Atafu
Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / height Missing
Atafu (formerly Duke of York 's Iceland ) is one consisting of about forty small Motus Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, forming the group of belonging to New Zealand Tokelau Islands with the other two atolls Fakaofo and Nukunonu. According to the 2006 census, living on Atafu officially 524 people ( of which during the census ' but were only 417 present). Of those present about 95 % of the Congregational Church known.
Geography
Atafu is the smallest and most northerly of the three atolls of Tokelau. It measures at the widest point in the south about 5.5 km and from north to south, up to 6.5 km. The numerous islands of the atoll are distributed around the central lagoon (17 km ²), and together have a land area of 3.5 km ². The only inhabitants live in a small settlement ( Atafu Village ) on a V- shaped island ( Atafu Iceland ) in the far northwest, while the largest land surfaces are formed by two Motu in the east of the atoll.
History
Commodore John Byron of the Royal Navy, grandfather of the poet Lord Byron, sailed in 1765 with the two British expedition vessels Dolphin and Tamar across the Pacific.
On June 4, 1765 a low, covered with trees island was discovered and named Duke of York 's Iceland. An outing discovered no sign that the island was inhabited.
Captain Edward Edwards (1742-1815) was the British ship Pandora on an extensive search in the Pacific after the mutineers of the Bounty. After finding some mutineers on the Society Islands, he set out on a search for the Duke of York's Island, which he reached on 6 June 1791. The position of the island was now measured at 8 ° 34 ' S and 172 ° 6' W.
An outing was huts and other signs of human life. In the huts were fishing equipment and canoes, which would indicate that the island was used as a temporary station for fishermen. The fishermen probably came from other islands of the Tokelau group, before the island was settled permanently by Fakaofo from. Captain Edwards left behind in the empty huts on the beach and drinking cup mirror.
In 1841, when Captain William L. Hudson ( 1794-1862 ) specifically sought by the Wilkes expedition to this island, which has now been renamed Atafu, he found them inhabited. The locals told the Americans that they belonged to Fakaofo. The talks also Nukunono was mentioned. Both islands were later visited by Hudson. Then gave the following contacts that Fakaofo and Nukunono were inhabited well before Byron's discovery.