Hereheretue

Hereheretue
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	19°52′20″S 144°57′46″W / 19.87222°S 144.96278°W
Archipelago	Tuamotu archipelago
Length	9 km (5.6 mi)
Width	7 km (4.3 mi)
Administration
	France
Demographics
Population	58

19°52′20″S 144°57′46″W / 19.87222°S 144.96278°W / -19.87222; -144.96278

Hereheretue is an atoll in French Polynesia, Pacific Ocean. It is the northernmost island of the Duke of Gloucester Islands group, or Îles du Duc de Gloucester, a subgroup of the Tuamotu group. Hereheretue's nearest neighbour is Anuanuraro, which is located about 150 km away. It lies 450 km southwest of Hao and 488 km southeast of Tahiti.

Hereheretue Atoll has a roughly trapezoidal shape. Its lagoon is quite deep and has an area of 23 km². The broad reef completely encloses the lagoon, so that there is no navigable passage to enter it.

Hereheretue is the only permanently inhabited atoll of the group. It had a population of 58 at the census of 2007. Most of the population lives in the main village Otetou.

History

First sighting recorded by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 4 February 1606. With the other three atolls of the Duke of Gloucester Islands they were named Cuatro Coronas (Four Crowns in Spanish).^[1]

Administration

File:HereheretueISS002-E-9200.PNG

NASA image of Hereheretue Atoll

Administratively the four atolls of the Duke of Gloucester Islands, including Anuanuraro, Anuanurunga and Nukutepipi, belong to the commune of Hereheretue, which is associated with the Hao commune.

There is a meteorological station on Hereheretue.

Trivia

The Guinness Book of World Records listed the island, with its archaic French spelling of "Héréhérétué", as the word with the most accent marks in any language.