Arutua

Coordinates: 15°14′43″S 146°36′44″W / 15.245236°S 146.612086°W / -15.245236; -146.612086

Commune of Arutua
Location
Administration
Country	France
Region	Polynésie française
Department
Statistics
Land area1	45 km2 (17 sq mi)
Population2	1,759  (2007[1])
- Density	39 /km² (100 /sq mi)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Location of Apataki Atoll

Arutua, or Ngaru-atua is an atoll in the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. It is located 40 km SW of Rangiroa. The closest land is Apataki Atoll, only 16 km to the East.

Arutua Atoll has a roughly pentagonal shape. Length 31 km, width 24 km. Its lagoon is wide and deep with one navigable passage. Arutua has a population of 554 inhabitants. The main village is Rautini. There is a small airport at Arutua which was opened in 1984.

Geographically Arutua belongs to the Palliser Islands (Îles Palliser) subgroup of the Tuamotus.

History

The first recorded European to visit Arutua Atoll was Jakob Roggeveen (who also first sighted Easter Island) in 1722. British mariner Frederick Beechey touched at Arutua in 1826. He named this atoll "Cockburn Island".

Administration

This atoll is the capital of the commune of Arutua, which consists of Arutua, as well as the atolls of Apataki and Kaukura.

Images and maps

Image Source: Landsat S-06-15_2008   Map Source: EVS Precision Map (1:170,000)   Image Source: ISS014-E-5393

References

• [1]
• Names of Atolls
• - & History
• Arutua Airport

External links

• Arutua Atoll FP (EVS Islands)
• Shuttle Image ISS014-E-5393 (Astronaut Photography)
• Arutua Atoll FP (Oceandots.com)
• Tuamotu Atolls List (Pacific Image)

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