Rikitea | |
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Town | |
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  Rikitea Location in French Polynesia | |
| Coordinates: 23°7′13″S134°58′9″W / 23.12028°S 134.96917°W | |
| Country |  France |
| Overseas collectivity |  French Polynesia |
| Territory | Gambier Islands |
| Island | Mangareva |
Rikitea is a small town on Mangareva, which is part of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. A majority of the islanders live in Rikitea. [1] [2] The island was a protectorate of France in 1871 and was annexed in 1881. [3]
The town's history dates to the era when the island was first settled with people from the Marquesas Islands in 1100 AD. Captain James Wilson of the London Missionary Society arrived in 1797 on Duff, naming the islands after the English Admiral James Gambier who had facilitated his expedition. [3]
Before the Catholic missionaries' arrival, cannibalism was practiced under the rule of the local kings. French Picpus priests Father François Caret and Father Honoré Laval, of the Congregation for the Sacred Hearts, landed here in 1834. They arrived from Chile. [4] Father Hippolyte Roussel, who had arrived at Rikitea with more than 100 Rapa Nui people on 4 July 1871, assumed charge of Laval's Rikitea mission, and served there till he died in 1898. [5] The figure of 9,000, mentioned by some, when Laval arrived is regarded as being hugely exaggerated. In 1825, the population was estimated at 1500. When the missionaries arrived in 1834 they counted 2,124 souls. Increasing contact with the outside world brought contagious diseases to Mangareva savagely decimating the population. There had already been several major epidemics before 1863, including one which is said have killed half the population. The story about Laval driving the population to their deaths was spread by a French judge, Louis Jacolliot, who dabbled in the occult and had a grudge against Laval and wanted to discredit him. For 9,000 people to have lived on the islands, many would have to live on the hillsides due to the small amount of flat ground, but there is no evidence of houses ever being built there. Also, if 8,500 people died because of Laval, there would be that number of graves, or at least mass graves, but there is not.
Rikitea is a port town and tourist center situated on Mangareva Lagoon, which contains a number of motu. It is about 1,650 kilometres (1,030 mi) southeast of Tahiti, to the North of the Tropic of Capricorn. The average elevation of the town is 8 metres (26 ft). [6] [1] [2] [7]
The total population of the island was 1100 and most of them lived in Rikitea. [3]
Two mountains, Mt. Duff (482 metres (1,581 ft)) and Mt. Mokoto (426 metres (1,398 ft)), which are approachable by trails, are north of the town. [3] [7] The climb to Duff's peak takes about 90 minutes. The stones found on the hill were used by the ethnic Mangarevans to predict weather and to look for boats headed for the island. [1] The mountain is covered with tall aeho grass. [3]
Black pearls are cultured on numerous platforms on both sides of the Mangareva lagoon. [1] The lagoon is full of corals and black-lipped oysters are harvested by the people. [4] The inhabitants are also involved in agriculture and fishing to the minimum level. [7] The church is involved in technical school (CED, "Center for Educational Development) to train people in skill trades such as carpentry, mechanics, electricity, and mother-of-pearl shell engraving. [8]
Father Honoré Laval built 116 stone buildings and arches, [3] and roads were laid. Buildings included a fortified palace with follies as well as St. Michael's Cathedral which has also been characterized as a folly. The structures were built with shaped coral stone blocks. [4] Several of the structures dating to Laval's time still remain, such as the watch towers on the coast and a turret, the remains of the palace built for Maputeoa, the last king of the island. [1] King Maputeoa's crypt is in the St. Pierre's Chapel behind the neo-Gothic St. Michael's Cathedral. [9] [10]
The Couvent Rouru (Rouru Convent), near the southern end of the cemetery, is now in ruins, but housed 60 nuns at one time. [1] There is a carving school near the cathedral at Camika CED which features mother of pearl carvings. Here training is provided in the art of shell engraving. Pendants and barrettes created here can be purchased at the centre's sales outlet. Riktea has a large nuclear fall-out shelter which was built at the time of the French atmospheric testing at Moruroa. [3]
The town also has post office, a few shops, a military establishment, a medical room, and schools. [3] Accommodation of note includes Chez Pierre et Mariette near the wharf, with three rooms, and Pension Bianca et Benoit, in the southern part of the town. [11]
The town is accessed by air and by ship. The airport is located on Mou Totegegie, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) NorthEast. From the airport, boats provide the only access to Rikitea. Flights operate from Pape'ete and take four and half hours. Travel by ship originates only from Pape'ete, a journey of 21 days, with stops at four other islands before arriving at the Rikitea. [12] A 28 kilometres (17 mi) road circles the entire island. [3]
The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extending over an area roughly the size of Western Europe. Their combined land area is 850 square kilometres. This archipelago's major islands are Anaa, Fakarava, Hao and Makemo.
Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north. Mangareva has a permanent population of 1,239 (2012) and the largest village on the island, Rikitea, is the chief town of the Gambier Islands.
The Gambier Islands are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of 27.8 km2 or 10.7 sq mi, and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera along with islets on the surrounding fringing reef, and the uninhabited Temoe atoll, which is located 45 km south-east of the Mangareva Islands. The Gambiers are generally considered a separate island group from Tuamotu both because their culture and language (Mangarevan) are much more closely related to those of the Marquesas Islands, and because, while the Tuamotus comprise several chains of coral atolls, the Mangareva Islands are of volcanic origin with central high islands.
Akamaru is the third largest island in the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia. It is a small, rocky island with an area of approximately 2.6 km2 (1.0 sq mi). The island is located approximately 7 km (4.3 mi) southeast of Mangareva, which is the largest island of the whole Gambier Islands archipelago. Akamaru's highest point rises to an elevation of 247 m (810 ft).
Taravai is the second largest island in the Gambier Islands archipelago of French Polynesia, at 5.7 km2. Taravai is about 1.5 km southwest of Mangareva, the largest island of the whole Gambier group, and about 300 m north of the island of Angakauitai. Off its eastern shore lies the tiny rock Îlot Motu-o-ari.
Temoe, or Te Moe, is a small atoll of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the far southeast of the Tuamotu group archipelago. It lies about 37 km southeast from the Gambier Islands and more than 1,700 kilometres southeast from Mataiva, at the other end of the Tuamotu archipelago.
This page list topics related to French Polynesia.
St. Michael's Cathedral, also known as the Rikitea Cathedral, is a parish of the Catholic Church located on Mangareva Island in the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia.
Te Maputeoa was a monarch of the Polynesian island of Mangareva and the other Gambier Islands. He was the King or ʻAkariki, as well as the penultimate king of the island of Mangareva, and other Gambier Islands including Akamaru, Aukena, Taravai and Temoe. He reigned from 1830 until his death in 1857.
Joseph Gregorio II was the last King or ʻAkariki of the island of Mangareva, and other Gambier Islands including Akamaru, Aukena, Taravai and Temoe. His short reign lasted from 1857 until his death in 1868. His childless death left the royal succession of Mangareva in doubt.
Maria Eutokia Toaputeitou was Queen consort of the island of Mangareva, and other Gambier Islands including Akamaru, Aukena, Taravai and Temoe. She served as regent for her son in his minority and for a short period afterward in the interregnum period when the royal succession of Mangareva was in doubt.
Honoré Laval, SS.CC., was a French Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a religious institute of the Roman Catholic Church, who evangelized the Gambier Islands.
François d'Assise Caret, SS.CC., was a French Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a religious institute of the Roman Catholic Church.
Cyprien Liausu, SS.CC., was a French Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a religious institute of the Roman Catholic Church. He headed the Roman Catholic mission in the Gambier Islands from 1835 to 1855.
Tiripone Mama Taira Putairi, SS.CC., (1846–1881) was educated by French missionaries from birth and became the first indigenous Roman Catholic priest ordained in Eastern Polynesia. He was part of the native royal family of Mangareva, and his father Bernardo Putairi was the island's last ruling regent.
Arone Teikatoara was the penultimate Prince Regent of the island of Mangareva, and other Gambier Islands including Akamaru, Aukena, Taravai and Temoe from 1869 to 1873. He served as regent and de facto monarch during the interregnum period when the royal succession of Mangareva was in doubt. His first name has also been spelled "Arona", "Aarona" or "Aarone".
Akakio Tematereikura was the Prince Regent of the Polynesian island of Mangareva and other territories of the Gambier Islands, including Akamaru, Aukena, Taravai and Temoe, in 1869. He served as regent and de facto monarch during the interregnum period when the royal succession of Mangareva was in doubt. His name is also written as Akakio Matereikura in some French sources.
Matua was the High Priest of the island of Mangareva. He served as one of the regents for his nephew Maputeoa and was instrumental in the conversion of Mangareva and the Gambier Islands to Roman Catholicism. His name is often written as Matoua.
Duff was a ship launched on the Thames in 1794. In 1796 the London Missionary Society engaged her to take a party of missionaries to the South Pacific. Once she had landed the missionaries she sailed to China and took a cargo back to England for the British East India Company. On this voyage her captain named a variety of South Pacific islands. On her second voyage to deliver missionaries a French privateer captured her in 1799 off the coast of Brazil on the outward-bound leg of her voyage.
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