Eiao is the largest of the extreme northwestern

Marquesas Islands The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in ...

. The island is uninhabited, but is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of Nuku-Hiva, itself in the

administrative subdivision Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

of the

. As of 2022, the only settlement on the Island is a small shelter on the north coast of Vaithua bay with a water tap. There is some small manmade structures in the north of the island, most likely for archeological purposes. There is a small shrine of Mother Mary somewhere along a trail to the plateau at the top of the island.

Geography

Eiao is a remnant of a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

wall in a 5 million year old volcano which measured 25 km across. The island is a 12km long and 4 km wide crescent shape measuring 50 km squared. It is often considered one of the biggest desert islands on earth. The center of this island is the high Tohuanui plateau, rising on the east side to 576 meters above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

(1,890 feet), much of which has been devastated by herds of feral sheep and other animals brought here by humans. This plateau is a red desert which covers around 50-60% of the island. The Hanataaitoki Valley is contained in this plateau. High coastal cliffs border the south side of the island. The rest of the Island is mainly filled with tropical fauna, including coconut and candlenut trees. There is one good anchorage, found on the western side of the island at Vaituha. Another small bay exists on the southwest side of the island, known as Opituha Bay. On the northwest side of the island a sheltered bay known as Charner Bay is located.

History

Pre-European

In pre-European times, the bodies of chiefs from parts of Te I'i were taken to Eiao for burial. Eiao was at one time home to a Marquesan tribe called the Tuametaki. Archaeological investigations have discovered workshops for the production of

stone tool Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a ...

s, especially

adze An adze () or adz is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in ha ...

s, made from local

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

. These tools have been found in archaeological sites on other islands as far as

Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

, providing evidence for prehistoric interisland voyaging within this island group. In sites around polynesia, it was estimated that around 50% of adzes came from Eiao at the peak.Broken adzes and unused chips of bassalt were found all across the southern part of the island and plateau. Much of the production settlements were located along the northern plateau, primarily in the Hanataaitoki valley. This settlement included 5 housing sites, and many industrial tools and stations, all suspected to be from about the 14th-17th centuries. The population of the island during this phase was estimated at between 600 and 900 people. Eiao excavation sites

Post-European Contact

The first non-Polynesian encounter with the island was in 1791 by the American sea captain Joseph Ingraham, who named it ''Knox Island'' in honour of the U.S. Secretary of War at that time,

Henry Knox Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was an American military officer, politician, bookseller, and a Founding Father of the United States. Knox, born in Boston, became a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionar ...

. Other names given to this island by Western explorers include ''Masse'', ''Fremantle'', and ''Robert''. The island was uninhabited at the time of its "discovery" by Europeans. In the late 19th century, the island was briefly used as a

leper colony A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...

island, although that enterprise was eventually abandoned because of the frequent

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

s, and the difficulty of reliably landing supplies on the island. From 1962 to 1963, Georges de Caunes lived in a Vaithua bay alone. This was to perform a radio show based on the novel,

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' ( ) is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary novel, epistolary, Confessional writing, confessional, and Didacticism, didactic forms, the ...

. This was ended in around 100 days due to health complications. In the 1970s, the island was the site of extensive French military activity, while it was being explored as a possible site for

nuclear weapons testing Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of Nuclear explosion, their explosion. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to si ...

. As of 1972, three drilling operations found the island to be too fragile to withstand testing. In 1992, the Marquesan Nature Reserves were declared, making this island the Eiao Island Nature Reserve. This is a first step toward protecting its

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

, which includes a number of

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

, some of which are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

. Before the creation of the reserve, the Eiao monarch, a bird in the order

passeriformes A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

, became extinct. In 2010, Centre International pour la Recherche Archéologique en Polynésie, or (CIRAP), organized a research mission to the island to study the archeological relavence of the island. This was ended after 50 days on the island. In May 2022 public consultations began on listing the island as a UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. Oral traditions and legends about the island include a story of Peruvian treasure brought by some Spaniards being hidden there. Other stories tell that during World War II, a German submarine arrived there secretly to hide a Nazi treasure. These stories lack credibility.

Climate

The climate on the island is mainly dry and arid, with little rain throughout the year. Most day's are sunny with few clouds. The months of March and April have the most unusual weather.

References