Tepoto (North) - Misplaced Pages

Atoll in French Polynesia

Tepoto (North)
Geography
NASA picture of Tepoto Atoll
Tepoto (North)
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	14°08′S 141°24′W / 14.133°S 141.400°W / -14.133; -141.400
Archipelago	Tuamotus
Area	4 km (1.5 sq mi)
Length	2.6 km (1.62 mi)
Width	0.8 km (0.5 mi)
Administration
France
Overseas collectivity	French Polynesia
Administrative subdivision	Tuamotus
Commune	Napuka
Demographics
Population	61 (2012)

Tepoto, also known as Te Poto, Toho, or Pukapoto, is a coral island. It is the northwesternmost of the Disappointment Islands, in the Tuamotu Archipelago. Despite being often referred to as "atoll", Tepoto is not a typical Tuamotu atoll, but a single separate island without a lagoon. It is located at the limit of the Tuamotu archipelago; the closest land is Napuka, which lies 16 kilometres (10 miles) to the southeast.

Tepoto is 2.6 kilometres (1.6 miles) long and 800 metres (2,625 feet) wide; it has an area of 4 square kilometres (2 square miles). This island is sometimes called Tepoto Nord in French, to avoid confusion with Tepoto Atoll (Tepoto Sud) 400 kilometres (249 miles) to the southwest, in the Raeffsky Islands of central Tuamotu. An obsolete name is Otuho.

According to the 2012 census, its population was 61 inhabitants. The primary village is Tehekega. There is a 5 metres (16 feet) wide road running around the whole island.

In 2018 there were about 40 residents, 13 of which were children under the age of 12.

History

The first European to see these islands was Ferdinand Magellan in his 1520 expedition to the Philippines and the Spice Islands. He called them the "Unfortunate Islands" (Ilhas Desafortunadas) because his sailors could not find a water source there from which to replenish, while en route to the Philippine Islands.