Mehetia

Meheti'a or Me'eti'a is a volcanic island in the Windward Islands, in the east of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is a very young active stratovolcano 110 kilometres (68 mi) east of the Taiarapu Peninsula of Tahiti. It belongs to the Teahiti'a-Mehetia hotspot.[1]

Mehetia
Native name:
Meheti'a
Coastal view of Osnaburg Island, now Mehetia
Geography
LocationPacific Ocean
Coordinates17°52′S 148°04′W
ArchipelagoSociety Islands
Total islands1
Major islandsMehetia
Area2.3 km2 (0.89 sq mi)
Highest elevation435 m (1427 ft)
Highest pointMont Fareura
Administration
Overseas collectivityFrench Polynesia
Administrative subdivisionWindward Islands
CommuneTaiarapu-Est
Demographics
Populationuninhabited
Mont Fareura
NASA Geocover 2000 image
Highest point
Elevation435 m (1,427 ft)
Prominence435 m (1,427 ft)
Coordinates17°52′S 148°4′W
Geography
LocationSociety Islands
Geology
Mountain typeStratovolcano
Last eruptionUnknown

The island has an area of 2.3 square kilometres (0.89 sq mi) and its highest point is 435 metres (1,427 ft). The peak is a well-defined volcanic crater. In 1981 the island was the centre of earthquakes.[2][3]

History

Tahitian oral tradition holds that navigators stopped at Mehiti'a, which was regarded as sacred, on their long voyage to New Zealand.[4] This oral history correlates with geological evidence found in southern New Zealand which can be traced back to Mehiti'a.[5]

The early Polynesian voyagers commonly gave Polynesian ancestral names and symbolism to new places.[6] The high point of Mehetia is Mount Hiurai (Hi’ura’i/Hikurangi)[7] The name Hikurangi in Aotearoa / New Zealand probably came from Mehetia[8] and the name Hi’ura’i probably has its origin in Si'ulagi (Si'ulangi) in Ta'u, Samoa.[9]

The first European sighting was by the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 9 February 1606, that charted it as Decena (ten in Spanish).[10] Later on it was sighted by Samuel Wallis in HMS Dolphin 1767 and Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768.[11] It was also sighted by Spanish navigator Domingo de Boenechea on November 6, 1772, on ship Aguila.[11]: 241  He named this island San Cristóbal.

Administration

Meheti'a is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of Taiarapu-Est and of its easternmost commune associée Tautira. The island is uninhabited and does not have much vegetation but has a small coral reef on the underwater slopes.

See also

References
  1. Cheminee, J.L.; Hekinian, R.; Talandier, Jacques; Albarède, Francis; Devey, Colin; Francheteau, J.; Lancelot, Y. (March 1989). "Geology of an active hot spot: Teahitia-Mehetia region in the South Central Pacific". Marine Geophysical Research. 11 (1). doi:10.1007/BF00286246.
  2. Binard, N.; Maury, R. C.; Guille, G.; Talandier, J.; Gillot, P.Y.; Cotten, J. (March 1993). "Mehetia Island, South Pacific: geology and petrology of the emerged part of the Society hot spot". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 55: 239–260. doi:10.1016/0377-0273(93)90040-X.
  3. Talandier, Jacques (1984). "The volcanoseismic swarms of 1981–1983 in the Tahiti-Mehetia Area, French Polynesia" (PDF). Journal of Geophysical Research. 89: 11216–11234. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  4. "Scoria blocks reinforces early Polynesian links to Southland". The Southland Times. Stuff. 3 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  5. "Rock find in New Zealand rewrites story of Polynesian voyage". NZ Herald. 2019-04-06. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
  6. "Ancestral Naming of Places",
  7. "Mount Hiurai (Hi’ura’i/Hikurangi)"
  8. "Mount Hiurai (Hi’ura’i/Hikurangi)"
  9. "Si'ulagi(Si'ulangi)in Ta'u"
  10. Corney, Bolton Granvill The quest and occupation of Tahiti by emissaries of Spain during the years 1772-1776, London, 1913, Vol I, p.XXX
  11. Salmond, Anne (2010). Aphrodite's Island. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 39, 45, 93. ISBN 9780520261143.
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