Anuanuraro

Anuanuraro

NASA picture of Anuanuraro Atoll
Geography
Location Pacific Ocean
Coordinates 20°26′13″S 143°32′15″W / 20.43694°S 143.53750°WCoordinates: 20°26′13″S 143°32′15″W / 20.43694°S 143.53750°W
Archipelago Tuamotus
Area 7 km2 (2.7 sq mi)  (lagoon)
2.2 km2 (1 sq mi) (above water)
Length 5.3 km (3.29 mi)
Width 3.2 km (1.99 mi)
Country
France
Overseas collectivity French Polynesia
Administrative subdivision Tuamotus
Commune Hao
Demographics
Population Uninhabited[1] (as of 2012)

Anuanuraro[2] is an atoll in French Polynesia, Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Duke of Gloucester Islands, a subgroup of the Tuamotu group. Anuanuraro's nearest neighbor is Anuanurunga, which is located about 29 km to the southeast.

Anuanuraro is a small atoll. It measures 5.3 km in length, with a maximum width of 3.2 km and a land area of 2.2 km2. Its shape is roughly square and its lagoon is totally enclosed by the fringing reef.

Anuanuraro Atoll is uninhabited.

History

First sighting recorded by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 4 February 1606. With the other three atolls of the Duke of Gloucester Islands they were named Cuatro Coronas (Four Crowns in Spanish).[3]

British naval officer and explorer Philip Carteret visited the Duke of Gloucester islands in 1767. He named this atoll Archangel.[4]

Formerly Ananuararo Atoll belonged to Robert Wan, the wealthy Tahitian pearl trader. It was bought back by the government of French Polynesia in March 2002.

This atoll has an airfield which was built by Wan's company, Wan-Polynésie. It was opened in 1982 but is now in disuse.

Administration

Administratively the four atolls of the Duke of Gloucester Islands, including the uninhabited ones of Anuanuraro, Anuanuruga and Nukutepipi, belong to the commune of Hereheretue, which is associated to the Hao commune.

References

  1. ↑ "Population". Institut de la statistique de la Polynésie française. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  2. ↑ Young, J.L. (1899). "Names of the Paumotu Islands, with the old names so far as they are known.". Journal of the Polynesian Society 8 (4): 264–268. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Burney, James A chronological history of the discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean London, 1803, vII, p.326.
  4. ↑ Les Atolls des Tuamotu from Jacques Bonvallot, Institut de recherche pour le développement, éditions de l'IRD, 1994, ISBN 9782709911757, p.275-282.

External links