Hikueru
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Coordinates: 17°35′S, 142°39′W

NASA picture of Hikueru.

Hikueru, Tiveru, or Te Kārena, is one of the Central Tuamotu atolls. The closest land to Hikueru is Tekokota Atoll, located 22 Km to the north.

Hikueru Atoll's shape is roughly oval and it is 15 Km in length and 9.5 Km in width. It covers a total surface of 107 km². There are many motu on its reef with a combined land area of about 25 km². Its lagoon is deep, with numerous coral heads.

The most important village on Hikueru is Tupapati, located in an island at the northwestern end of the atoll.

History

The first recorded European to arrive to Hikueru Atoll was Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768.

Spanish navigator Domingo de Boenechea sighted Hikueru in 1774 on ship Aguila. He named this atoll "San Juan".

Like Marokau, Hikueru used to be a large natural pearl oyster reserve. The 1903 cyclone wrought considerable damage, however, and caused the death of 377 people, including 261 from the island of Hao. In his "South Sea Tales", Jack London gives a vivid description of this disastrous hurricane.

In the 1988 census, only 124 inhabitants were found to be still living on Hikueru. The population of this island makes a living by collecting copra. Up to the 1970s, it was one of the main deep-sea diving centres in the Tuamotu atolls.

There is a territorial airport on Hikueru which was opened in 2000.

Administration

The commune of Hikueru consists of the atolls of Hikueru, Marokau, Ravahere, Reitoru and Tekokota.

Trivia

References

• [1]
• Atoll names

External links

• Atoll list (in French)
• [2]

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