Tematagi or TematangiBoard of Geographical Names Site Internet: http://geonames.usgs.gov/foreign/index.html is an

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 southeastern area of the

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 ...

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 French ...

. 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 A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock ...

completely encloses the deep

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...

, 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, Anne ...

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 Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...

. 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 ...

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...

. This means that the correct direction of Muslim prayer (

qibla The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the ...

) 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). Antipodes LAEA

Administration

Administratively Tematagi belongs to the commune of Tureia, which includes the atolls of Tureia,

Fangataufa Fangataufa (or Fangatafoa) is an uninhabited coral atoll in the eastern part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia. The atoll has been fully-owned by the French state since 1964. From 1966 to 1996 it was used as a nuclear test site by t ...

Moruroa 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 i ...

, 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)
*

{{Tuamotus Atolls of the Tuamotus