Raroia

Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / height Missing

Raroia (old name: La Fugitiva Barclay de Tolley or ) is an atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago and is one of French Polynesia. It is located 6 km southwest of Takume and about 55 km northeast of Nihiru.

Geography

Its dimension is an east-west direction 44 km, from south to north 14 km. The atoll has a total of 280 to Motus ( reef ), of which around 60 ( including the larger and higher ) are on the leeward Leeward side. The village Garumaoa is located on the northwest side of the lagoon, just south of the only entrance Passe Garue. It is a " commune associée " ( borough ) of the municipality Makemo and has 303 inhabitants.

The entrance to the lagoon in the north- west is divided into three channels that are separated by shallows. The northern of these channels is up to 6.4 m deep and can be navigated by vessels of up to 100 m in length. Located on the east side of the atoll bushland, north and west of the atoll is covered with trees, especially near a driveway and up to 5 km south of it. Inside the lagoon is up to 27 m deep. Here pearl farming is operated on the coral reefs.

History

The island was discovered in 1606 by Raroia Pedro Fernández de Quirós, he gave her the name " La Fugitiva ". Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen explored the island in 1820 and named it " Barclay de Tolley " after the Russian General Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly.

The atoll became known as the end point of the " Kon-Tiki " expedition in 1947. The expedition members Bengt Danielsson wrote his dissertation entitled "Living and Working on Raroia " on this island.