Rakahanga - WikiHQ

right|300px|thumb|Map of Rakahanga Atoll

Rakahanga is part of the Cook Islands, situated in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. The unspoilt atoll is from the Cook Islands' capital, Rarotonga, and lies south of the equator. Its nearest neighbour is Manihiki which is just away. Rakahanga's area is . Its highest point is approximately 5 metres above sea level. The population was 83 in the 2016 Census of Population & Dwellings, with a density ratio of 32 people per square kilometer. Since 2014 Rakahanga's electricity has been 100% solar generated. The Rakahanga-Manihiki language differs from Cook Islands Maori.

Geography

There are four main islands and seven motus or islets in the Rakahanga lagoon. The northern island is divided into three: Tetukono in the north and northeast, Tetaha Kiraro in the west, and Paerangi in the southwest; while the southern island is Rakahanga. The motus are: on the east, Te Motu o Umurua, Akaro, Motu Ngangie, Huananui, Motu Mahuta and Motu Okakara; while on the southwest side the islet of Te Kainga guards the widest passage into the lagoon. The north-east coast has sandy beaches. The west coast is rubble and beach rock (a conglomerate of coral and shell) over old reef rock. The atoll is densely vegetated with coconut palms.

Rakahanga is just over 4 square kilometres in size. Its highest point is about 5 metres (17 feet) and like the other Northern Cook Island atolls, Rakahanga is in danger from rising sea levels. A deeper channel was created in about 2015 under a Harbour Improvement program.

Rakahanga's settlement is on the northwest side of the southern islet and consists of five adjoining villages (which might represent the lineages living in the same village:)

Purapoto
Niteiri
Numahanga
Teruakiore
Matara (main settlement and seat of the Rakahanga Island Council)

alt=|thumb|Looking across the lagoon from the south east. The foreground shows litter from the palms.

Climate

Rakahanga has a uniform temperature pattern with daily variations ranging from a minimum of 26 °C/ 79 °F to a maximum about 31 °C/88<sup>o</sup> F. It is generally dry between May and October and hot and humid between November and April . The latter period is the cyclone (hurricane) season, although such events are relatively rare. It is dryer in La Niña cycles, when water shortages can be acute.

History

Maori settlement

Rakahanga was first inhabited about 1350 AD. According to oral histories, the original population descended from just two people. Toa was a defeated warrior banished from Rarotonga, and his wife Tapairu was either the sister or the daughter of a Rarotongan chief. She may have been the one with the navigational skills to locate the tiny atoll, which some accounts claim was discovered by her brother Huku. The couple settled on the motu of Te Kainga, near the south west entrance to the lagoon. Pearl shell was plentiful there, used in tools such as saws, chisels and fishhooks. De Quiros described the inhabitants as "the most beautiful white and elegant people that were met during the voyage".

Russian oceanic explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen visited Rakahanga on 8 August 1820, on ships Vostok and Mirni. He took its coordinates and charted its position with accuracy; he named this atoll "Grand Duke Alexander Island", after Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaievich who would later become tsar Alexander II. According to Bellingshausen: "The inhabitants (of Rakahanga) came out in canoes and challenged us to fight by throwing stones and spears at the ship."

"The density of its cocoanut [sic] groves has excited the astonishment of all mariners who have visited it," according to a report written in 1874.

Missionary period

In 1849 two missionaries came to Manihiki, and then on to Rakahanga. Tairi was from Rarotonga, and Apolo was from Aitutaki, and they were sent by the London Missionary Society which sought to spread the Scriptures using the vernacular. Within a few years most of the population had been baptised and given new names. Heads of households elected representatives called Turimen, who "decide the law, sit as judges and act as policemen", but according to Moss, "The native missionary pulls the wires." Games and dances were "rigidly repressed by missionary law," and sinners were punished with fines and by being put in stocks for days at a time. almost a year after the islands in the Southern Group. The British appointed as the Cooks Islands chief administrator a New Zealand MP, Frederick Moss, However, the 'parliament' he formed only had representatives from the Southern Group. He suggested this was due to over-officiousness on the part of the Rakahanga Island Council.

The New Zealand Government slowly improved the infrastructure, for example installing a large concrete water tank in 1912 and a Courthouse in 1917. Medical officers called in every six months or so. A government school was not established until 1951, after the islanders had built a teacher's house. The school taught from kindergarten to Year 10, following a New Zealand curriculum for what were termed Maori schools. English was compulsory, although the teachers were not necessarily fluent speakers.

Self rule 1965

Rakahanga was established as a single electorate when the Cook Islands became self-governing in 1965. Pupuke Robati was the first elected representative. One ariki initially represented both Rakahanga and Manihiki in the House of Ariki because it was claimed that there had been no ariki on Rakahanga since 1901. Robati disputed this, saying there were two ariki families. Robati became Prime Minister briefly in 1987. His daughter Tina Pupuke Browne, leader of the Cook Islands Democratic Party, gained the seat following a legal challenge after the 2018 elections.

Rakahanga's political candidates have often resided outside Rakahanga when elected, including Pupuke Robati. However, voters can only be registered if they have lived in the electorate for at least 3 months before an election. This condition led to an electoral challenge to the Rakahanga election result in 2010.

With EU and New Zealand funding, 100% solar generated power was made available to all residents in 2014, and new roofing, guttering and water tanks have been installed on all occupied houses.

Colonies of white terns nest along the lagoon. Frigate birds and brown boobies are other common sea birds. Feral cats and rats were introduced by Europeans. Pigs and poultry are farmed and also exist in feral populations. Dogs are prohibited on the atoll.

Indigenous ngangie and toa trees are found all over on the islets. and the Cook Islands Christian Church became an autonomous entity with an act of the Cook Islands Parliament in 1968. The large white church with its intricate wood carving remains the dominant building on the atoll, and the majority of the population attend at least one service per week.

Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic religion, although dominant in nearby Tahiti, was not practiced on Rakahanga until 1926. The first priest, Father Joachim Kerdral, oversaw the building of a church and a small priest's house on leased land. A Catholic school was also established, taught by the priest or by ex students. By 1935 a third of the population had converted to Catholicism. Father Joachim left in 1937 and was not replaced permanently until 1955, and then only for four years. The congregation largely returned to the London Missionary Society Church, or became Seventh Day Adventists. Rakahanga's last permanent priest was Father Placido Rovers, who arrived in 1971 and was buried on the island in 1980.|2021|81

Between 800 and 1200 people lived on Rakahanga and Manihiki when the missionaries arrived in 1849. Since the last half of the 20th century there has been a continued decline through migration to Rarotonga, New Zealand and to a lesser extent, Australia.

The number of residents varies as families may migrate temporarily. A survey in 2011 counted 79 residents on the island whereas one in 2012 counted 102. and 83 people in the 2016 Census (down from 127 in the 2008 Census). The government school, which opened in 1951 for all students up to Year 10, has an enrolment of less than 20.

Culture

Chants, stories, drumming and dance were central to Rakahangan/Manihikian culture. An early 20th century visitor claimed that dancing was the peoples' "chief reason for existing," and described them as the most accomplished singers and dancers "in the whole South Pacific".

thumb|Pearl inlay decorates this early 20th century table. Its top is constructed from packing case planking. Behind is a typical mid 20th century home-made couch and cushions. The applique embroidery style tivaevae was introduced by the missionaries.|alt=

Inlay pearl shell inlays decorated traditional double canoes.

Dried fish are a potential export. Rito hats, mats and baskets, traditionally woven by women from the ribs of coconut leaves, remain in demand in Rarotongan markets because of their high quality. These are made using the same techniques which in 1874 were described as producing "highly prized" mats "in the manufacture of which they are more skilful than any other people of the Pacific". However, the lagoon is shallow with poor water flow. The novel he wrote while on the atoll, White Natives, was never published, although an account of his stay is in his autobiography.

Rakahanga gained international attention when a raft on a Kon-Tiki like expedition led by Frenchman Eric de Bisschop smashed on the reef in 1958. de Bisschop was killed and buried on the atoll. A few weeks later a French naval group retrieved the body which was reburied with honours in Tahiti.

Pupuke Rabati was prime minister of the Cook Islands from 1987 to 1989.

References

External links

Pictures and information about Rakahanga