Anuanuraro is an

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can ...

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = "Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of French ...

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. It is part of the

Duke of Gloucester Islands The Duke of Gloucester Islands (french: Îles du Duc de Gloucester) is a subgroup of the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. They are located southeast of Tahiti and south of the main Tuamotu atoll cluster and are rather isolated. Atolls The Duk ...

, a subgroup of the

Tuamotu The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, 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, extendin ...

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 km². 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, meaning ...

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, Trinity Manor, Jersey – 21 July 1796, Southampton) was a British naval officer and explorer who participated in two of the Royal Navy's circumnavigation expeditions in 1764 ...

visited the Duke of Gloucester islands in 1767. He named this atoll ''Archangel''.''Les Atolls des Tuamotu''
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 Nukutepipi, or Nuku-te-pipi is an atoll in French Polynesia, Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Duke of Gloucester Islands, a subgroup of the Tuamotu group. Nukutepipi's nearest neighbor is Anuanurunga, which is located about 22 km to the ...

, belong to the commune of Hereheretue, which is associated to the Hao commune.

References

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History

External links

Atolls of the Tuamotus {{FrenchPolynesia-geo-stub es:Islas del Duque de Gloucester#Anuanuraro