Pinaki (French Polynesia)

Pinaki or Te Kiekie is a small atoll of the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. Geographically Pinaki Atoll is part of the East-central subgroup of the Tuamotus, which includes Ahunui, Amanu, Fangatau, Hao and Nukutavake.

The island on its reef forms a broken ring almost enclosing a lagoon which has a shallow tidal spillway facing west. Pinaki lies 14 km southeast of Nukutavake, which is the closest land. Vairaatea Atoll lies 51 km to the west of Pinaki.

Pinaki Atoll measures 3 km in length and its width is less than 2 km. Pinaki is uninhabited, but it is visited on occasions by villagers from neighboring Nukutavake.

History

The first recorded European who arrived to Pinaki Atoll was the Englishman Samuel Wallis on June 6, 1767 while he was searching for the "Southern Continent". Wallis named this atoll "Whitsunday".

Frederick Beechey found Pinaki uninhabited in 1826, but he observed that there were huts on the island as well as small reservoirs for the collection and preservation of fresh water cut in the coral rock.

Administration

Pinaki belongs to the commune of Nukutavake, which includes three other uninhabited atolls apart from Pinaki.

References

* [http://www.evs-islands.com/2006/11/pinaki-atoll-fp.html Pictures and map]
* [http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/tuamotu/pinaki.htm]
* [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-BesPoly-t1-body-d1-d4.html History]
* [http://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/oceania/wallis.htm Samuel Wallis (in German)]
* [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]