Fatu-Hiva
Fatu-Hiva is the southernmost island of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. With Motu Nao as its closest neighbour, it is also the most isolated of the inhabited islands.
Fatu Hiva is also the title of a book by explorer and archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl, in which he describes his stay on the island in the 1930s.
Name
The name of the island in Marquesan is Fatu Iva. However, the name was recorded by Europeans as Fatu-Hiva, perhaps under the influence of other Marquesan islands containing the element Hiva and also because in French the letter "h" is silent. The spelling Fatu-Hiva has now become official.The island was named Isla Magdalena by Spanish explorers in the 16th century, a name rarely used.
Hatauheva is another name form that appears in 1817, by Camille de Roquefeuil during his voyage around the world on the "Bordelais".
The spelling Fatou-Hiva appears in 1838 in a work by Jules Dumont d'Urville.
History
First settlers
Like the other islands of the archipelago, Fatu Iva was originally populated by Polynesians, who probably came from Western Polynesia.Rivalries between the different valleys were frequent. In one of them, around the middle of the 19th century, the Anainoapa tribe of Hanavave and the Tiu of Omoa confronted each other. The latter, defeated, fled the island on bamboo rafts and ended up in the Tuamotus, on Napuka Atoll, where their descendants still live. The Tiu sorcerer, who remained on Fatu Iva, revealed to the victors the names of the places in the valley, and had himself buried alive, head down, symbolizing his defeat and the end of his tribe.
Little is known of Fatu Hiva culture before European influence, as it was greatly affected by the arrival of the missionaries. Stratified tribal societies were formed in the great valleys, as in the rest of the Marquesas Islands. In 1897, the German explorer Karl von den Steinen described nine tribes inhabiting the Hanamoohe, Hanateone, Hanahouuna, Ouia, Hanavave and Omoa valleys. In the Hanavave valley, four tribes are known from the stones.
Systematic archaeological excavations have not yet been carried out. Surface investigations were carried out by the American anthropologist Ralph Linton on behalf of the Bishop Museum of Honolulu in 1920–1921. The finds are less numerous than on the other islands of the Marquesas and indicate less extensive building activity. Linton found the remains of several tohua with dwelling platforms and small me'ae in the Omoa Valley. This led Linton to suspect that several tribes had resided there. During his brief visit to the Hanavave Valley, Linton was only able to find small remains of a tohua and a ceremonial stone platform. Unlike the other islands of the Marquesas, the dead of Fatu Hiva were occasionally mummified and often buried in the dwellings.
No colossal stone statues have been found on the island, but some small, crude stone sculptures have been preserved. This does not mean that there were no outstanding works of art on Fatu Hiva in prehistoric times. The island was known for tattoo artists and wood carvers, whose ephemeral works have barely survived the ages.
European exploration and colonization
From a Western perspective, the first explorer to discover Fatu Iva was the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña, on 21 July 1595. It was the first island in the archipelago that he saw, but he was unable to land there because he could not find a safe anchorage. He mistakenly believed that he had found the Solomon Islands, the goal of his voyage, before realizing that he had just discovered a new land. He named the archipelago "Marquesas de Mendoza", in honor of the viceroy of Peru at the time, who had helped him launch his expedition, "wishing to show his gratitude for the help he had given him". As Mendaña arrived during the vigil of St. Mary Magdalene in 1595, he named the place Isla Magdalena.In 1937 and 1938, Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl and his wife Liv lived for a year and a half in Fatu Iva, first in Omoa and then in Ouia, a now deserted valley on the eastern coast of the island. Officially commissioned by the University of Oslo to investigate the distribution and spread of animal species among the Polynesian islands, his most personal goal on this trip, which was also his wedding trip, was to "sail the South Seas" and never return. The couple landed on Omoa in 1937, but found that civilization was still too much for their liking. They crossed the island and settled in Ouia, on the east coast of the island, a valley formerly inhabited by marqueses. However, after a year and a half, mosquitoes, disease and bad weather dampened their enthusiasm. He recounted his experience in the book Paa Jakt efter Paradiset, rewritten in 1974 and published as Fatu Hiva, the return to nature.
In the early 1960s, until 1966, most of the island's men went to work in Moruroa, in the Tuamotu archipelago, on the construction of the Pacific Experimental Center.
On 11 March 2011, Swiss explorer Raphaël Domjan, expedition leader of the PlanetSolar adventure, the first ship to circumnavigate the planet on solar power, called at Fatu Hiva.
Geography
The eastern coastline of Fatu-Hiva is characterized by a number of narrow valleys, carved by streams that lead to the interior. Between these valleys are headlands which terminate in cliffs that plunge directly into the sea, making travel between them possible only by travelling over the high mountain ridges between them, or by boat. The largest of these valleys is at Uia.The western coastline has two significant bays, Hana Vave in the north, one of the most picturesque sites in the South Pacific, and the well-protected harbor of Omoa near the south. There are several smaller valleys between these two.
The centre of the island is a plateau which is covered largely by tall grasses and pandanus trees. To the south of the plateau, running to the south, is a mountain ridge, called Tauauoho, its highest peak, at 1,125 m is the highest point on Fatu-Hiva. Proceeding to the north and northwest from the plateau is a mountain ridge called Fa‘e One, the highest peak of which is 820 m.
Geology
Fatu Hiva is formed by the eastern half of two interlocking volcanoes.The first caldera, about eight kilometers in diameter, has a sharply cut rim, formed by a hemicircular series of peaks rising to over 1000 meters. It is composed mainly of basalt, picrite and hawaiite. Its age is dated between 2.46 and 1.81 million years. The second caldera, located within the first, has a diameter of three to four kilometers. It was created by a powerful eruption, as evidenced by the impressive basalt columns, the "statues" of the Virgin, in Hanavave Bay, caused by lahars. It dates to between 1.68 and 1.33 million years ago. The main explosion seems to date back to 1.40 Ma2.
The valleys of the two villages of the island are located at the extremes of the space between the two calderas.
Flora
The landscape surrounding the settlements in the coastal zone and in the valleys has been extensively remodelled for human food production, so little of the original vegetation remains. Massive interventions, already in historical times, probably caused the extinction of an unknown number of endemic and native plants in the lower and middle areas of the island. The present inhabitants cultivate breadfruit, coconut, yam, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas and other fruits.The higher areas of the mountainous island are covered with mountain rainforest and cloud forest interspersed with tree ferns. Above 600 m, grass forests, with the trees Metrosideros sp. and Pterophylla marquesana, dominate. However, even these inaccessible areas are threatened as feral goats are seriously affecting the flora. Peak tops and extensive leeward areas of the mountains are arid.
The mountain rainforest still harbours some endemic plants, such as Ochrosia fatuhivensis and Melicope fatuhivensis, a tree of the Rutaceae family which may already be extinct. Pterophylla tremuloides is an endemic shrub which grows in low ridge top and cliff shrubland with Metrosideros, Dicranopteris and Lycopodium from 700 to 850 metres elevation.
A systematic study of the flora with the support of the Smithsonian Institution in 1988 revealed the number of 175 native, 21 endemic, and 136 anthropochoric plants.
Fauna
The rich flora contrasts with a relatively species-poor fauna. It is limited to land and sea birds, small mammals, insects, spiders and lizards. The Fatu Hiva monarch, a bird of the family Monarchidae, is endemic.Administration
Administratively, Fatu-Hiva forms the commune of Fatu-Hiva, part of the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas Islands. The commune consists solely of Fatu-Hiva itself. Its administrative seat is the settlement of Omoa, on the island's southwestern side.Demographics
Fatu-Hiva's population was 584 at the 2002 census, 611 in 2012, and 600 in 2022. Its main villages are Omoa, the capital and Hanavave, in the bays of the same name. The population lives mainly from agriculture, handicrafts and tourism. The island's orography does not allow the construction of an airstrip; it is accessible only by boat.Fatu-Hiva experienced a demographic decline beginning in the late 1990s, mainly due to two types of emigration:
- School emigration, as there is no secondary school on the island and young people must leave at a young age—first to Hiva Oa, then to Papeete—to pursue their studies. Many do not return to Fatu-Hiva afterwards.
- Economic emigration, as the island's development prospects are limited by its isolation. It is the most remote of the islands of the archipelago, and its rugged terrain prevents the building of an airstrip.