Nikao

Last updated
Nikao beach with Black Rock in the distance. Rarotonga Cook Islands.jpg
Nikao beach with Black Rock in the distance.

Nikao is a village settlement on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. It is located on the north coast to the west of the capital Avarua.

Nikao is the home of the Parliament of the Cook Islands, Tereora College (the oldest secondary school), Nikao's modern Cook Islands Christian Church, the Rarotonga International Airport and the first division football team Nikao Sokattak F.C. Originally, Nikao consisted of three tapere or settlements (Rangiura, Turamatuitui and Pokoinu). [1] Most of the people of Pokoinu lived near the sea, but after extensions were made to the airport, the people were moved inland towards the mountain. Today they call that new tapere, "Tepuka". The new village of Nikao has three new tapere (Panama, Atupa and Tepuka). [1] Black Rock (Tuoro) is also located at Nikao beach, across the street from the Golf Club, where in oral tradition the spirits of the dead are believed to depart for Avaiki. [2]

Coordinates: 21°12′35.21″S159°49′10.78″W / 21.2097806°S 159.8196611°W / -21.2097806; -159.8196611

Related Research Articles

Cook Islands Country in the South Pacific Ocean

The Cook Islands is a self-governing island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15 islands whose total land area is 240 square kilometres (93 sq mi). The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,960,027 square kilometres (756,771 sq mi) of ocean.

Aitutaki Island in the Cook Islands

Aitutaki, also traditionally known as Araʻura and Utataki, is the second most-populated island in the Cook Islands, after Rarotonga. It is an "almost atoll", with fifteen islets in a lagoon adjacent to the main island. Total land area is 18.05 km2 (6.97 sq mi), and the lagoon has an area of between 50 and 74 km2. A major tourist destination, Aitutaki is the second most visited island of the Cook Islands.

Rarotonga Island of the Cook Islands

Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of 67.39 km2 (26.02 sq mi), and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings and international airport are on Rarotonga. Rarotonga is a very popular tourist destination with many resorts, hotels and motels. The chief town, Avarua, on the north coast, is the capital of the Cook Islands.

Penrhyn atoll

Penrhyn is an atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. The northernmost island in the group, it is located at 1,365 km (848 mi) north-north-east of the capital island of Rarotonga, 9 degrees south of the equator. Its nearest neighbours are Rakahanga and Manihiki, approximately 350 kilometres (220 mi) to the southwest. Once one of the most heavily populated atolls, it was almost completely depopulated by Peruvian slavers in 1864.

Pukapuka Atoll in the northern Cook Islands

Pukapuka, formerly Danger Island, is a coral atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of most remote islands of the Cook Islands, situated about 1,140 kilometres northwest of Rarotonga. On this small island, an ancient culture and distinct language has been maintained over many centuries. The traditional name for the atoll is Te Ulu-o-Te-Watu, and the northern islet where the people normally reside is affectionately known as Wale ('Home').

Mangaia

Mangaia is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga. It is a roughly circular island, with an area of 51.8 square kilometres (20.0 sq mi), 203 kilometres (126 mi) from Rarotonga. Originally heavily populated, Mangaia's population has dropped by 75% in the last 50 years.

Avarua Capital of the Cook Islands

Avarua is a town and district in the north of the island of Rarotonga, and is the national capital of the Cook Islands.

Atiu

Atiu, also known as Enuamanu, is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is 214 km (133 mi) northeast of Rarotonga. The island's population has dropped by two-thirds in the last 50 years.

Rarotonga International Airport

Rarotonga International Airport is the Cook Islands' main international gateway, located in the town and district of Avarua, Rarotonga, 3 km (1.9 mi) west of the downtown area on the northern coast. Originally built in 1944, the airport was expanded in the early 1970's, and officially opened for jets in January 1974.

Manihiki Atoll in the northern Cook Islands

Manihiki is an atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands known informally as the "Island of Pearls". It is located in the Northern Cook Island chain, approximately 1,299 kilometres (807 mi) north of the capital island of Rarotonga, making it one of the most remote inhabitations in the Pacific Ocean. Its name has two possible meanings: It's believed that the original name of the island was Manuhiki, inspired by the aboriginal discovers Manu coming from the word Rua Manu and Hiki meaning ashore, so the literal translation would be canoe carried ashore. The second interpretation is that the original discoverers were from Manihi, an island in Tuamotus, so the name of the island would mean Little Manihi.

Mitiaro

Mitiaro, the fourth island in the Cook Islands group, is of volcanic origin. Standing in water 14,750 feet (4,500 m) deep it is four miles (6.4 km) across at its widest point.

Kingdom of Rarotonga

The Kingdom of Rarotonga, named after the island of Rarotonga, was an independent kingdom established in the present-day Cook Islands in 1858. In 1888 it became a protectorate of the United Kingdom by its own request. In 1893 the name was changed to the Cook Islands Federation.

Cook Islands Federation

The Cook Islands Federation was created in 1891, after the Kingdom of Rarotonga was given the island of Aitutaki. It lasted until 1901, when it was given to New Zealand.

A Tapere or Sub-District is a low level of traditional land subdivision on five of the Southern Cook Islands, comparable to the ahupua'a of the main Hawaiian Islands. Among the populated raised islands, only Mitiaro is not subdivided into tapere. The remaining Southern Cook Islands, Manuae, Palmerston and Takutea are atolls and/or uninhabited, and therefore not subject to this type of traditional subdivision. The atolls of the Northern Cook Islands are subdivided into motu, instead.

The Ootu Peninsula, though connected to the main island of Aitutaki atoll of the Cook Islands, may in many respects be considered as one of the reef islands, being the largest and longest of them. It is located at the northern end of the eastern perimeter of Aitutaki Lagoon to the north and then west of the northernmost true reef island, Akitua, from which is separated by a channel 50 metres wide and less than two metres deep. The southernmost point of the peninsula is called Aumoana. The northernmost point of the peninsula, Teaumera, is also the northernmost point of Aitutaki as a whole. In the northeast is Kopu a Ruatapu, a boat passage through the fringing coral reef.

Avatiu

Avatiu is a settlement on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. It is located on the north coast to the west of the capital Avarua and is the location of Rarotonga's main port.

Matavera District of the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands

Matavera is the smallest of the five districts that make up the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. It is located in the northeast of the island, to the east of the district of Avarua, and north of the district of Ngatangiia.

Mauke

Mauke is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is 277 km (172 mi) northeast of Rarotonga.

Teupoko'ina Utanga Morgan was a Cook Islands educator, politician and writer of children's books and song books. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1961, becoming one of the first two women directly elected to the islands' legislature.

Nikao–Panama

Nikao–Panama is a Cook Islands electoral division returning one member to the Cook Islands Parliament.

References

  1. 1 2 "Nikao chant and background". Tuatua Mai. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  2. Ruth H. Finnegan; Margaret Rose Orbell, eds. (1995). South Pacific Oral Traditions. Indiana University Press. p. 170.