Mitiʻāro, the fourth island in the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

group, is of

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

origin. Standing in water deep it is across at its widest point.

Geography

Mitiaro, also known as Nukuroa, is part of the Nga-Pu-Toru island group formerly, a volcano that became a coral

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 ...

. The coral died forming fossilised coral (known locally as ''makatea''). The island is surrounded by a belt of this makatea, between high and characteristic of islands in the southern group. The centre of the island is almost flat, quite

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

y and contains two freshwater lakes, Rotonui (big lake) and Toto Iti (small lake). The lakes are teeming with eels ('' Anguilla obscura''), which the locals call itiki and who reach the lakes from the Ocean through underwater connections, and the imported tilapia from

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where it is known as bream. The island has around 18 km of coastline. Beaches are limited but there are subterranean limestone caves and the beach at low tide abounds in marine life.

Important Bird Area

The island has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

because it supports populations of Rimatara lorikeets and Cook reed warblers. It is a non-breeding site for

bristle-thighed curlew The bristle-thighed curlew (''Numenius tahitiensis'') is a medium-sized shorebird that breeds in Alaska and winters on tropical Pacific islands. It is known in Mangareva as ''kivi'' or ''kivikivi'' and in Rakahanga as ''kihi''; it is said to b ...

Settlement

The island has four villages, located close together on the western side, from north to south: #Taurangi (a former village) #Atai (also called Arai) #Auta #Mangarei # Takaue Among the populated lifted coral islands of the southern Cook Islands, only Mitiaro is not subdivided into traditional tapere.

Infrastructure

Mitiaro School Mitiaro School or Apii Tematangarengare is a co-educational school on the island of Mitiaro in the Cook Islands. It is the only school on the island and has a roll of 36 students. The school has three teachers and offers classes from Grade 1 ( ...

is located in the principal village, Atai. Takaue is the second largest village. Mitiaro Airport is located at the northern end of the island. There are three churches: the Cook Islands Christian Church, the Catholic Church and the Assembly of God. In May 2018 the island's diesel generator was replaced by a Solar Photovoltaic system.

History

According to oral tradition, Mitiaro was settled from

Atiu Ātiu, also known as ʻEnuamanu (meaning ''land of the birds''), is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is northeast of Rarotonga. The population of the island has ...

, and was historically dominated by that island. It was first discovered by Europeans when

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

arrived in 1823. He left behind a Polynesian teacher, Taua, who began converting the islanders to Christianity. The estimated population at that time was less than 100 inhabitants. During the 1840s the island was attacked again by Atiuans. In 1888 Mitiaro became a British protectorate as part of the Cook Islands Federation. In 1901 it was annexed by

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Sources

External links

Map of Mitiaro
{{Coord, 19, 52, S, 157, 42, W, display=title, type:isle Islands of the Cook Islands Important Bird Areas of the Cook Islands