Matureivavao
Template:Short description Template:Infobox Islands
Matureivavao, or Maturei-vavao[1] is an uninhabited atoll in the Acteon Group in the southeastern part of the Tuamotu Islands. It is the largest atoll within the Acteon Group, and like others in this group, is administratively part of the commune of the Gambier Islands.
Geography
Matureivavao is about Script error: No such module "convert". long in a NNW-SSE direction and Script error: No such module "convert". wide. It has a land area of Script error: No such module "convert". and a lagoon area of Script error: No such module "convert".. It lies Script error: No such module "convert". southeast of Tenarunga and Script error: No such module "convert". from Tahiti. The atoll is high enough to be visible from a considerable distance. It appears as a sandy beach, backed by a line of dark green. In bad weather, the seas sometimes sweep over the reef. There is no entrance to the lagoon.
In some maps, this atoll also appears as "Melbourne".
History
The first recorded sighting of this atoll was made during the Spanish expedition of the Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 5 February 1606 under the name Las Cuatro Coronadas (the "four crowned" (by coconut palms)),[2][3] however, these observations were not fully documented. As such, the first unambiguous approach to the island was made on 14 March 1828 by the explorer Hugh Cuming in his ship Discoverer captained by Samuel Grimwood. The next sighting was in 1833 by navigator Thomas Ebrill on his merchant vessel Amphitrite and again in 1837 by Lord Edward Russell, commander of Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities"., the name given to the group.[4] It was previously owned by a man named Captain Nicholas but was redeemed in 1934.[5]
Flora and fauna
After the hurricane in 1983, Matureivavao was entirely replanted with thousands of coconut trees.[6] The atoll is also colonized by the invasive Amaranthaceae Achyranthes aspera var. velutina.[7] It is also one of the few atolls in which rats were never introduced.
See also
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References
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- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Brand, Donald D. The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.136.
- ↑ Kelly, Celsus, O.F.M. La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo. The Journal of Fray Martín de Munilla O.F.M. and other documents relating to the Voyage of Pedro Fernández de Quirós to the South Sea (1605–1606) and the Franciscan Missionary Plan (1617–1627) Cambridge, 1966, p.39,62.
- ↑ Pacific Island: Eastern-Pacific – Geographical handbook series, James Wightman Davidson and Naval Intelligence Division, editions Naval Intelligence Division, 1945, p.224.
- ↑ Archaeology of Mangareva and neighboring atolls by Kenneth Pike Emory, editions Kraus, 1971, pp.58–60.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- Sailing Directions, Pub 126, "Pacific Islands" NIMA 2002; page-12
External links
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