Manuae (Cook Islands)
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- There is another island called "Manuae" in nearby French Polynesia. For that island, see Manuae (Society Islands).
Manuae is an uninhabited atoll in the southern group of the Cook Islands 100 kilometres south-east of Aitutaki. It comprises two horseshoe-shaped islets, Manuae to the west and Te Au O Tu to the east, with a total area of 6 square kilometres on either side of a lagoon about 7 km x 4 km. Highest point on the island is 5 metres above sea level. Manuae is a true atoll sitting on the peak of a submerged volcano which descends 4000 meters to the ocean bed. The lagoon is shallow and subject to large shifting sand banks.
The island is a marine park and is an important breeding ground for seabirds and marine turtles in the Central Pacific. The offshore waters of Manuae are good fishing grounds. The research vessel Bounty Bay carries visitors from Rarotonga to Manuae as part of its Pacific Expeditions venture and specialises in diving, eco-tourism and filming.
Captain James Cook sighted Manuae on September 23 1773, the first of the Cook Islands he voyaged to. Initially he named it Sandwich Island but changed it to Hervey Island in honor of Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, then a Lord of the Admiralty when he decided instead give the name of "Sandwich Islands" to the Hawaiian Islands. This name was later corrupted to Hervey's Island, or Hervey's Isle, and later applied to the entire southern group, as the Hervey Islands. This name remained popular until 1824 when the islands were renamed the Cook Islands by the Russian cartographer von Krusenstern, in honor of Capt. Cook who had died in 1779.
Norwegian author Erlend Loe writes humorously about an expedition to Manuae in his 1999 novel "L".
