Ahunui

Ahunui, Fanga-taufa, or Nga-taumanga is a small atoll of the eastern Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia. It is located 55 km SSE of Paraoa Atoll and 120 km WSW of Vairaatea.

Ahunui Atoll is roughly circular in shape and measures 6.5 km across.cite web | url=http://www.oceandots.com/pacific/tuamotu/ahunui.htm | title=Ahunui | accessdate=2008-03-03 | publisher=oceandots.com] Its lagoon is totally encircled by the reef, so that it is not connected to the ocean by a pass. The islands have coconut plantations on them.

Ahunui Atoll is permanently uninhabited, but it is visited occasionally by neighboring islanders. The rarer pipi oysters ("Pinctada maculata") are found in its lagoon. [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahunui]

History

The first recorded European who arrived to Ahunui Atoll was British mariner Frederick William Beechey. He named it "Byam Martin" after Admiral of the Fleet Sir Thomas Byam Martin. [NRA|id=P19223|name=Thomas Byam Martin ]

Administration

Ahunui belongs to the commune of Hao (Main village: Otepa), which includes Ahunui (uninhabited), Nengonengo, Manuhangi (uninhabited) and Paraoa (uninhabited). [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hao]

References

External links

* [http://www.pacific-image.pf/pages/boutic/dboutic_cdrom_sp132.html Atoll list (in French)]
* [http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/french_polynesia/map/m1894816/ahunui.html Map location]
* [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0065-9746(1996)2%3A86%3A5%3C71%3ACAIW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M W. Beechey]
* [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]