- Eiao
Infobox Island of French Polynesia
name = Eiao
country =France French Polynesia
archipelago =Marquesas Islands
region =South Pacific Ocean
area = 16.91 sq.mi.
43.8
coastline =
peakname =
peakheight = 1890 ft
576
population = 0
date_population = (2002)
density = 0Eiao is the largest of the extreme northwestern
Marquesas Islands . It is located at coord|8|S|140.7|W|. The island was discovered in 1791 by the American navigatorJoseph Ingraham , who named it "Knox Island" in honor of the then-currentUnited States Secretary of War ,Henry Knox . Other names given to the island by Western explorers include "Masse", "Fremantle", and "Robert".Eiao is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of
Nuku-Hiva , itself in the administrative subdivision of theMarquesas Islands .The center of the island is a high plateau, rising on the east side to 576 m (1,890 ft), much of which has been devastated by herds of
feral sheep . There is one good anchorage, on the west side of the island, atVaituha .In the late 19th century, the island was briefly used as a
leper colony island, although that enterprise was eventually abandoned because of the frequentdrought s, and the difficulty of reliably landing supplies on the island. In the 1970s, the island was the site of extensive Frenchmilitary activity, while it was being explored as a possible site fornuclear testing . The island and its surrounding rocks were declared theEiao Island Nature Reserve in 1992, as a first step toward protecting theecosystem , as well as a number ofendangered species , some of which are endemic. Previous to the creation of the reserve, theEiao Monarch went extinct.In pre-
Europe an times, the bodies of chiefs from parts ofTe I'i were transported to Eiao for burial.It was at one time home to a Marquesan tribe called the
Tuametaki .Stone tools , especiallyadze s, made from Eiaobasalt have been found in archaeological sites on other islands, providing evidence for prehistoric interisland voyaging within the chain.See also
*
French Polynesia
*Marquesan Nature Reserves
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