Fenua Tapu is an
islet
An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...
of
Nui atoll in the
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 ...
state of
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
.
It is the most southern and most eastern islet of Nui and is the largest (area 1.38 km
2). Most Nuians live on the western end of Fenua Tapu,
where a village including the settlements of Alamoni - Maiaki and Manutalake - Meang (
Tanrake) lies.
A Dutch expedition (the frigate ''Maria Reigersberg''
) found Nui on the morning of June 14, 1825 and named Fenua Tapu as ''Nederlandsch Eiland''.
A New Island in the Pacific.— In July last, the Pollux, Dutch sloop of war, Captain Eeg, discovered a new and well-peopled island in the Pacific, to which the name of Nederlandich Island was given : its latitude and longitude laid down at 7° 10' S., and 177° 33' 16" E. from Greenwich. The natives were athletic and fierce, great thieves, and, from their shewing no symptoms of fear when muskets were discharged, evidently unacquainted with the effects of fire-arms.
''The Australian'' newspaper, Saturday 25 November 1826
/ref>
TROOST(1829) p405 Platte Grond van het Nederlandsch-Eiland.jpg, Dutch map of the island, made in June 1825
TROOST(1829) p297 Het Nederlandsch Eiland.jpg, View of the main island
TROOST(1829) p293 Het Nederlandsch Eilanden.jpg, View of the atoll
References
External links
Islands of Tuvalu
Nui (atoll)
{{tuvalu-geo-stub