Puka-Puka is a small

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and se ...

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 gro ...

in the north-eastern

Tuamotu Archipelago 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 ...

, sometimes included as a member of the Disappointment Islands. This atoll is quite isolated, the nearest land being

Fakahina Fakahina, or Kaīna, is a small atoll in the north of the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. The nearest land is Fangatau Atoll, located 72 km to the north-west. Fakahina's length is and its maximum width . It has a land area of and a lag ...

, 182 km to the southwest. Puka-Puka Atoll has an elliptical shape. Its length is 6 km and its maximum width 3.3 km. Its land area is about 5 km². The lagoon is filled with silt and has become very small. The low

islands are dry and sparsely populated. According to the 2017

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

, the total population was 163.Répartition de la population en Polynésie française en 2017
Institut de la statistique de la Polynésie française The chief town is Te One Mahina, with about 110 inhabitants. Unlike the rest of the Tuamotus, the language of the islands,

Pukapukan Pukapukan is a Polynesian language that developed in isolation on the island of Pukapuka in the northern group of the Cook Islands. As a "Samoic Outlier" language with strong links to western Polynesia, Pukapukan is not closely related to any ot ...

, is Marquesic.

History

Puka-Puka was the first of the Tuamotus sighted by the Spanish expedition of

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...

on 21 January 1521, and charted as ''San Pablo'' because it was discovered on the day on which

Paul of Tarsus Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

is traditionally said to have become a Christian. Together with

Flint Island Flint Island is an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, part of the Southern Line Islands under the jurisdiction of Kiribati. In 2014 the Kiribati government established a exclusion zone around each of the southern Line ...

(named ''Tiburones'') they were named ''Islas Infortunadas'' (Unfortunate Islands in Spanish). Dutch explorers

Jacob le Maire Jacob Le Maire (c. 1585 – 22 December 1616) was a Dutch mariner who circumnavigated the earth in 1615 and 1616. The strait between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados was named the Le Maire Strait in his honour, though not without controver ...

and

Willem Schouten Willem Cornelisz Schouten ( – 1625) was a Dutch navigator for the Dutch East India Company. He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean. Biography Willem Cornelisz Schouten was born in c. 1567 in Hoorn, Holland, S ...

arrived at Puka-Puka on April 10, 1616, during their Pacific journey. They called this atoll "Honden Eiland" ("Dog Island"). On 30 July 1947,

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000& ...

and his six-man expedition aboard the raft

Kon Tiki The ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition was a 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands, led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl. The raft was named ''Kon-Tiki'' after the Inca god Viracocha, fo ...

made their first sighting of land since departing

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists of the whole Cal ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

when they passed by Puka-Puka. The islands were devastated by a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

in 1996. However, with

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

assistance, Te One Mahina has been rebuilt. Puka-Puka Airport was inaugurated in 1979.

Administration

Puka-Puka is the name of the administrative commune in which it lies, of which it is the sole atoll. The seat of the commune is the village Teone-Mahina.Décret n°72-407 du 17 mai 1972 portant création de communes dans le territoire de la Polynésie française

Légifrance Légifrance is the official website of the French government for the publication of legislation, regulations, and legal information. Access to the site is free. Virtually complete, it presents or refers to all concerned institutions or administrat ...

References

*
Puka-Puka Airport

le Maire & Schouten

External links

Atolls of the Tuamotus Communes of French Polynesia {{FrenchPolynesia-geo-stub

History

Administration

See also

References

External links