Motutunga

Motutunga

Motutunga

Atoll in French Polynesia

Motutunga Atoll[2] is an uninhabited atoll of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia. It is located 17 km to the east of Tahanea Atoll.

Quick Facts Geography, Location ...
NASA picture of Motutunga Atoll.

Motutunga Atoll is roughly triangular in shape. It measures 15 km in length with a maximum width of 14 km. The reef surrounding the atoll is continuous, leaving no channels deep enough for ships to reach the lagoon. Motutunga's lagoon has a surface of 126 km2.

History

Motutunga Atoll was first sighted by James Cook on 13 August 1773 who named it Adventure, after the name of his own ship.[2][3]

Spanish navigator Domingo de Boenechea sighted the atoll, which he called San Blas, on 9 November 1774 from ship Aguila.[4][5]

Administration

Motutunga belongs to the commune of Anaa that also includes the associated commune of Faaite with the atoll of Faaite and the uninhabited atolls of Tahanea and Motutunga.

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "Population". Institut de la statistique de la Polynésie française. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  2. [2]
    Young, J.L. (1899). "Names of the Paumotu Islands, with the old names so far as they are known". Journal of the Polynesian Society. 8 (4): 264–268. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  3. [3]
    Sharp, Andrew, The discovery of the Pacific Islands, Oxford 1960 p.129
  4. [4]
    Langdon, Robert. The lost caravel Sidney, 1975 p.129.
  5. [5]
    Sharp, Andrew, The discovery of the Pacific Islands, Oxford 1960 p.125



Stub icon

This French Polynesia-related geography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Motutunga, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.