View source for Fakaofo

{{short description|Atoll in the South Pacific}}
{{Infobox islands
|archipelago=[[Tokelau]]
|name=Fakaofo
|image=Fakaofo Atoll.jpg
|image_caption=Aerial view of Fakaofo
|population=483
|country_largest_city=[[Fale, Tokelau|Fale]]
|area_km2=3
|image_map=Fakaofo map.png
|image_map_caption=A map of Fakaofo Atoll and all its islands (map in Polish)
|pushpin_map=Tokelau#Oceania#Pacific Ocean
|total_islands=43
|major_islands=[[Fale, Tokelau|Fale]] on [[Pacific Ocean]]
| country          = [[New Zealand]]
| country_admin_divisions_title = [[Realm of New Zealand|Dependent territory]]
| country_admin_divisions       = [[Tokelau]]
| country_leader_title = {{lang|tkl|Faipule}} (leader)
| country_leader_name = [[Esera Tuisano]]<ref name="2023 election">{{cite web |title=Results are in for the 2023 Tokelau national election |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/pacific/483227/results-are-in-for-the-2023-tokelau-national-election |website=www.rnz.co.nz |publisher=[[Radio New Zealand|RNZ]] |access-date=7 February 2023 |language=en-nz |date=30 January 2023}}</ref>
| country1_leader_title = {{lang|tkl|Pulenuku}} ([[mayor]])
| country1_leader_name = [[Tinielu Tuumuli|Otinielu Tuumuli]]<ref name="2023 election"/>
|languages = [[Tokelauan]], [[English language|English]]
}}
'''Fakaofo''', formerly known as '''Bowditch Island''', is a [[Pacific Ocean|South Pacific Ocean]] [[atoll]] located in the [[Tokelau]] Group. The actual land area is only about 3&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (1.1 sq mi), consisting of islets on a coral reef surrounding a central lagoon of some 45&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>. According to the 2006 census 483 people officially live on Fakaofo (however just 370 were present at census night). Of those present 70% belong to the [[Congregational church|Congregational Church]] and 22% to the [[Catholic Church]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spc.int/prism/NSO-News/TK/2006%20Census%20Tabular%20Report%20-%20Final.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614152442/http://www.spc.int/prism/NSO-News/TK/2006%20Census%20Tabular%20Report%20-%20Final.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-06-14|title=2006 Census Tabular Report|format=PDF|access-date=2008-04-05 }}</ref>

== Geography and government ==
[[File:Fakaofo_village_square_20070716.jpg|thumb|left|Village square]]
The main settlement on the island is Fale on [[Fale, Tokelau|Fale Islet]], towards the western side of the atoll. Located two kilometres to the west of it is the relatively large [[Fenua Fala]] Islet, where a second settlement was established in 1960. Other islets in the group include [[Teafua]], [[Nukumatau]], [[Nukulakia]], [[Fenua Loa]], [[Saumatafanga]], [[Motu Akea]], [[Matangi, Tokelau|Matangi]], [[Lalo, Tokelau|Lalo]], and [[Mulifenua]].

Fakaofo's Council of Elders is made up of citizens over the age of 60.

==History==
[[File:Bowditch Islanders.jpg|thumb|left|Natives of Fakaofo; engraving after a drawing by [[Alfred Thomas Agate]]]]
The island was sighted by the whale ship ''General Jackson'' in 1835 and named DeWolf Island after their ship's owner. The ''General Jackson'' returned in 1839.

The island was then named ''Bowditch'' (after [[Nathaniel Bowditch]]), this island was visited by the American ship {{USS|Peacock}} which was part of the first American voyage of discovery&nbsp;&ndash; The [[United States Exploring Expedition]] (also known as "the Ex Ex" or "the Wilkes Expedition"), 1838–1842, [[United States Navy]] Lieutenant [[Charles Wilkes]] commanding.<ref name=Stanton>{{cite book|last1=Stanton|first1=William|title=The Great United States Exploring Expedition|date=1975|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=0520025571|pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatunitedstate00will/page/236 236]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/greatunitedstate00will/page/236}}</ref> Nathaniel Bowditch (1773–1838) was a noted American navigator who wrote a famous two-volume encyclopedia of navigation and sailing that is still used and published today by the [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency#Defense Mapping Agency (DMA)|Defense Mapping Agency Topographic Center (DMATC)]].
In ''Twenty Years Before The Mast'',<ref>{{cite book|last=Erskine|first=Charles|title=Twenty Years Before The Mast|year=1896|publisher=George W. Jacobs & Co|location=Philadelphia, PA, USA}}</ref>{{efn|group=notes|This book should not be confused with another book with a similar title by [[Richard Henry Dana Jr.]], which tells about hide trading on the California coast in the early 19th century.}} Charles Erskine wrote "The people found on this island had no knowledge of fire, which I believe, is the only instance of the kind on record."

In a village on the island is a coral slab monument personifying [[Tui Tokelau]], a god once worshiped in the islands.

In 1889, Fakaofu and several other Tokelauan islands were claimed by Great Britain as part of the [[Union Islands]].<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{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}}</ref> Unlike [[Atafu]] and [[Nukunono]], no U.S. claims under the [[Guano Island Act]] were ever made on Fakaofu.{{sfn|Rogers|1933|p=226}} Despite this, in 1979, as part of the [[Treaty of Tokehega]], the U.S. formally renounced its prior claim on all Tokelauan islands now under New Zealand sovereignty, including Fakaofu, and a [[maritime boundary]] between Tokelau and [[American Samoa]] was established.<ref name=treaty>[https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%201643/v1643.pdf Treaty on the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Tokelau and the United States of America (with map)], United Nations Treaty Series, 1998.</ref>

==Climate crisis==
Five-metre high concrete walls surround one of Fakaofo's atolls, that were constructed by residents to protect the islet from rising sea levels.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-02-09|title=See How Pacific Islanders Are Living With Climate Change|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/climate-change-pacific-islands|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415101759/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/climate-change-pacific-islands|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 15, 2021|access-date=2021-11-07|website=Photography|language=en}}</ref>

==List of islands==
{{Div col|rules=yes}}
# Mulifenua
# Vini
# Motu Pelu
# Avaono
# Talapeka
# Te Lafu
# Olokalaga
# Palea
# Manumea
# Ofuna
# Kavivave
# Heketai
# Motuloa
# Motu Akea
# Motu Iti
# Niue
# Fugalei
# Manuafe
# Otafi Loto
# Otafi Loa
# Kaivai
# Nukuheheke
# Nukamahaga Lahi
# Nukamahaga Iti
# Tenki
# Pagai
# Matakitoga
# Vaiaha
# Falatutahi
# Lapa
# Hugalu
# Logotaua
# Tafolaelo
# Otano
# Akegamutu
# Te Loto
# Kapiomotu
# Metu
# Hakea Mahaga
# Pukava
# Hakea
# Te Kau Afua o Humu
# Nukulakia
# Te Papaloa
# Pataliga
# Nukumatau
# [[Fale, Tokelau|Fale]]
# Te Afua tau Lua
# [[Fenua Fala]]
{{Div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{notes}}

==See also==
*[[List of Guano Island claims]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090530035036/http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/samoa/about_destin/tokelau_culture.asp Pacific Island travel]

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.fakaofo.tk Fakaofo - Chiefly island of Tokelau]

{{coord|9|21|55|S|171|12|54|W|region:TK_type:isle|display=title}}

{{Tokelau}}{{List of Oceanian capitals by region}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Fakaofo| ]]
[[Category:Atolls of Tokelau]]
[[Category:Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act]]
[[Category:Territorial disputes of New Zealand]]
[[Category:Capitals in Oceania]]
[[Category:Former disputed islands]]