Мануае атоллы: Оңтүстік Шұбар Жазираларының құпиясы

Atoll of the Cook Islands
the island with the same name in French Polynesia

Manuae is an uninhabited atoll in the southern group of the Cook Islands, 100 kilometres south east of Aitutaki. Manuae is not administratively part of Aitutaki, however, it is part of Arutanga Reureu Nikaupara Constituency on Aitutaki for electoral purposes only.

Manuae is a true atoll sitting on the peak of a submerged volcano which descends over 4000 meters to the ocean bed. It comprises two horseshoe shaped islets, Manuae islet to the west and Te Au O Tu islet to the east, with a total area of 6 km2 on either side of a lagoon about 7 km x 4 km. Manuae islet has an area of 2.1 km2, while Te Au O Tu islet is 3.9 km2. The lagoon is 13 km2 in size, shallow and subject to large shifting sand banks. A coral reef surrounds the atoll, and there is no major passage through the reef. The waters surrounding the island are a marine park and it is an important breeding ground for seabirds and marine turtles in the Central Pacific. The offshore waters of Manuae are good fishing grounds.

According to oral tradition, Manuae was discovered by Ruatapu, who named it Manu enua ("bird land"). In July 1823 the island was visited by John Williams of the London Missionary Society, who found it inhabited by sixty people. In 1898 it was leased out as a copra plantation. In 1900 it was annexed by New Zealand. In April/May 1965 the population briefly increased to more than a hundred when the island was visited by six expeditions (from Australia, N. Z., Japan, U. K., U. S. A. and U. S. S. R.) to observe the total solar eclipse of 30 May 1965. Norwegian author Erlend Loe writes humorously about an expedition to Manuae in his 1999 novel "L". In April 2020 the Cook Islands National Environment Service advertised for two caretakers to live on the island for a year. The Proprietors of Manuae Incorporated (PMI) were established by court order in 1983. The committee members are elected by the indigenous landowners of Manuae Atoll on a regular basis. In October 2022, the PMI established the not for profit Manuae Enua Conservation Trust (MECT) to represent the landowners’ interests in managing the island of Manuae for conservation action and sustainable development.

The island once supported a copra industry with a settlement established next to the small reef passage less than one kilometer northeast of Turakino, the westernmost point of the atoll. The passage, at the sea entrance, is less than 4 metres wide and in a swell is exceedingly dangerous without local knowledge. The island has an airfield, an overgrown coral airstrip barely visible, that has been out of use for several years. Fishermen from Aitutaki occasionally organise trips to Manuae.