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Hikueru |
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| HikueruISS002-E-8866.PNG | |
| NASA picture of Hikueru. | |
| Location of Hikueru in the Tuamotu Archipelago | |
| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Overseas collectivity | French Polynesia |
| Administrative subdivision | Îles Tuamotu-Gambier |
| Statistics | |
| Land area | 15 km2 (5.8 sq mi) |
| Population1 | 268 (2007) |
| - Density | 18 /km2 (47 /sq mi) |
| 1 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Hikueru, Tiveru, or Te Kārena, is one of the Central Tuamotu atolls. The closest land to Hikueru is Tekokota Atoll, located 22 km to the north.
Hikueru Atoll's shape is roughly oval and it is 15 km in length and 9.5 km in width. It covers a total surface of 107 km². There are many motu on its reef with a combined land area of about 25 km². Its lagoon is deep, with numerous coral heads. It has no pass to enter it.
The most important village on Hikueru is Tupapati, located in an island at the north-western end of the atoll. There is a territorial airport on Hikueru which was opened in 2000.
Hikueru was the setting for Armstrong Sperry's novel Call It Courage, which won the Newbery Medal in 1940.
Hikueru Atoll was discovered by Bougainville in 1768. Spanish navigator Domingo de Boenechea sighted Hikueru in 1774 on ship Aguila. He named this atoll "San Juan".[1]
Like Marokau, Hikueru used to be a large natural pearl oyster reserve. The 1903 cyclone wrought considerable damage, however, and caused the death of 377 people, including 261 from the island of Hao. In his "South Sea Tales", Jack London gives a vivid description of this disastrous hurricane.
In the 1988 census, only 123 inhabitants were found to be still living on Hikueru. The population of this island makes a living by collecting copra. Up to the 1970s, it was one of the main deep-sea diving centres in the Tuamotu atolls.[2]
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