Marquesas_islands, Marquesas_islands Information, Marquesas

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Manuiota'a: Journal of a Voyage to the Marquesas Islands

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Boats Moored at the Bay of Virgins, Fatu Hiva Island, Marquesas, The, French Polynesia Framed Photographic Poster Print by Peter Hendrie, 29x21

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Voices of the South Seas: Chants from the Marquesas Islands

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Typee

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Blue Water Destinations: Marquesas Islands to the Tuamotu Coral Atolls


Bennett DVD Blue Water Destinations: Marquesas Islands to the Tuamotu Coral Atolls

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Exploring the Marquesas Islands

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Marquesas Islands ; Cousteau Video Library

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Boats Moored at the Bay of Virgins, Fatu Hiva Island, Marquesas, The, French Polynesia Collections Framed Photographic Poster Print by Peter Hendrie, 35x25

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Adorning the World: Art of the Marquesas Islands (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications)

Marquesas redirects here. For the uninhabited island group in the U.S. State of Florida see Marquesas Keys.

Marquesas Islands Native name: Îles Marquises / Te Fenua ‘Enata/Te Henua Kenana
Flag of the Marquesas Islands
Geography

Location	Pacific Ocean
Archipelago	Polynesia
Total islands	14
Major islands	Nuku Hiva, Ua Pu, Ua Huka, Hiva Oa, Fatu Hiva
Area	1049 km²
Highest point	Mount Temetiu (Hiva Oa) 1190 m
Administration
France
Overseas collectivity	French Polynesia
Demographics
Population	8,632(French) Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF). Recensement de la population 2007 (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-12-02. (as of Aug. 2007 census)
Density	8/km²

Map of the Marquesas Islands

The Marquesas Islands (French: Îles Marquises or Archipel des Marquises or Marquises; Marquesan: Te Henua (K)enana (North Marquesan) and Te Fenua `Enata (South Marquesan), both meaning "The Land of Men") are a group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas are located at 9° 00S, 139° 30W. The highest point is the peak of Mount Temetiu on Hiva Oa island at 1190 m (3904 ft) above sea level.[1]

The Marquesas Islands form one of the five administrative divisions (subdivitions administratives) of French Polynesia. The capital of the Marquesas Islands administrative subdivision is the settlement of Taiohae on the island of Nuku Hiva. The population of the Marquesas Islands was 8,632 at the August 2007 census.

History

Main article: Marquesas history

The first recorded settlers of the Marquesas were Polynesians, who, from archæological evidence, are believed to have arrived before 100 AD. Ethnological and linguistic evidence suggests that they likely arrived from the region of Tonga and Samoa.

The islands were given their name by the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira who reached them on 21 July 1595. He named them after his patron, García Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Cañete, who was Viceroy of Peru at the time. Mendaña visited first Fatu Hiva and then Tahuata before continuing on to the Solomon Islands.

The American navigator Capt. Joseph Ingraham first visited the northern Marquesas while commanding the brig Hope in 1791, giving them the name Washington Islands. In 1813, Commodore David Porter claimed Nuku Hiva for the United States, but the United States Congress never ratified that claim, and in 1842, France, following a successful military operation on behalf of a native chief (named Iotete) who claimed to be king of the whole of the island of Tahuata, took possession of the whole group, establishing a settlement (abandoned in 1859) on Nuku Hiva. French control over the group was reestablished in 1870, and later incorporated into the territory of French Polynesia.

Of all the major island groups of the Pacific, the Marquesas Islands suffered the greatest population decline as a result of diseases brought by European explorers, reducing the estimated sixteenth century population of over 100,000 inhabitants, to about 20,000 by the middle of the nineteenth century, and to just over 2,000 by the beginning of the 1900s. During the course of the twentieth century, the population increased to 8,712 at the November 2002 census,(French) Institut Statistique de Polynésie Française (ISPF). Tableau I – Population des subdivisions administratives de Polynésie française (XLS). Retrieved on 2007-12-02. not including the Marquesan community residing on Tahiti, but it decreased slightly to 8,632 at the August 2007 census.

Geography

Main article: Marquesas geography

Rainforest on Fatu-Hiva.

The Marquesas Islands are the island group farthest from any continent in the world, lying between 400 and 600 miles (600 and 1,000 km) south of the equator and approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) northeast of Tahiti. They fall naturally into two geographical divisions: the northern group, consisting of Eïao, Hatutu (Hatutaa), Motu One, and the islands centered around the large island of Nuku Hiva: Motu Iti (Hatu Iti), Ua Pou, Motu `Oa and Ua Huka, and the southern group of Fatu Uku, Tahuata, Moho Tani (Motane), Terihi, Fatu Hiva and Motu Nao (Thomasset Rock), clustered around the main island of Hiva `Oa.

With a combined land area of 1,049 km² (405 sq. miles), the Marquesas are among the largest island groups of French Polynesia, Nuku Hiva being the second largest island in the entire territory, after Tahiti. With the exception of Motu One, all the islands of the Marquesas are of volcanic origin.

In contrast to the common perception of lush tropical vegetation that goes culturally hand-in-hand with the appellation "Polynesia", the Marquesas are remarkably dry islands. Although the islands lie within the tropics, they are the first major break in the prevailing easterly winds spawned from the extraordinarily dry (from an atmospheric perspective) Humboldt Current. Because of this, the islands are subject to frequent drought conditions, and only those which reach highest into the clouds (generally, above about 2,500 feet above sea level) have reliable precipitation. This has led to historical fluctuations in water supply, which have played a crucial rôle in the sustainability of human populations in certain sections of the various islands throughout the archipelago. This is especially evident in the low historical population of Ua Huka (maximum elevation 2,812 ft.) and the intermittent inhabitability of Eiao (maximum elevation 1,890 ft.).

Islands of the Marquesas

Northern Marquesas

Ua Huka

Southern Marquesas

Hiva `Oa

Seamounts

There are also a number of seamounts or shoals, located primarily in the area of the northern Marquesas. Among these are:

See also: Marquesas Islands names and Marquesas geology

Geology

Main article: Marquesas geology

^{This short section requires expansion.}

With the exception of Motu One, all of the Marquesas Islands are high islands. Motu One is a low island, comprising two small sand banks awash on a coral reef. Unlike the majority of the islands of French Polynesia, the Marquesas are not surrounded by protective fringing reefs. Except for at Motu One, and in bays and other protected areas, the only coral in the Marquesas is found in a rather strange place: on the top of the island of Fatu Huku.

The South Equatorial Current lashes the islands mercilessly, which has led to sea-caves dotting the islands\' shores. Except for where the valleys empty into the small bays, the islands are remarkable for their mountain ridges, which end abruptly as cliffs where they meet the sea.

The islands are estimated to range in age from the youngest, Fatu Hiva (1.3my) to the oldest, Eiao (6my).

Government

Main article: Marquesas Islands government

Hanavave

The admnistrative centre of the Marquesas Islands is the settlement of Taiohae on the island of Nuku Hiva, although the former capital, Atuona on the island of Hiva Oa, still serves as the administrative center for the southern islands.

See also: Marquesas Islands politics and Flags of the Marquesas Islands

Administratively, the Marquesas Islands form the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas Islands (subdivision administrative des (Îles) Marquises), one of French Polynesia\'s five administrative subdivisions (subdivision administratives). Geographically, the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas Islands is identical with the electoral district of the Marquesas Islands (circonscription des Îles Marquises), one of French Polynesia\'s six electoral districts (circonsriptions électorales) for the Assembly of French Polynesia (see also Politics of French Polynesia).

Language

Main article: Marquesan language

Although French and Tahitian are the only official languages of French Polynesia, and therefore of the Marquesas Islands as well, the Marquesan languages, in their various forms, remain the primary means of communication within the archipelago.

Marquesan is a collection of East-Central Polynesian dialects, of the Marquesic group, spoken in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. They are usually classified into two groups, North Marquesan and South Marquesan, roughly along geographic lines.

The North Marquesan dialects are spoken on the islands of Ua Pu and Nuku Hiva, and South Marquesan dialects on the islands of Hiva `Oa, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva. The dialects of Ua Huka are often incorrectly classified as North Marquesan; they are instead transitional. While the island is in the northern Marquesas group, the dialects show more morphological and phonological affinities with South Marquesan. The North Marquesan dialects are sometimes considered two separate languages: North Marquesan and Tai Pi Marquesan, the latter being spoken in the valleys of the eastern third of the island of Nuku Hiva, in the ancient province of Tai Pi.

The most striking feature of the Marquesan languages is their almost universal replacement of the /r/ or /l/ of other Polynesian languages by a /ʔ/ (glottal stop).

Like other Polynesian languages, the phonology of Marquesan languages is characterized by a paucity of consonants and a comparative abundance of vowels.

Demographics

Main article: Marquesas demographics

Marquesans performing a dance

The population of the Marquesas Islands at the August 2007 census was 8,632, which is 80 people less than at the November 2002 census, and far lower than 16th century estimates which put the population at over 100,000. Much of the population was wiped out by Small pox between 1600 and 1900, when the population was counted at just under 2,000.

Historical population

1971	1977	1983	1988	1996	2002	2007
5,593	5,419	6,548	7,358	8,064	8,712	8,632
Official figures from past censuses. 2002 census 1971, 1977, 1983, 1988, and 1996 censuses

Communications

Airports

There are four airports in the Marquesas, one each on the islands of Nuku Hiva, Ua Pu, Ua Huka, and Hiva Oa. The terrain of Tahuata is too irregular to allow for the construction of a landing strip without significant investment, and while the upland plateau of central Fatu Hiva is large enough to permit the construction of an airstrip, the island\'s minuscule population makes such an exercise of dubious benefit.

Telecommunications

The Marquesas are served by telephone as well as by radio and television mainly from Tahiti.

^{This short section requires expansion.}

Culture

Main article: Marquesan culture

The Marquesas Islands were once a major center of eastern Polynesian civilization.

Biology

The ecosystem of the Marquesas has been devastated in some areas by the activities of feral livestock. As a first step in preserving what remains, the Marquesan Nature Reserves were created in 1992.

See also: Fauna of the Marquesas Islands and Flora of the Marquesas Islands

In Western culture

Famous French painter Paul Gauguin and Belgian singer Jacques Brel spent the last years of their lives in the Marquesas, and are buried there. Brel composed a famous song, Les Marquises, about the Marquesas Islands, his last home.

The Marquesas provided inspiration to American novelist Herman Melville, whose experiences in the Marquesas formed the basis for his novel Typee. (Despite some sources, Omoo is based in the Society Islands, not in the Marquesas.)

Robert Louis Stevenson visited the Marquesas in 1888, and wrote about his experiences and impressions there in 1900, in a book called In the South Seas.

Frederick O\'Brien wrote a 1919 book White Shadows in the South Seas based on his experiences in the Marquesas. This book was also adapted into an MGM movie of 1928.

Thor Heyerdahl wrote his book Fatu Hiva during a year-long stay on the island.

The island group is also mentioned in passing in the Crosby, Stills & Nash song, "Southern Cross".

The Marquesas Islands temporarily received an international spotlight in the United States when the reality TV show Survivor: Marquesas was filmed on Nuku Hiva. It was the fourth installment of the TV series Survivor.

In the book In the Heart of the Sea, it is detailed that the Marquesas were near by where the Whaleship Essex had been destroyed. They feared rumours of cannibalism, war and ritualized homosexuality on the island, however, and instead chose a much longer route to South America.