right|300px|thumb|Map of Pukapuka Atoll

Pukapuka, formerly Danger Island, is a coral atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the most remote islands of the Cook Islands, situated about northwest of Rarotonga. On this small island, an ancient culture and distinct language have been maintained over many centuries. The population of Pukapuka is around 400 people.

Etymology

The traditional name for the atoll is ("The Head of the Rock"), The modern name Pukapuka (sometimes written as Bukabuka) originally applied to the main island of the atoll, and is of uncertain etymology. In modern times, the main island is often called Wale ("Home"). According to oral tradition the island was discovered by Tamayei, a god from Tonga, and settled by ancestors from Tonga. It was sighted again in 1765 by a British Naval expedition under Commodore John Byron, who named it the "Islands of Danger" because of the reefs and the high surf that made it too dangerous to land.

left|thumb|120px|Thomas Muir

"Everything united to convince us that we had the right to attribute to ourselves the honour of having discovered three new islands; and with this conviction I gave them the name 'Isles of the Otter' ('Isles de la Loutre') which was the name of our vessel. In order to distinguish them, we named the eastern one 'Peron and Muir' [Motu Kō], the one to the north 'Dorr' [Pukapuka], and the name of 'Brown' was given to the third [Motu Kotawa], after one of our officers." Some lineages wanted to kill the newcomers in revenge for an incident that had happened a month earlier, but Vakaawi, chief of Yālongo lineage, protected them. In the following days, the island accepted Luka's Christian message, largely because of an encounter when two dead people were apparently raised back to life.

In 1862 Rev. William Wyatt Gill found most of the people on the island converted to Christianity. A raid in 1863 by Peruvian slave traders took 145 men and women, of whom only two returned, Kolia and Pilato (Malowutia). The London Missionary Society barque John Williams was wrecked on the western side in May 1864. Harold Dixon, Gene Aldrich, and Tony Pastula survived 34 days on the open ocean in a tiny raft, beginning their odyssey with no food or water stores and very few tools. They were found by Teleuka Iotua huddled in a hut belonging to Lakulaku Tutala on Loto Village's reserve, where he gave them coconuts to drink. He then went and got more help. Shortly after their arrival a cyclone struck the island and caused widespread damage. Their story was told in the book The Raft by Robert Trumbull, published by Henry Holt and Co. in 1942, and released as a motion picture Against the Sun in 2014.

Post World War II

Pukapuka was hit by Cyclone Percy in February 2005 — a Category Five cyclone that destroyed the taro gardens, brought down thousands of trees, and damaged three-quarters of the houses.

Treaty

From 1856 to 1980, the United States claimed sovereignty over the island under the Guano Islands Act. On 11 June 1980, in connection with establishing the maritime boundary between the Cook Islands and American Samoa, the United States signed the Cook Islands – United States Maritime Boundary Treaty acknowledging that Pukapuka was under Cook Islands' sovereignty.

Economy

Although the island has a well-maintained airstrip, flights from Rarotonga are very infrequent. The five-hour flight from Rarotonga via Air Rarotonga now operates when there is a Government charter once every six weeks or so. The island is closer to Samoa than to the rest of the Cook Islands and transport via Samoa is becoming a preferred option for Pukapukans visiting in organised groups (tele parties) from New Zealand and Australia.

Culture

Pukapuka has its own language and customs that are different from those of the rest of the Cook Islands.

The entire population is said to be descended from seventeen men, two women and an unknown number of children who survived a catastrophic storm and tsunami in the 17th century. A new estimate of the date of the calamity based on oral histories suggests that it happened about 1590. Following blackbirding raids, by 1870 the population of the atoll was reduced to 340 people.

The island had a population of 664 at the 2001 census, but since 2005 the population has declined to less than 500.

The American writer Robert Dean Frisbie settled on Pukapuka in 1924, married a native woman, and raised his family on the island. He wrote several books about his experiences on Pukapuka and surrounding islands. He said at the time he was looking for a place beyond the reach of "the faintest echo from the noisy clamour of the civilised world". Frisbie’s daughter Johnny and her return to Pukapuka is featured in the 2021 documentary The Island in Me.

Pukapuka served as the namesake for the tribe of Asian-Americans in Survivor: Cook Islands, the 13th season of the U.S. reality show in which initial tribes were divided by race.

See also

  • Pukapukan language
  • List of Guano Island claims
  • List of reduplicated place names

References

  • Cook Islands site
  • Images of damage caused by Cyclone Percy