Vahanga is a small uninhabited

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 ...

part of 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

Tuamotu 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 ...

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 ...

and belongs to the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

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 ...

Geography

Vahanga is located 9 km west of

Tenarunga Tenarunga or Tenania, previously Narunga and formerly Minto Island is a low, wooded and uninhabited atoll in the Acteon Group in the southeastern part of the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia. It is administratively a part of the Gambier Island ...

and 1362 km 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 diameter of 3.6 km and an area of 3.8 km² (12.6 km² lagoon inclusive). It is a low atoll with a landing place on the northwest side of the island near a white house, but there is no access 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 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.

Flora and fauna

Vahanga hosts a flora composed of

coconut tree The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

s, ''

Portulaca lutea ''Portulaca lutea'', the native yellow purslane, is a species of ''Portulaca'' that is indigenous to all of the main islands of Hawaii except for Kaua'i and is widespread throughout the Pacific Islands. Ecology ''Portulaca lutea'' is very muc ...

'', ''

Cassytha filiformis ''Cassytha filiformis'' or love-vine is an orangish, wiry, parasitic vine in the laurel family (Lauraceae), found in warm tropical regions worldwide in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. It is an obligate parasite, meaning it ...

'', and ''

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

'' such as the species '' Achyranthes aspera var. velutina''. In 2007, an ecological project conducted by the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

and the

Ornithological Society of Polynesia The Ornithological Society of Polynesia (French: Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie), also known as Manu, a Polynesian word for "bird", is an environmental non-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats ...

aimed to eradicate Vahanga's

Polynesian rat The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), known to the Māori as ''kiore'', is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, a ...

s, which had colonized the atoll, to restore balance to the ecosystem supporting bird species such as the Polynesian ground-dove and the

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 ...

. A previous campaign in 2000 had failed in this goal. In 2015 a conservation campaign resulted in the eradication of rats from the island.

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