Faaite

Faaite

Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	16°43′S 145°19′W
Archipelago	Tuamotu archipelago
Length	28 km (17.4 mi)
Width	10.5 km (6.52 mi)
Administration
France
Demographics
Population	366

NASA picture of Faaite Atoll.

Faaite, or Faaiti, is an atoll of the Tuamotus in French Polynesia. It is located 60 km to the north of Anaa Atoll. The total surface of the atoll is 227 km² Its dry land area is 8.87 km². Its length is 28 km and its width 10.5 km. The total population as of 2007 is 366 inhabitants.

Faaite's inner lagoon has a navigable channel to the ocean. The main village is Hitianau, with a total population of 246.

History

First recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 11 February 1606. It was charted as Decena (ten in Spanish).

John Turnbull rediscovered it in 1802. Turnbull was the first retailer of the Pacific who used the route of Tahiti to Hawaii.

Russian oceanic explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen visited Faaite in 1820 on the ships Vostok and Mirni. He named this atoll "Miloradovich".

This atoll reached a measure of fame after the "Bûchers de Faaite" affair. On September 2 1987 six persons were thrown into the fire (some of them by their own children) because the islanders were convinced that they were possessed by the devil.

There is a territorial (domestic) airfield in Faaite which was inaugurated in 1992.

Administration

Administratively Faaite belongs to the commune of Anaa, which includes the inhabited atoll of Faaite and the uninhabited atolls of Tahanea and Motutunga.

References

• [1]
• Faaite Airport
• Bruno Saura, Les bûchers de Faaite: paganisme ancestral ou dérapage chrétien en Polynésie française, Cobalt/Editions de l'après midi. Paris 1990
• Book review
• Island names

External links

• Atoll list (in French)