Tenararo is the smallest

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gr ...

in the

Acteon Group The Acteon Group (Groupe Actéon) is a rather isolated and uninhabited subgroup in the far southeast of the Tuamotu atoll group in French Polynesia. It is located about east-southeast of Tahiti at latitude: 21° 17' 60 S, longitude: 136° 29' ...

in the southeastern part of the

Tuamotu Islands The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extendin ...

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 ...

. It is administratively a part of the

Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...

. It is uninhabited.

Geography

Tenararo is located west of

Vahanga Vahanga is a small uninhabited atoll part of the Acteon Group in the Tuamotu archipelago, French Polynesia and belongs to the municipality of the Gambier Islands. Geography Vahanga is located 9 km west of Tenarunga and 1362 km southe ...

, the nearest island, west of the Gambier Islands and southeast of

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

. It is a circular atoll with a land area of and a land area of . The atoll has a landing place on its NW side between the small boulders which encumber the reef. There is no entrance to the lagoon.

History

The first recorded sighting of this atoll was made during the Spanish expedition of the Portuguese navigator

Pedro Fernández de Quirós Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

on 5 February 1606 under the name ''Las Cuatro Coronadas'' (the "four crowned" (by coconut palms)), however these observations were not fully documented. As such, the first unambiguous approach to the island was made on 14 March 1828 by the explorer Hugh Cuming in his ship the Discoverer captained by Samuel Grimwood. The next visit was in 1833 by navigator

Thomas Ebrill Thomas Ebrill (also spelt Abrill) was a British merchant, who from 1826 to 1842 worked with the ships the ''Minerva'', ''Star'' and ''Amphitrite'' in the Pacific and is known for his discovery of the Acteon group. Life Ebrill's early life is unkn ...

on his merchant vessel ''Amphitrite'' and again in 1837 by

Lord Edward Russell Admiral Lord Edward Russell, (24 April 1805 – 21 May 1887) was a British naval officer and Whig politician. Early life He was the son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, and his second wife Lady Georgina Gordon, and was the younger half- ...

, commander of the H.M.S Actaeon, the name given to the group. It was previously owned by a man named Captain Nicholas but was redeemed in 1934. In the nineteenth century, Tenararo became a French territory, with a population of about 20 Aboriginal people in 1850.

Flora and fauna

The atoll is an important habitat for many endangered species. Species such as the

Polynesian ground dove The Polynesian ground dove (''Pampusana erythroptera'') or ''Tutururu'' is a critically endangered species of bird in the family Columbidae. Originally endemic to the Society Islands and Tuamotus in French Polynesia, it has now been extirpated ...

(of which there are less than 120 remaining in the wild),

atoll fruit dove The atoll fruit dove (''Ptilinopus coralensis'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Tuamotu archipelago in French Polynesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and plantations. ...

Tuamotu sandpiper The Tuamotu sandpiper (''Prosobonia parvirostris'') is an endangered member of the large wader family Scolopacidae, that is endemic to the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia. It is sometimes placed in the monotypic genus ''Aechmorhynchus''. A na ...

bristle-thighed curlew The bristle-thighed curlew (''Numenius tahitiensis'') is a medium-sized shorebird that breeds in Alaska and winters on tropical Pacific islands. It is known in Mangareva as ''kivi'' or ''kivikivi'' and in Rakahanga as ''kihi''; it is said to be ...

and

Murphy's petrel Murphy's petrel (''Pterodroma ultima'') is a species of seabird and a member of the gadfly petrels. The bird is 15 inches in length, with a 35-inch wingspan and weigh about 13 ounces. It was described by Robert Cushman Murphy in 1949, which is th ...

live on the island. The atoll is free of introduced mammalian predators, making it an essential conservational habitat.

References

*''Sailing Directions, Pub 126, "Pacific Islands" NIMA 2002''; page-12

External links

Atoll list (in French)
{{Authority control Atolls of the Tuamotus Islands of the Gambier Islands Uninhabited islands of French Polynesia

Geography

History

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links