Length 28 km (17.4 mi) Area 227 km² | Width 10.5 km (6.52 mi) Island group Tuamotus | |
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Faaite film
Faaite, or Faaiti is an atoll of the Tuamotus in French Polynesia. It is located 60 kilometres (37 miles) to the north of Anaa Atoll. The total surface of the atoll is 227 square kilometres (88 square miles) Its dry land area is 8.87 square kilometres (3.42 square miles). Its length is 28 kilometres (17 miles) and its width 10.5 kilometres (6.5 miles). The total population as of 2012 is 401 inhabitants.
Contents
Map of Atoll Faaite, French Polynesia
Faaite's inner lagoon has a navigable channel to the ocean. The main village is Hitianau, with a total population of 246.
History
First recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 11 February 1606. It was charted as Decena (ten in Spanish).
John Turnbull rediscovered it in 1802. Turnbull was the first retailer of the Pacific who used the route of Tahiti to Hawaii.
Russian oceanic explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen visited Faaite in 1820 on the ships Vostok and Mirni. He named this atoll "Miloradovich".
This atoll reached a measure of fame after the "Bûchers de Faaite" affair. On September 2, 1987 six persons were thrown into the fire (some of them by their own children) because the islanders were convinced that they were possessed by the devil.
There is a territorial (domestic) airfield in Faaite which was inaugurated in 1992.
Administration
Administratively Faaite belongs to the commune of Anaa, which includes the inhabited atoll of Faaite and the uninhabited atolls of Tahanea and Motutunga.