Moturiki is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

belonging to

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Lomaiviti Archipelago The Lomaiviti (pronounced ) archipelago of Fiji consists of seven main islands and a number of smaller ones. They cover a total area of , and had a population of 15,657 at the most recent census in 2017. The largest town, with a population of 1, ...

. Covering an area of 10.9 square kilometers, it is situated at 17.45° South and 178.44° East. To the north-east is the nearby island of

Ovalau Ovalau (pronounced ) is the sixth largest island in Fiji. It is located in Lomaiviti Archipelago. Situated at 17.70° South and 178.8° East, (60 km north east from the national capital Suva and 20 km off the east coast of Viti Levu), ...

Etymology

An etymology for the name of the island, proposed by Ratu Viliame, is that it is a combination of the

Proto-Polynesian Proto-Polynesian (abbreviated PPn) is the reconstructed proto-language from which all modern Polynesian languages descend. It is a descendant of the Proto-Oceanic language (the language associated with the Lapita civilization), itself a descend ...

words *motu (which means island) and *riki (which means small).

Settlements and Living Conditions

The island is inhabited by about 700 Fijians (as of 2007) living in 10 villages along the coast: Daku, Naicabecabe, Nasauvuki, Nasesara, Navuti, Niubasaga, Savuna, Uluibau, Yanuca and Wawa. The villages on Moturiki have faced on-going disease outbreaks, including

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...

, primarily due to the lack of safe drinking water. At points, this has required the large-scale delivery of clean water by boat and then manually distributed by vehicles and carts.

Archaelogy

Moturiki is of great archaeological interest. Important discoveries include the earliest

Lapita culture The Lapita culture is the name given to a Neolithic Austronesian peoples, Austronesian people and their distinct material culture, who settled Island Melanesia via a seaborne migration at around 1600 to 500 BCE. The Lapita people are believed t ...

sites of Fiji, as well as the oldest human skeleton found in Fiji (dating about 700 BC). The skeleton is named

Mana Mana may refer to: Religion and mythology * Mana (Oceanian cultures), the spiritual life force energy or healing power that permeates the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian mythology * Mana (food), archaic name for manna, an edible substance m ...

, which belonged to a woman who was approximately 40–60 year old and 161–164 cm tall. The skeleton was excavated on the Lapita Culture Complex site called Naitabale. The Lapita occupation of Naitabale likely began by 900 BC.

References

External links

Fiji Museum article about Moturiki
Islands of Fiji Lomaiviti Province {{Fiji-geo-stub