Marutea Sud

Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / height Missing

Marutea Sud is an atoll of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia. The next Atoll Maria Est is 72 km to the northeast. The atoll, completely surrounded by a coral reef, reached a stretch of 21 km long by 10 km wide.

Marutea Sud should not be confused with the North Marutea Atoll in the western part of the Tuamotu Archipelago. Administratively Maruta Sud belongs to the municipality Gambier.

History

The atoll was discovered by the Spanish navigator Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 4 February 1606. He named the island " San Telmo ". Next -known Spanish names are San Blas and Corral de Agua. Edward Edwards also went to this atoll in 1791 to find the mutineers of the HMS Bounty. Edwards gave the atoll the name of Lord Hood.

When the Russian Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern visited the atoll in 1825, it was inhabited exclusively by Polynesian natives.

1984 the atoll was purchased by the Pearl dealer Robert Wan to apply to its beaches mussel beds for pearl farming. In particular, black Tahitian pearls ( Pinctada margaritifera cumingi ) are to be grown here.

In 1993, a private airfield was created by Wan.

The main town on the island is Auorotini, but that it is occupied only occasionally to harvest pearls and control the mussel beds.