Mehetiʻa
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Mehetiʻa or Meʻetiʻa is a volcanic island in the Windward Islands, in the east of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is a very young active stratovolcano Script error: No such module "convert". east of the Taiarapu Peninsula of Tahiti. It belongs to the Teahitiʻa-Mehetia hotspot.[1]
The island has an area of Script error: No such module "convert". and its highest point is 435 metres (1,427 ft). The peak is a well-defined volcanic crater. In 1981 the island was the centre of earthquakes.[2][3]
History
Tahitian oral tradition holds that navigators stopped at Mehitiʻa, which was regarded as sacred, on their long voyage to New Zealand.[4] This oral history correlates with geological evidence found in southern New Zealand which can be traced back to Mehitiʻa.[5]
The early Polynesian voyagers commonly gave Polynesian ancestral names and symbolism to new places.[6] The high point of Mehetia is Mount Hiurai (Hi’ura’i/Hikurangi)[7] The name Hikurangi in Aotearoa / New Zealand probably came from Mehetia[8] and the name Hi’ura’i probably has its origin in Siʻulagi (Siʻulangi) in Taʻu, Samoa.[9]
The first European sighting was by the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 9 February 1606, that charted it as Decena (ten in Spanish).[10] Later on it was sighted by Samuel Wallis in HMS Dolphin 1767 and Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768.[11] It was also sighted by Spanish navigator Domingo de Boenechea on November 6, 1772, on ship Aguila.[11]Template:Rp He named this island San Cristóbal.
Administration
Mehetiʻa is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of Taiarapu-Est and of its easternmost commune associée Tautira. The island is uninhabited and does not have much vegetation but has a small coral reef on the underwater slopes.
See also
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References
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- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
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- ↑ "Ancestral Naming of Places",
- ↑ "Mount Hiurai (Hi’ura’i/Hikurangi)"
- ↑ "Mount Hiurai (Hi’ura’i/Hikurangi)"
- ↑ "Siʻulagi(Siʻulangi)in Taʻu"
- ↑ Corney, Bolton Granvill The quest and occupation of Tahiti by emissaries of Spain during the years 1772-1776, London, 1913, Vol I, p.XXX
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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External links
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