Anuanuraro
is an
atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...
in
French Polynesia
French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...
,
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
. It is part of the
Duke of Gloucester Islands, a subgroup of the
Tuamotu
The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (, 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, extending (from northwest to ...
group. Anuanuraro's nearest neighbor is
Anuanurunga, which is located about 29 km to the southeast.
Anuanuraro is a small atoll. It measures 5.3 km in length, with a maximum width of 3.2 km and a land area of 2.2 km
2. Its shape is roughly square and its lagoon is totally enclosed by the fringing reef.
Anuanuraro Atoll is uninhabited.
History
First sighting recorded by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of
Pedro Fernández de Quirós
Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter.
The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meani ...
on 4 February 1606. With the other three atolls of the Duke of Gloucester Islands they were named ''Cuatro Coronas'' (Four Crowns in Spanish).
[Burney, James ''A chronological history of the discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean'' London, 1803, vII, p.326.]
British naval officer and explorer
Philip Carteret
Rear-Admiral Philip Carteret, Seigneur of Trinity (22 January 1733 – 21 July 1796) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who participated in two of the British navy's circumnavigation expeditions in 1764–66 and 1766–69.
Biography
Carte ...
visited the Duke of Gloucester islands in 1767. He named this atoll ''Archangel''.
[''Les Atolls des Tuamotu''](_blank)
from Jacques Bonvallot, Institut de recherche pour le développement, éditions de l'IRD, 1994, , p.275-282.
Formerly Ananuararo Atoll belonged to
Robert Wan, the wealthy Tahitian pearl trader.
It was bought back by the government of French Polynesia in March 2002.
This atoll has an airfield which was built by Wan's company, Wan-Polynésie. It was opened in 1982 but is now in disuse.
Administration
Administratively the four atolls of the Duke of Gloucester Islands, including the uninhabited ones of Anuanuraro, Anuanuruga and
Nukutepipi, belong to the
commune of
Hereheretue, which is associated to the
Hao commune.
References
*
History
External links
Atolls of the Tuamotus
{{FrenchPolynesia-geo-stub
es:Islas del Duque de Gloucester#Anuanuraro