- Marutea Sud
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Coordinates: 21°30′S 136°28′W / 21.5°S 136.467°W
NASA picture of Marutea Atoll.
Marutea Atoll (Marutea Sud), also known as Marutea-i-runga, and Nuku-nui, is an atoll of the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. It is located in the far southeast of the archipelago, about 72 km northeast from Maria Atoll.
Marutea Atoll is irregular in shape and bound by reef broken by passes into the lagoon. It is 21 km long and has a maximum width of 10 km. Its islands are low and flat and the main village, Auorotini, is located at the northern end of the atoll. Marutea has no permanent population, but it is occasionally visited by islanders looking for pearls and maintaining the pearl farms.
Marutea Sud should not be confused with Marutea Nord located in the western area of the Tuamotu Archipelago at 17˚ 07' S, 143˚ 11' W.
Contents
History
The first recorded European to sight this atoll was Spanish explorer Pedro Fernández de Quirós on February 4th 1606. He called it "San Telmo". Other Spanish names were "San Blas" and "Corral de Agua". Marutea was later explored by Edward Edwards, while he was searching for the mutineers of the HMS Bounty in 1791. Edwards renamed it "Lord Hood".
According to Russian Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern Marutea was once inhabited by the ancient Polynesians. British mariner Frederick William Beechey found a stone walled hut upon it in 1825.
In 1984 Marutea Atoll was bought by Robert Wan, the main Tahitian black pearl trader, in order to engage in cultured black pearl farming. A private airfield was built in 1993.
Administration
Administratively Marutea Sud belongs to the commune of the Gambier Islands.
References
External links
Categories:- Atolls of the Tuamotus
- French Polynesia geography stubs
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