Aukena is the 5th largest of the

Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...

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 ...

. Aukena is located about halfway between

Mangareva Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north. Mangareva has a permanent p ...

and Akamaru, or about 5 km southeast of Mangareva, which is the largest island of the whole Gambier Islands archipelago. Aukena is approximately 2.5 km long and about 0.5 km wide, with a total area of 1.35 km². Mangarevan oral tradition first mentions the island in the fourteenth century, and archeological excavations show that it has been inhabited since that time.

Gallery

File:Tour.de.guet.Aukena.2.JPG, Watchtower. Background: Mangareva Island File:Tour.de.guet.Aukena.JPG, Watchtower. Background: Mt. Duff File:College.Aukena.JPG, Ruins of Re'e Seminary College, the first college of French Polynesia File:Eglise.St.Raphael.Aukena.JPG, Church of St.Raphael File:Four.a.chaux.Aukena.JPG, Oven for coral lime. Missionaries used it to build various churches in the Gambier Islands. File:Vue.Tour.de.guet.Aukena.JPG, View from the watchtower. View is of Manui and Kamaka

References

Islands of the Gambier Islands {{FrenchPolynesia-geo-stub