Gambier Islands

Geography

The Gambier Islands include the Mangareva Islands (the Gambier Islands proper), which have an enclosing coral reef which is broken by only three passages to the open sea, and Temoe atoll, which is located 45 km (28 mi) south-east of the Mangareva Islands. In the Mangareva Islands, besides Mangareva proper (the main island), the other notable high islands of the group are Akamaru, Angakauitai, Aukena, Kamaka, Kouaku, Makapu, Makaroa, Manui, Mekiro and Taravai. These are primarily of volcanic origin. A number of others are actually coral islands, hence of secondary volcanic origin, including Papuri, Puaumu, Totengengie and the Tokorua group.

The Mangareva Islands have a land area of 25.71 km², with a population of 1,431 people at the 2017 census. The primary town is Rikitea, located on Mangareva, as is the highest point in the Gambiers, Mt. Duff, rising to 441 metres (1,447 ft) along that island's south coast.

The islands of Gambier comprise:

• Temoe atoll (2.1 km²; uninhabited): one main island and a dozen motus separated by passes over the coral reef, 45 km (28 mi) south-east of the Mangareva Islands.
• Mangareva Islands (25.71 km²; 1,431 inh. at 2017 census)
  • islands in the central lagoon (only high islands are permanently inhabited):
    • to the north, the high island of Mangareva (13.93 km², the largest island of the atoll; 1,384 inh. at 2017 census), and the islet of Rumarei;
    • to the north-east, the high island of Aukena (1.41 km²; 25 inh. at 2017 census);
    • to the south-east, the high island of Akamaru (1.96 km²; 12 inh. at 2017 census), the two smaller islands Makapu (0.04 km²; uninhabited), Mekiro (0.07 km²; uninhabited), and the two islets of Atumata, Teohootepohatu;
    • to the south, the high island of Kamaka (0.47 km²; 1 inh. at 2017 census), the two smaller islands of Makaroa (0.17 km²; uninhabited), Manui (0.08 km²; uninhabited), and the islet of Motu Teiku (0.01 km²; uninhabited);
    • to the west, the high islands of Taravai (4,96 km²; 8 inh. at 2017 census) and Angakauitai (0.76 km²; 1 inh. at 2017 census), and the islets of Tepu Nui and Motu-O-Ari;
  • low islands on the coral reef (none of them are inhabited):
    • to the north-west, the islet of Tenoko;
    • to the north, the islet of Papuri; the three islands of Teauaone, Tepapuri and Puaumu;
    • to the north-east, the four islets of Vaiatekeue, Teauotu, Apou, and Tuaeu; the three islands of Totegegie (location of the Totegegie Airport), Tarauru Roa, Gaioio;
    • to the east, the two islets of Tauna and Tekava;
    • to the south-east, the island of Kouaku;
    • to the west, the reef of Tokorua (occasionally emerging).

Climate

The Gambier Islands have a typical maritime climate, tropical in character but relatively cool. Rainfall is relatively constant throughout the year. Temperatures are similar to those of the Austral Islands, with a warm season from November to April and a cool season from May to October. The minimum and maximum temperatures recorded at Gambier (Rikitea meteorological station; station météorologique de Rikitea) are 13.2 °C (27 August 1992) and 31.2 °C (23 January 1989).

Flora and fauna

The volcanic islands are covered with lush tropical vegetation. The windward side of Mount Duff is dry grassland.

The fringing reef coral islands are species-poor due to poor soil fertility. Here mainly coconut trees (Cocos nucifera) thrive, which are used economically for a small copra production.

The fauna of the coral islands, poor in species, is limited to birds, insects and lizards. In contrast, the underwater fauna is species-rich. All kinds of coral fish make the lagoon a paradise for divers.

Geology

The Gambier Islands formed from a hot spot under the Pacific Plate, which is moving northwestward at a rate of 12.5 cm per year. They are part of an atoll that formed between 5.6 and 5.7 million years ago. The central island has already partially subsided, so that ancient parts of the crater rim still protrude from the water as islands of igneous rocks. The long-sunken caldera can still be noted by the position of the islands in the lagoon.

The entire group sits on an underwater rise that sinks relatively rapidly in the south and east, so that the 65 km long fringing reef only rises above the water surface on three sides. From there, numerous low motus, composed of coral sand and rubble, rise just above the sea surface.

Economy

Today, pearl farming is widely practiced in the Gambier lagoons, whose relatively cold waters allow the production of quality pearls. There are 129 pearl farms, including fourteen companies. In recent years, although far from the large population centers of French Polynesia, the archipelago has seen its population increase thanks to pearl farming and the exploitation of mother-of-pearl.

In terms of tourism, the Gambier archipelago is one of the least visited in French Polynesia. The remoteness of Tahiti and the price of airfare to get there are largely responsible for this, but the islands have potential because of their climate, environment and unique historical past. A few sailboats call at Rikitea Bay and tourists wishing to visit the British Pitcairn Islands pass through Mangareva as a base.

Local production in the Gambier Islands is limited to a few productive sectors, such as subsistence farming and fishing, and most consumer goods are transported by a cargo service operated by two schooners, which rotate every three weeks.

The inhabitants are self-sufficient. They grow yams, taro and breadfruit, as well as all kinds of tropical fruits and, to a lesser extent, coffee for export.

Politics and government

Politically, the Gambier Islands belong to French Polynesia. They form one of 17 municipalities (Commune des Gambier) administered by a subdivision (Subdivision administrative des Tuamotu-Gambier) of the High Commissariat of French Polynesia (Haut-commissariat de la République en Polynésie française) in Papeete, Tahiti. In addition to the Gambier Islands in the geographical sense (i.e. including the atolls of Gambier and Temoe), the following atolls in the southeast of the Tuamotu archipelago belong to the municipality of Gambier:

• Maturei Vavao Atoll
• Tenararo Atoll
• Tenarunga (or Tenania) Atoll
• Vahanga Atoll
• Maria Atoll
• Marutea Sud Atoll
• Morane Atoll

The municipality of Gambier had a total population of 1,421 inhabitants according to 2012 data, with a population density of 43 p.e./km².

The official language is French. The currency is (still) the CFP franc, which is pegged to the euro. The administrative budget of the Gambier Islands is largely subsidized with funds from France and the European Union.

The main island is Mangareva, on which, however, only the seat of the local administration is located.

Demographics

The Gambier Islands had a population of 1,431 inhabitants at the 2017 census.

The population was spread over the following islands:

• Temoe atoll: uninhabited
• Mangareva Islands:
  • Mangareva Island proper: 1,384
  • Aukena Island: 25
  • Akamaru Island: 12
  • Taravai Island: 8
  • Angakauitai Island: 1
  • Kamaka Island: 1

Historical population

Religion

The majority of the islands' population follows Christianity, mostly the Catholic Church and various Protestant groups, a legacy of the missionary activity that began with the arrival of Europeans to the region. According to 1991 data, between 5 and 6% of the population belonged to a Protestant Christian group.

Recently restored after years of closure, the former cathedral of St. Michael of Mangareva, in the Gambier archipelago, bears witness to the time when the first Catholic missionaries settled there in the 19th century. It is a building protected as a historical monument of France. The structure is considered one of the centers of Catholicism in Polynesia.

The activity of the Catholic Church was boosted by the Missionary work of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary of Picpus. The Catholic missionaries quickly converted almost the entire population. They constructed many religious buildings and had the marae, the places of worship of the ancient local gods, destroyed.

Today the Catholic Church administers 6 buildings in the region the Church of Saint Gabriel in Agonoko, Taravai (Église de Saint-Gabriel), the Church of Our Lady of Peace in Akamaru (Église de Notre-Dame-de-Paix), the Church of Saint Raphael in Aukena (Église de Saint-Raphaël), the Church of Saint Joseph of Taku in Mangareva (Église de Saint-Joseph-de-Taku), the Church of Saint Joseph in Marutea (Église de Saint-Joseph), and the aforementioned Ancient Cathedral of Saint Michael in Rikitea (Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Michel) (Eastern Oceania cathedral between 1833 and 1848).

Culture

Little is known about the art and culture of the Gambier Islands before European influence. Ethnological studies on a scientific basis could not be carried out because the works of art were almost eliminated by the colonizers in a very short time. Father Laval claimed to have burned 40 wooden idols in a single day. The scant information that has survived on the religion and worship of the Gambier Islands comes mainly from letters written by the missionaries to their religious superiors.

A thatched hut twenty feet long, ten feet wide, and seven feet high contained the idols. In front of the structure was a space twenty feet square paved with hewn coral blocks and bordered with curbs. Inside the hut was a boundary one meter high along its entire length, in the center of which stood a finely carved and polished one meter high idol. The eyebrows, but not the eyes themselves, were molded and, from the way the figure was carved, one could deduce that no consideration had been given to human anatomy. The idol was placed in an upright position with its limbs attached to the wall of the hut. The head and loins were tied with a piece of white cloth and the feet were placed in a gourd filled with water. Next to the idol were various oars, mats, coils of rope and garments, obviously gifts for the deity. On each side of the idol were carved three-armed stands on which were presented various objects, such as decorated coconut shells and pieces of bamboo, possibly intended to represent musical instruments.

— Frederick William Beechey, Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Beering’s strait

Only eight artifacts from the pre-European period from the Gambier Islands remain in the world, including a carved deity of the type described by Beechey in the above text in the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie in Paris. The wooden figure, about a meter high and only remotely human, represents the god Rao, supposedly the "god of inequity" according to Father Caret's description, the third most important deity in the Mangareva pantheon.

A four-armed stand, like the one described in the text fragment above, is on display at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris. Another naturalistic statue, approximately one meter high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, is believed to represent the god Rogo, the sixth son of Tagaroa and Haumea, the mythical founders of Mangareva. Rogo was the ancient deity of peace and hospitality and was revealed as a rainbow. His cult was associated with the cultivation of turmeric.

Languages

At the 2017 census, only 24.8% of the population age 15 and older in the Gambier Islands still reported that Mangarevan was the language they spoke the most at home (down from 38.6% at the 2007 census), while 62.6% reported French as the main language spoken at home (up from 52.3% at the 2007 census), 4.9% reported Tahitian (down from 6.4% in 2007), and 4.6% reported some Chinese dialects (predominantly Hakka) (up from 3.5% in 2007).

In the Gambier Islands, the number of people age 15 and older who reported that the language they spoke the most at home was Mangarevan declined from 300 at the 2007 census to 270 at the 2017 census. In the entire French Polynesia, the number of people age 15 and older who reported that the language they spoke the most at home was Mangarevan declined from 424 at the 2007 census to 332 at the 2017 census. Most of the people who spoke Mangarevan at home outside of the Gambier Islands at the 2017 census lived in Tahiti.

Speakers have some bilingualism in Tahitian, in which there is a 60% lexical similarity, and usually with French, as well. It is a member of the Marquesic subgroup, and as such is closely related to Hawaiian and Marquesan.

According to the Endangered Languages Project, Mangarevan is considered endangered with fewer than 900 speakers out of an ethnic population of 1,491. The larger portion of the population in the Gambier Islands speak French.