The Marquesas Islands are the island group farthest from any continent in the world, lying between south of the equator and approximately northeast of Tahiti. A pair of volcanic archipelagoes, they fall naturally into two geographical divisions, The northwestern group consists of Eïao, Hatutu (Hatutaa), Motu One, and the islands centered on the large island of Nuku Hiva: Motu Iti (Hatu Iti), Ua Pou,

Motu Oa Motu Oa ("Long Rock") is a small island, southeast of Ua Pou, in the northern Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. It is 1100 meters long and up to 460 meters wide at its northern end. Its area is approximately 30 hectares, making it the large ...

and Ua Huka. The southeastern group consists of

Fatu Uku Fatu Huku, also known as Fatu Uku, is a small island in the Marquesas Islands, approximately north of Hiva Oa. Fatu Huku is less than long and wide and has an area of about Government and geography Fatu Huku is located at 9.43°S latitude ...

, Tahuata, Moho Tani (Motane),

Terihi Terihi is a small, uninhabited, rocky island in the Marquesas Islands, less than southeast from Mohotani. It has an area of and a coastline of . In 1992, the island became officially protected by its inclusion in the Motane Nature Reserve. S ...

Fatu Hiva Fatu-Hiva (the "H" is not pronounced, see name section below) is the southernmost island of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. With Motu Nao as its closest neighbor, it is also the m ...

and Motu Nao (Thomasset Rock), clustered around the main island of Hiva `Oa which is the largest and most populous island of the southeastern group. With a combined land area of , the Marquesas are among the largest island groups of

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 ...

, Nuku Hiva being the second largest island in the entire territory, after Tahiti. With the exception of Motu One, all the islands of the Marquesas are of volcanic origin. The Marquesas are one of the few island groups in Polynesia where precipitation is not abundant. Most of the islands are subject to frequent drought conditions due to their geographic location and periodic fluctuations in the normally prevailing easterly winds. Although the islands lie within the tropics, they are the first major break in the prevailing easterly winds spawned from the extraordinarily dry (from an atmospheric perspective)

Humboldt Current The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low- salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America.Montecino, Vivian, and Carina B. Lange. "The Humboldt Current System: Ecosystem components and pr ...

. The annual rainfall is generally around , but this average is misleading because of very high variability. In La Niña years, rainfall can decline to less than , whilst in El Niño years when the ocean warms it can reach . Unlike the rest of French Polynesia, most rain falls during the cooler months, with May to July usually the wettest and November the driest. Because of their exceptionally variable climate, the islands are subject to extreme drought and flood conditions. Although they are mostly high and craggy with jagged peaks rising to in places, only two of the ten islands have elevations above about and these are the only ones that have sufficiently reliable precipitation for the development of rainforests. This has led to historical fluctuations in water supply, which has been a crucial factor in the sustainability of human populations in certain sections of the various islands throughout the archipelago. This is especially evident in the low historical population of Ua Huka (maximum elevation 2,812 ft.) and the intermittent inhabitability of Eiao (maximum elevation 1,890 ft.). The islands lack both coastal plains and coral reefs. As a result habitation is generally found only where streams run down from the mountains in narrow valleys. Agricultural products include copra, taro,

breadfruit Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family (Moraceae) believed to be a domesticated descendant of ''Artocarpus camansi'' originating in New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, and the Philippi ...

, coffee beans and vanilla. The islands have also developed a tourist industry. The Marquesas Islands are thought to have formed from a center of upwelling magma called the Marquesas hotspot.

References

{{Oceania in topic, Geography of

See also

References