Tahanea Atoll is an uninhabited
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 ...
of the
Tuamotu Archipelago in
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 ...
. It is located to the east of
Faaite Atoll.
Tahanea Atoll measures in length with a maximum width of . The southern reef fringing the atoll is wider than the northern one, but the largest islands are on the narrower northern rim. Tahanea has a wide and deep lagoon with a surface of . There are three deep, navigable, passes into the lagoon, which are called Motupuapua, Teavatapu and Otao.
Tahanea is uninhabited, but visited occasionally by islanders from neighboring atolls.
History
The first recorded European to sight Tahanea was Spanish navigator
Domingo de Boenechea on 9 November 1774 on ship ''Aguila''. He named this atoll "San Julián".
[Brand, Donald D. ''The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations'' The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.139.]
Russian oceanic explorer
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Faddey Faddeyevich Bellingshausen or Fabian Gottlieb Benjamin von Bellingshausen ( – ) was a Russian cartographer, explorer, and naval officer of Baltic German descent, who attained the rank of admiral. He participated in the first Russi ...
visited Tahanea in 1820 on ships ''Vostok'' and ''Mirni''. He named this atoll "Chichagov" .
Administration
Tahanea belongs to the
commune of
Anaa that also includes the associated commune of Faaite with the atoll of Faaite and the uninhabited atolls of Tahanea and
Motutunga.
See also
*
Desert island
An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refer ...
References
External links
*
Spanish voyages
Atolls of the Tuamotus
Uninhabited islands of French Polynesia
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