Aitutaki

Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / height Missing

Aitutaki is a so-called tilted atoll. It is to Rarotonga, the most populated land area of ​​the Cook Islands and has about 1900 inhabitants. The eponymous main island of Aitutaki is located about 230 km north of Rarotonga, has an area of ​​18 km ², making it the sixth largest in the Cook Islands. The island is located at the edge of a large lagoon, along with 15 smaller islands ( motus ), three of which are volcanic in origin and twelve coral islands.

History

The first record of the discovery by Europeans Aitutakis comes from Captain Bligh of the Bounty from the year 1789.

The missionaries of the London Missionary Society ( LMS) landed on Aitutaki in 1821 and spread there as the first in the Cook Islands Christianity among the Polynesians.

During World War II a start and runway was created by American troops, which is still used today for air traffic. After the war the lagoon Aitutakis was then an important stopover on the coral route of flying boats between New Zealand and Tahiti. With the introduction of jet aircraft, the island lost in importance in 1960. Today Aitutaki is several flights daily from small machines Air Rarotonga, the airfield at 1800 m long runway is located on the Outu Peninsula to the northeast.

In 2006, the 13th season of the popular U.S. reality television show Survivor ( Survivor: Cook Islands ) was filmed on Aitutaki. One of the tribes was named after the island was called Aitutaki (or ' Aitu ').

Economy

The tourism and to a lesser extent, fishing and agriculture are the economic foundation of the inhabitants. The atoll is run from time to time by cruise ships. Even your own stamps are issued and sold since 1972 again.

Bank robbery

The island was briefly known nationwide in August 2011, unknown perpetrators committed as a nightly bank burglary to the resident on Aitutaki Bank of the Cook Islands. In this first bank collapse in the history of the island were 20,000 New Zealand dollars, the equivalent of 11,600 euros, captured. Previously mentioned in newspaper reports erroneously 200,000 New Zealand dollars. However, this was denied by the mayor of the country.

Aitutaki Lagoon

Beach of Aitutaki