Mangareva
Mangareva is the central and most important island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. Mangareva is surrounded by other smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest and Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast and other smaller islands, lying also in the north. Mangareva, the main island of the group, is located at 23°06′34″S 134°57′57″W / 23.10944°S 134.96583°W. The island is approximately 8 km (5 miles) long, and at 18 km² (7 mi²), it comprises about 56% of the land area of the whole Gambier group. It has a high central ridge which runs the length of the island.
The largest village on the island, Rikitea, is the chief town of the Gambier Islands.
The highest point in the Gambiers is Mt. Duff, on Mangareva, rising to 441 m along the island's south coast.
History
Mangareva was once heavily forested and supported a large population that traded with other islands via ocean-going canoes. However, excessive logging by the islanders during the tenth to the fifteenth centuries resulted in deforestation of the island, with disastrous results for its environment and economy (see Gambier Islands for more details).
The first European to arrive to Mangareva was British Captain James Wilson in 1797 on ship Duff. Wilson named Mangareva in honor of Admiral James Gambier, who had helped him to equip his vessel.
Mangareva is crucial in its role as the outside world's link to the more famous Pitcairn Island. One of the only ways a traveller may reach Pitcairn Island is to fly to Tahiti, then to Mangareva. From there, a thirty-hour boat ride will take one to the island. Some still reach Pitcairn by commercial shipping traffic, but that is less and less common as shipping lanes don't typically pass close to Pitcairn.
Mangareva's history, and its ancient links with the Pitcairn and Henderson islands, is well-covered in Jared Diamond's book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005).
Culture and Fiction
Painter and author Robert Lee Eskridge's book "Manga Reva: The Forgotten Islands" (Bobbs Merrill; 1931) offers first-hand observations of the environment, peoples, and traditions of Mangareva. The book includes original illustrations and photographs by the author. In 1962, adventure-fiction writer Garland Roark acknowledged Eskridge's work in a foreword to his novel "The Witch of Manga Reva."
See also
References
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