Fenua Tapu is an
islet
An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...
of
Nui atoll in the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
state of
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...
.
It is the most southern and most eastern islet of Nui and is the largest (area 1.38 km
2). Most Nuians live on the western end of Fenua Tapu,
where a village including the settlements of Alamoni - Maiaki and Manutalake - Meang (
Tanrake
Tanrake is a village in Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii ...
) lies.
A Dutch expedition (the frigate ''Maria Reigersberg''
) found Nui on the morning of June 14, 1825 and named Fenua Tapu as ''Nederlandsch Eiland''.
A New Island in the Pacific.— In July last, the Pollux, Dutch sloop of war, Captain Eeg, discovered a new and well-peopled island in the Pacific, to which the name of Nederlandich Island was given : its latitude and longitude laid down at 7° 10' S., and 177° 33' 16" E. from Greenwich. The natives were athletic and fierce, great thieves, and, from their shewing no symptoms of fear when muskets were discharged, evidently unacquainted with the effects of fire-arms.
''The Australian'' newspaper, Saturday 25 November 1826
/ref>
TROOST(1829) p405 Platte Grond van het Nederlandsch-Eiland.jpg, Dutch map of the island, made in June 1825
TROOST(1829) p297 Het Nederlandsch Eiland.jpg, View of the main island
TROOST(1829) p293 Het Nederlandsch Eilanden.jpg, View of the atoll
References
External links
Islands of Tuvalu
Nui (atoll)
{{tuvalu-geo-stub