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Reef island and one of nine districts of Tuvalu

Reef Island in Tuvalu
Nanumanga
Reef Island
NASA Landsat visible color imageNASA Landsat visible color image
Map of the islandMap of the island
Nanumanga is located in TuvaluNanumangaNanumangaLocation in Tuvalu
Coordinates: 06°17′15″S 176°19′15″E / 6.28750°S 176.32083°E / -6.28750; 176.32083
CountryTuvalu
Area
 • Total3 km (1 sq mi)
Population
 • Total491
 • Density160/km (420/sq mi)
DemonymNanumangan
ISO 3166 codeTV-NMG

Nanumanga or Nanumaga is a reef island and a district of the Oceanian island nation of Tuvalu. It has a surface area of about 3 km with a population of 491 (2017 census).

History

On 9 May 1824 a French government expedition under Captain Louis Isidore Duperrey of the ship La Coquille sighted Nanumaga.

The US Exploring Expedition visited in 1841.

Louis Becke, who later became a writer, became the resident trader for the Liverpool firm of John S. de Wolf and Co. on Nanumaga from about April 1880 until the trading-station was destroyed later that year in a cyclone. Becke later wrote The Rangers of the Tia Kau, that describes a shark attack at the Tia Kau reef between Nanumea and Nanumaga.

The population of Nanumaga from 1860 to 1900 is estimated to be between 300 and 335 people.

Nanumaga Post Office opened around 1925.

In 1986 it became a centre of debate when Pacific archaeologists discovered the submerged Caves of Nanumanga, and found what they argued was the remains of fire created by pre-historic inhabitants.

Geography

The Nanumaga landscape consists of the main village settlements of Tonga and Tokelau, the two main pits for swamp taro (Cyrtosperma merkusii), (known in Tuvalu as Pulaka), the mangrove forest surrounding the internal lagoons and the areas of general vegetation which includes coconuts, pandanus trees and other vegetation types.

The island has an oval outline, with the longer axis oriented north–south. A fringing reef surrounds the whole island, which makes local fishing and transport into and out of the island difficult.

There are two brackish-water lagoons, the largest, Vaiatoa, having four islands. Vaiatoa Lagoon is located in the north of the island while the smaller Ha’apai Lagoon is in the south. A causeway has been construct to the south of Vaiatoa Lagoon linking the village areas of Tonga and Matematefaga.

There are mangrove trees, native broadleaf forest and coconut palms. The two recorded mangrove species in Tuvalu are the common Togo (Rhizophora stylosa) and the red-flowered mangrove Sagale (Lumnitzera littorea). The mangrove forest of the northern Vaiatoa lagoon covers an area approximately 20 hectares.

Nanumaga has a Locally Managed Marine Area, which encompasses the entire island. No fishing is allowed on the reef on the western side of the island, except handlining. Spear fishing is also totally banned on the island. A sea mount located just off the northern tip of the island is an important key fishing ground, which has been declared a ‘no anchor zone’.

In March 2015 Nanumaga suffered damage to houses, crops and infrastructure as the result of storm surges caused by Cyclone Pam; 60-100 houses were flooded and the health facility suffered damage.

Capes

  • Cape on the north: Te Kaupapa
  • Cape on the south: Te Papa

Villages

At the 2012 census the population of the villages was:

  • Tokelau with 245 people;
  • Tonga, also spelled Toga with 236 people.

The junior school is Lotohoni Primary School.

Transportation

There are a few paths and unpaved roads. There are no airports, so everything goes in and out by boat. There is an unprotected 10m wide boat channel that cuts into the fringing reef. The boat landing is where passengers and cargo is landed from the inter-island ferry workboats.

Politics

Nanumanga is one of the eight constituencies in Tuvalu, and elects two Members of Parliament. Following the 2024 general election, Monise Lafai was returned to parliament and Hamoa Holona was elected to parliament.

Nanumanga constituency results
Party Candidate Votes %
Nonpartisan Monise Lafai 292 29.95
Nonpartisan Hamoa Holona 265 27.18
Nonpartisan Malofou Sopoaga 251 25.74
Nonpartisan Otinielu Tausi 167 17.13

Climate crisis

In 2016 the Tuvalu National Council for Women worked with the Green Climate Fund to enable women from the islands of Nanumea and Nanumaga to be part of talks about climate crisis. One of their key issues was the additional burden of social care that women take on in the aftermath of natural disasters.

The activities of the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project on Nanumanga are designed to reduce exposure to coastal erosion by providing a buffer during storms.

Notable residents

Otinielu Tausi was the deputy prime minister in the government of Kamuta Latasi (December 1993 to December 1996); Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Natural Resources and also the Home Affairs and Rural Development in the 2nd government of Bikenibeu Paeniu (1996 to 1998). He served as the speaker of the Parliament of Tuvalu from 2003 until 2006, then again from March 2014 until 9 September 2019.

The Reverend Dr Kitiona Tausi trained in theology and was appointed as a priest of Tuvalu's main church, Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu, and acted as the General Secretary of the organisation. Tausi served as the chairman of the Tuvalu Broadcasting Corporation Board of Directors. He was elected to represent Nanumaga in the by-election held on 15 July 2022. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Fisheries and Trade in the Natano Ministry, until the 2024 general election.

Tuau Lapua Lapua is a Tuvaluan Olympic weightlifter. At the 2013 Pacific Mini Games, Tuau Lapua Lapua won Tuvalu's first ever gold medal in major sporting competition in the men's 62 kilogram snatch. He also won bronze in the clean and jerk, and obtained the silver medal overall for the combined event.

References

  1. "Maps of Tuvalu". Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  2. British Admiralty Nautical Chart 766 Ellice Islands (1893 ed.). United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO). 21 March 1872.
  3. ^ "Population of communities in Tuvalu". Thomas Brinkhoff. 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  4. Doug Munro and Keith S. Chambers (1989). "Duperrey and the Discovery of Nanumaga in 1824: an episode in Pacific exploration". Great Circle. 11: 37–43.
  5. Doug Munro and Keith S. Chambers (1980). "The Mystery of Gran Cocal: European Discovery and Mis-Discovery in Tuvalu". Journal of the Pacific Society. 89 (2): 167–198.
  6. Stanton, William (1975). The Great United States Exploring Expedition. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 240. ISBN 0520025571.
  7. Doug Munro, The Lives and Times of Resident Traders in Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below, (1987) 10(2) Pacific Studies 73
  8. A. Grove Day (1967). Louis Becke. Melbourne: Hill of Content. pp. 30–34.
  9. 'Louis Beck, Adventurer and Writer', Chapter 8, Rascals in Paradise, James A. Michener and Arthur Grove Day, Secker and Warburg (1957)
  10. "The Rangers of Tia Kau". By Reef and Palm by Louis Becke. 1893. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  11. Richard Bedford, Barrie Macdonald & Doug Monro, Population Estimates for Kiribati and Tuvalu (1980) 89(1) Journal of the Polynesian Society 199
  12. W.F. Newton, The Early Population of the Ellice Islands, 76(2) (1967) The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 197–204.
  13. Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  14. FCG ANZDEC Ltd (7 August 2020). Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Nanumaga and Nanumea (Report). The Pacific Community. pp. 64 & 78. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  15. "Life on Nanomanga". V(2) Pacific Islands Monthly. 21 September 1934. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  16. FCG ANZDEC Ltd (7 August 2020). Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Nanumaga and Nanumea (Report). The Pacific Community. pp. 45 & 66. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  17. FCG ANZDEC Ltd (7 August 2020). Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Nanumaga and Nanumea (Report). The Pacific Community. p. 66. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  18. ^ FCG ANZDEC Ltd (7 August 2020). Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Nanumaga and Nanumea (Report). The Pacific Community. p. 73. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  19. "Tuvalu: Tropical Cyclone Pam Situation Report No. 2 (as of 30 March 2015)". Relief Web. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  20. "Tuvalu situation update: Securing health from disastrous impacts of cyclone Pam in Tuvalu". Relief Web/World Health Organization – Western Pacific Region. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  21. FCG ANZDEC Ltd (7 August 2020). Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Nanumaga and Nanumea (Report). The Pacific Community. p. 91. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  22. ^ "Tuvalu general election: Six newcomers in parliament". Radio New Zealand. 29 January 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  23. Marinaccio, Jess (30 January 2024). "Tuvalu's 2024 general election: a new political landscape". PolicyDevBlog. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  24. FP015: Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (PDF). Green Climate Fund.
  25. FCG ANZDEC Ltd (7 October 2020). Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Funafuti (Report). The Pacific Community. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  26. Bouadze, Levan (6 December 2022). "Groundbreaking ceremony in Funafuti for Tuvalu's coastal adaptation". UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  27. "Lipoti mo Ikuga Fono," (Reports and Minutes) Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu, 19 Fono Lasi (General Assembly) 2006-Nukulaelae, 09-13 Iulai (July) 2006, 58-9. Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu (EKT). 2006.
  28. Ligaiula, Pita (16 July 2022). "Chair of the Tuvalu Broadcasting Corporation wins Nanumaga by-election". Pacific News Service/Radio Tuvalu. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  29. "Tuvalu - Heads of Government Listing". Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia. 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
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