_Islands,_by_J.L._Young,_p_264-268?action=null Atoll names]External links
* [http://www.pacific-image.pf/pages/boutic/dboutic_cdrom_sp132.html Atoll list (in French)]
* [http://www.com.univ-mrs.fr/IRD/atollpol/irdpoly/ukhikuer.htm]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
