- Raroia
Raroia, or Raro-nuku, is an
atoll of the Tuamotus chain inFrench Polynesia , located 740 km northeast ofTahiti and 6 km southwest ofTakume . Administratively it is a part of the commune ofMakemo .The oval-shaped atoll measures 43 km by 14 km and has a land area of 41 km². A navigable waterway leads to the central
lagoon , which has an area of 359 km². [cite web | title = Tuamotu Archipelago - Raroia | work =Oceandots.com | url =http://oceandots.com/pacific/tuamotu/raroia.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-25 ] The population as of the 1996 census was 184, with Garumaova the main settlement. Raroia has no infrastructure and its inhabitants live principally onfishing andpearl farming .History
Raroia and Takume were called Napaite, "the Twins" (ite, two), by the ancient
Paumotu people.The first recorded European to reach Raroia was Portuguese explorer
Pedro Fernandes de Queirós in 1605. It was later sighted again in 1820 byFabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen , who named it "Barclay de Tolly" after the Russian field marshallMichael Andreas Barclay de Tolly .In 1947 Raroia became famous as the landfall of
Thor Heyerdahl 'sKon-Tiki expedition after its 101-day journey from South America. Later, one of the crew members,Bengt Danielsson , lived there. [ [http://www.greenleft.org.au/1992/41/3974 Danielssons awarded alternative peace prize] ]In 1956 Danielsson described the material culture of Raroia as "almost totally Western"..."The natives use European tools exclusively, dress in the European way and frequently have such luxuries as radios, bicycles and refrigerators.." [ [http://soar.wichita.edu/dspace/bitstream/10057/1263/1/LAJv.25-26_(complete).pdf Acculturated natives] ]
References
* [http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_8_1899/Volume_8,_No._4,_December_1899/Names_of_the_Paumotu_Islands,_by_J.L._Young,_p_264-268?action=null Atoll names]
"Parts of this article are based upon a translation of the equivalent article in the Spanish Wikipedia."
External links
* [http://www.pacific-image.pf/pages/boutic/dboutic_cdrom_sp132.html Atoll list (in French)]
* [http://www.raroia.pf/index.php Official site] fr icon/en icon
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