Mangareva

Mangareva was first settled by Polynesians in the first millennium CE. While carbon dating has so far only dated settlements to 1160-1220,[2] there is evidence from the Pitcairn Islands of trade with Mangareva from 1000 CE, and it is likely settlement dates to around 800 CE.[3] The island was once heavily forested and supported a large population that traded with other islands via canoes. However, excessive logging by the islanders between the 10th and 15th centuries resulted in deforestation of the island, with disastrous results for both its environment and its economy (see Gambier Islands for more details).[4]

The first European to visit Mangareva was a British captain, James Wilson, who arrived in 1797 on the ship Duff.[5] Wilson named the island group in honour of Admiral James Gambier, who had helped him to equip his vessel.[6]

Mangareva and its dependencies in the Gambier Islands were ruled by a line of kings – and, later, regents – until the French formally annexed the islands. King Maputeoa requested a French protectorate on 16 February 1844, but the French government never ratified it. On 4 February 1870, the Mangarevan government and its prince regent, Arone Teikatoara, formally withdrew the protectorate request and asked the French not to intervene in the kingdom's affairs. However, after Father Honoré Laval was removed to Tahiti, the native government changed its stance: On 30 November 1871, Prince Regent Arone and the French colonial authority in Tahiti signed an agreement reaffirming the islands’ protectorate status. The Gambier Islands were finally annexed on 21 February 1881 under Prince Regent Bernardo Putairi, and the annexation was approved by the President of France on 30 January 1882.[7]

In the 20th century, in July 1966, the Mangareviens were exposed to radioactive fallout due to the French military's nuclear tests at Moruroa and Fangataufa. Military officials were aware of the doses received by the island and their effects, but kept them secret.[8] The information was made public in 1998 by journalist Vincent Jauvert,[9] and acknowledged by the French government in 2006.[10]

Mangareva is reached by boat from the nearby airport across the lagoon.

Mangareva is an important travel link to Pitcairn Island. Practically the only way a traveler can reach Pitcairn Island is to fly to Tahiti, then to Mangareva. From there, a 32-hour boat ride will take the traveler to the island. Some reach Pitcairn by commercial shipping traffic, but that is uncommon, because shipping lanes do not typically pass close to Pitcairn.

Painter and author Robert Lee Eskridge's book Manga Reva: The Forgotten Islands (Bobbs Merrill; 1931) offers first-hand observations of the environment, peoples, and traditions of Mangareva. It includes original illustrations and photographs by the author. In 1962, the adventure-fiction writer Garland Roark acknowledged Eskridge's work in a foreword to his novel, The Witch of Manga Reva. Eskridge also wrote and illustrated a children's book about his visit to Mangareva: South Sea Playmates (Bobbs Merrill; 1933). Sailor and author W. I. B. (Bill) Crealock describes in his book Cloud of Islands a visit to Mangareva, which he considered the ideal island, on the yacht Arthur Rogers, in the company of Diana and Tom Hepworth, whose lives were later recounted in the book Faraway by Lucy Irvine.

Mangareva Island, view from the Motu Totegegie

• 
  Map of Mangareva dated from 1938
• 
  Location within the Gambier Islands
• 
  Mt. Duff, 370 m (1,200 ft), the only volcanic remnant of all the original volcanoes which made up the Tuamotu archipelago
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  St Michael's Cathedral on Mangareva island
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  Aerial view
• 
  Coastal view

• List of volcanoes in French Polynesia

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Mangareva.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mangareva.

• Mangareva, Tahiti – Death of a People
• Mangareva