Atafu

According to the 2016 census, 541 people officially live on Atafu (although only 413 were present the night the census was taken).{{Cite web|url=http://www.tokelau.org.nz/site/tokelau/files/TokelauNSO/2016Census/Atafu%20atoll%20profile%202016%20Census.pdf|title=2016 Tokelau Census atoll profiles|website=tokelau.org.nz}} Of those present, 78% belong to the Congregational Church."[http://www.tokelau.org.nz/Tokelau+Government/Government+Departments/Office+of+the+Council+for+the+Ongoing+Government+OCOG/Tokelau+National+Statistics+Office/census.html 2016 Final data tables]" Retrieved 13-07-2017 The main settlement on the atoll is located on Atafu Island in its northwestern corner. The Presbyterian church was established on the island in 1858, but today almost all of the residents belong to the Congregational Christian Church. The first village on Atafu was established at its southern end: Residents built houses along the lagoon shore to take best advantage of the cooling trade winds.

Fishing is traditionally done by the men on Atafu, and they are highly skilled at it. They use many traditional methods that are passed on from fathers to sons. They create very effective lures, fish traps, nets, and seines. They commonly use the technique called "noose fishing", in which a circle of rope, tied with a noose knot, is dangled in the water; a large fish swims into the rope circle, lured by bait, and the noose is then tightened around its body, holding it fast.{{cite web|url=http://www.tokelau.org.nz/faq/atafu.htm |title=Atafu |publisher=Council for the Ongoing Government for Tokelau |accessdate=2008-04-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815182738/http://www.tokelau.org.nz/faq/atafu.htm |archive-date=15 August 2007 }} They also make well-crafted canoes, which they use for their fishing expeditions.

File:Atafu street dawn 20070715.jpg

Atafu lies in the Pacific hurricane belt. In January 1914, a massive storm demolished the church and most of the houses on the islands, and wiped out many of the coconut palms.[http://www.janeresture.com/tokelau_islands/atafu.htm Atafu Island] on janeresture.com

The atoll is roughly triangular in shape and encloses a lagoon some {{convert|5|km|mi|spell=in|abbr=off}} north to south by {{convert|4|km|mi|spell=in|abbr=off}} east to west at its widest point. It is low-lying, reaching a maximum altitude of only some {{convert|5|m|ft|spell=in|abbr=off}}, and is heavily vegetated with coconut palms and other trees, with undergrowth similar to that found on many small central Pacific islands. Lizards, rats, and seabirds are common on Atafu island. The atoll attracts a wide variety of fish in large numbers.

The eastern side of the lagoon is a nearly continuous thin strip of land with one small break halfway along its length. In contrast, the western side is composed of reef and several distinct islands, notably the inverted V shape of Atafu Island in the north, Alofi, which extends into the lagoon from the western reef, and the L-shaped Fenualoa in the southwest. The smaller Tamaseko Island lies in the lagoon close to Alofi.

The reef which connects the islands of the atoll is shallow enough that it is possible to walk between the islands at low tide. This also means that there is no boat passage to the lagoon, although the ocean becomes deep very close to the reef. This allows for good anchorage, but also makes for rough seas close to the reef. The flatness of the atoll and its location within the tropical cyclone belt has led to damage to island properties on occasion.

Some 70 ha of the southern and south-western parts of the atoll have been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because the site supports breeding colonies of brown and black noddiess and common white terns, with about 30,000 breeding pairs estimated in 2011.{{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/atafu-iba-tokelau-(to-new-zealand)|title= Atafu|author= |date=2021|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 7 March 2021}}

{{div col|colwidth=18em}}

1. Fogalaki i Lalo
2. Fogalaki-Matangi (Fogalaki i Matagi)
3. Te Oki
4. Te Hepu
5. Laualalava
6. Te Kapi
7. Na Utua
8. Motu Atea
9. Motu Fakalalo
10. Tama Hakea
11. Hakea Lahi ki Matagi
12. Hakea O Himi
13. Malatea
14. Kenakena
15. Malo o Futa
16. Motu o Te Lakia
17. Komulo
18. Hakea o Apelamo
19. Na Hapiti
20. Niuefa
21. Fenualoa
22. Te Puka
23. Tamaheko
24. Te Alofi
25. Tulua a Kovi
26. Tagi a Kuli
27. Hakea o Himi
28. Tulua a Kava
29. Motu o te Niu
30. Malatea
31. Hakea o Hoi
32. Hakea o Fata
33. Kenakena
34. Matu o Tenumi
35. Matu o te Lakia
36. Motu Fakaka kai
37. Malo o Futa
38. Malo o Futa
39. Motu o te Fala
40. Tafega
41. Komulo
42. Hakela Lahi i Lalo
43. Hotoma
44. Hakea o Apelamo
45. Na Hapiti
46. Niuefa
47. Fenualoa
48. Te Puka
49. Tamaheko
50. Te Alofi
51. Ulugagie
52. Atafu Village

{{div col end}}

File:Tokelau Atafu vaka canoe. 20070715.jpg

It is likely that Polynesians visited the island in ancient times, but they may not have settled there. The European discovery of the atoll came on 21 June 1765; it was made by John Byron, of {{HMS|Dolphin|1751|6}}. Byron found no one living on the island at that time. He named the island "Duke of York's island".*{{cite book | last = Quanchi | first = Max| year = 2005 | title = Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands | publisher = The Scarecrow Press | isbn = 0810853957}} According to Tokelauan oral tradition, Atafu was established by a man named Tonuia and his wife named Lagimaina, along with their seven children.[https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-MacToke-t1-body-d1-d3-d2-d3.html Ethnology of the Tokelau Islands], Gordon MacGregor, 1937

In 1859, the U.S. Guano Company claimed Duke of York along with a number of other Tokelauan atolls under the U.S. Guano Islands Act. The U.S. State Department bonded the claim in 1860. However, many of these islands were not worked by the company and in 1889 they were claimed by Great Britain as part of the Union Islands.{{cite book |title=The Great Guano Rush: Entrepreneurs and American Overseas Expansion |year=1994 |last=Skaggs |first=Jimmy M. |isbn=9780312103163 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |pages=135–136, 236}} In 1916, the Union Islands were annexed to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony and then, in 1925, reassigned to the Dominion of New Zealand under the administration of Territory of Western Samoa.{{cite report|title=The Sovereignty of Guano Islands in the Pacific Ocean|last=Rogers|first=E.S.|date=January 9, 1933|publisher=Department of State, Office of the Legal Advisor|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b3266546-ba11-41ea-b0ad-df1b40106580/content |pages=226–228}} In 1979, as part of the Treaty of Tokehega, the U.S. formally renounced its prior claim on Atafu and the other Tokelauan islands now under New Zealand sovereignty, and a maritime boundary between Tokelau and American Samoa was established.

On 26 August 2007, Ralph Tuijn, who was attempting to row a boat from South America to Australia, crash-landed on Atafu.{{Cite web |url=http://www.zeemanoceanchallenge.com/news.php?id=1903&language=EN |title=Zeeman Ocean Challenge |access-date=1 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208094633/http://www.zeemanoceanchallenge.com/news.php?id=1903&language=EN |archive-date=8 February 2012 |url-status=dead }} On 26 November 2010, three teenage boys from Atafu were rescued after having drifted {{convert|1300|km|mi|-2|abbr=on}} for 50 days in the Pacific.{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4396549/Boozy-teens-midnight-trip-goes-1300km-astray |title=Boozy teens' midnight trip goes 1300km astray |author=Field, Michael |date=27 November 2010 |work=The Dominion Post |accessdate=17 September 2011}}{{cite news|title=Joy in Tokelau over rescue of missing teenagers

|url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=57266|work=Radio New Zealand International |date=27 November 2010 |accessdate=2010-11-27}}

• List of Guano Island claims

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Atafu}}

• [http://www.janeresture.com/tokelau_islands/atafu.htm History and map]
• [http://www.gesource.ac.uk/worldguide/html/image_1586.html Satellite image]

{{Tokelau}}

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{{Coord|8|33|26|S|172|28|15|W|region:TK_type:isle|display=title}}

Category:Atolls of Tokelau

Category:Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act

Category:Territorial disputes of New Zealand

Category:Former disputed islands

Category:Important Bird Areas of the Tokelau Islands

Category:Seabird colonies

Category:Important Bird Areas of the Realm of New Zealand