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Tematagi or TematangiBoard of Geographical Names Site Internet: http://geonames.usgs.gov/foreign/index.html is an atoll in the southeastern area of the Tuamotu Archipelago,
French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...
. Tematagi's nearest neighbour is
Mururoa Moruroa (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is located about southeast of Tahiti. Administratively Moruroa Atoll ...
, which is located to the ESE. Tematagi is a medium-sized atoll. It measures approximately in length and has a maximum width of with a land area of almost . As its reef completely encloses the deep lagoon, which is , there is no navigable pass to enter the lagoon. There are many relatively large islands on Tematagi's reef, as well as a few small motu. The main village is Tuihana. There were 58 inhabitants on Tematagi in the last census.


History

The first recorded European to visit this atoll was Captain William Bligh on the ship ''Providence'' on April 5, 1792. At the time of Bligh's visit, it was uninhabited. Tematagi Atoll appears in some maps as "Bligh's Lagoon Island". When
Frederick Beechey Frederick William Beechey (17 February 1796 – 29 November 1856) was an English naval officer, artist, explorer, hydrographer and writer. Life and career He was the son of two painters, Sir William Beechey, RA and his second wife, Ann ...
visited Tematagi in 1826 he found inhabitants there. In 1857, the captain of the ''Julia'', coasting along Tematagi Atoll saw armed natives follow the course of his schooner... ''"clad in many-coloured stuffs"''.


Population

In 1966, Catholic missionary Father Victor Valleys mentioned in a letter to his bishop that he had planted 135,000 coconut trees on the islands. Teams of workers from neighboring atolls spent three or four months a year at Tematagi harvesting copra. Legally, the atoll did not belong in the public domain of Polynesia: a document states that "the atoll of Tematagi was granted a final license to SCI Tematagi Vanavana in 1974." This SCI was led by Valleys and ceased operation with his death in 1986. A pontoon landing was built at the village of Teakoro, along with a church and administrative buildings. The legal status of the population is not clear since the atoll remains the property of SCI, under the guise of a Catholic Mission. Transactions were even made in 1998 between the Vice-President of French Polynesia and Bruno Wan, a pearl prospector. In 2001, the village had 36 residents. The atoll has no airstrip, but, since 2015 there has been a telephone and fax service via satellite.


Antipodes of Mecca

Tematagi is the closest landmass to the
antipodes In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points ''antipodal'' () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Ear ...
of Mecca. This means that the correct direction of Muslim prayer ( qibla) varies widely between Tematagi and its neighboring islands. The exact antipodes of Tematagi, however, is a point roughly 4 kilometers northwest of the ''Jeddah Eastern Forest'', a recreation area east of the Saudi-Arabian harbour city of
Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
(about 55 kilometers from Mecca itself).


Administration

Administratively Tematagi belongs to the commune of Tureia, which includes the atolls of Tureia, Fangataufa, Moruroa, Tematagi and Vanavana.


Images & Maps


References


Captain Bligh
*http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stevenson/robert_louis/s848so/sseas19.html *http://192.231.59.40/flinders/maps/3.html
Un atoll de la mission catholique


External links


Shuttle Image ISS004-E-6727 (Astronaut Photography)Shuttle Image ISS009-E-6082 (Astronaut Photography)
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{{Tuamotus Atolls of the Tuamotus