Motu One, also known as Bellinghausen, is an atoll in the Leeward group of the Society Islands, in the South Pacific. Motu One is located 550 km northwest from Tahiti and 72 km northeast of Manuae, its closest neighbor.
Native name: Motu One | |
|---|---|
 NASA picture of Motu One Atoll | |
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| Geography | |
| Location | 15°48′50″S 154°31′30″W / 15.81389°S 154.52500°W |
| Archipelago | Society Islands |
| Area | 2.829 km2 (1.092 sq mi) |
| Administration | |
| Overseas collectivity | French Polynesia |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
Motu One's reef encloses totally a lagoon without a pass. All of its sides are covered with low, wooded sandy islands except for its southern side. Motu One means Sand Island in Tahitian, that is a low-lying, sandy islet that cannot sustain permanent human habitation.
History
editThe name Atoll Bellinghausen or more rarely Bellingshausen was given to this small atoll by Otto von Kotzebue, an officer and navigator of Baltic German descent in the Imperial Russian Navy, in honour of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. It should not be confused with Bellingshausen Island, part of the South Sandwich Islands, in the southwest Atlantic.
The atoll was visited by the US Exploring Expedition in Sept. 1839.[1]
Administration
editMotu One Atoll is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of Maupiti, itself in the administrative subdivision of the Leeward Islands.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Stanton, William (1975). The Great United States Exploring Expedition. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 132. ISBN 0520025571.
External links
edit- (in French) Atoll list
- Oceandots.com at the Wayback Machine (archived December 23, 2010)
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