Ua Huka
Ua Huka is one of the Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It is situated in the northern group of the archipelago, approximately to the east of Nuku Hiva, at.
Name
Ua Huka in Marquesan means "two holes"; it is sometimes also found spelled Roohka or Ua Huna. The first Western navigator to sight the island was U.S. Navy Captain Joseph Ingraham in 1791. He named the island "Washington Island" in honor of U.S. President George Washington, a name which was eventually extended to include all of the northern group of the Marquesas Islands. Other names for the island include Riou and Solide. See also Names of the Marquesas Islands.The spider genus Uahuka is named after this island.
History
Although Ua Huka is located in the northern Marquesas, historically, culturally and linguistically the island's tribes were far more closely aligned with the southern Marquesas Islands, especially with the tribes from Pepane, in the eastern half of Hiva Oa.Ua Huka was settled by Polynesians about 1700 years ago. The first settlers lived in settlements near the beach. In 1998, at Hane, a French archaeological team explored remains of settlements buried by a dune. It is the oldest settlement in the Marquesas so far, dating to 350 AD. Five researchers found seventeen human skeletons, fishhooks, a harpoon point, net weights and scrapers. From the detritus of the settlement, it appears that the indigenous people fed mainly on fish, birds and shellfish.
As in other islands of the Marquesas, as population density increased, people settled in the upper reaches of the valleys and, favored by the enclosed location, a strictly stratified tribal society developed. From the places of worship in the valleys, it can be seen that there must have been at least five independent tribes, possibly more.
Archaeological remains of cult and residential platforms are still visible in the Vaipaee, Hanei, Hokatu, Hinaehi and Hane valleys.
American merchant captain Joseph Ingraham, who sailed on the brig Hope from Boston around Cape Horn to China, discovered Ua Huka on April 19, 1791, and named it "Washington Island" in honor of U.S. President George Washington.
Another early 18th-century visitor was the Frenchman Étienne Marchand. He sailed from Marseille on December 14, 1790, on the newly built merchant ship Solide, rounded Cape Horn and arrived at the Marquesas in June 1791. He named Ua Huka "Île du Solide" in honor of his ship.
Lieutenant Richard Hergest, commander of the Daedalus, the supply ship of the Vancouver expedition, arrived at Ua Huka on March 30, 1792, and christened it "Riou Island".
On June 2, 1842, French Rear Admiral Abel Aubert Dupetit-Thouars took possession of the northern group of the Marquesas for France. Ua Huka became a French colony.
Geography
The island is shaped approximately like a crescent, with its concave edge facing the south. The land area is approximately 83 km2. The center of the island is a high plateau, deeply indented in places by narrow river valleys. The highest peak, Hitikau reaches an elevation of.Ua Huka is a shield volcano that was emplaced between 2.2 and 2.4 million years ago. It is thought to have formed by a center of upwelling magma called the Marquesas hotspot. The island is served by Ua Huka Airport.
In contrast to the lush, larger islands of the Marquesas, Ua Huka gives a rather arid and forbidding impression, the vegetation is sparse. The rugged peaks are not as high as those of the other islands of the archipelago, about 600 m in the west and up to 800 m in the east. The highest elevation is Mount Hitikau, at 857 metres. The lower overall altitude means less cloud rainfall. Ua Huka has a much drier climate than the neighboring islands. A large part of the island is made up of extensive, arid plateaus and deep, fertile valleys in which settlements are also found.
The coast, very rugged, is not protected by a coral reef, so the strong waves come directly to the shores. There are several rocky islets off the main island. Motu Hane ♁♁ is especially spectacular. It is a 163-meter-high, sugarloaf-shaped rock cone off Hane Bay on the south coast. The island is 410 meters long in a north–south direction and up to 210 meters wide, and lies 250 metres south of the Tekaepa headland, which separates the Hane and Hokatu valleys.
Geology
Ua Huka is formed by the northern half of two interlocking volcanoes.The first caldera, about 10 km in diameter, contains the Vaipaee valley. The second caldera, included in the eastern half of the first, reaches 857 metres at Mount Hitikau, the highest point on the island. Its diameter is about 5 km and its age is estimated to be between 2.9 and 2.8 million years old. It contains the Hane and Hokatu valleys.
The island then underwent another volcanic period in the southwest dated around 1.6 - 1.4 Ma. This shows a long geological activity compared to the other islands, at least 1.5 Ma.
Tahoatikihau crater contains a fossil lava lake. At the western end of the island there are several sea caves.
Flora
The vegetation of the plateaus of Ua Huka is poorer than that of the other Marquesan islands, especially the northwestern part of the island, corresponding to the outer side of the large crater. Much of the plant cover, here consists primarily of dryland scrub due to a drier climate.Unlike the plateaus and hills, the valleys have a much more exuberant vegetation, similar to that of the other islands of the archipelago. This diversity has been enhanced by the creation of the Papuakeikaa arboretum near Vaipaee. This unique achievement in Polynesia brings together more than a thousand species of trees from all over the world, including one of the largest collections of citrus trees in the world. It is intended to serve as a reserve for the reforestation of the island.
The impoverishment of the vegetation is largely due to domestic animals introduced by man, which have then been reintroduced into the wild. Goats, pigs and horses have largely destroyed the vegetation. Ua Huka proudly calls itself the "Island of Horses", but the serious damage they have caused is hidden.
In the valleys there are small remnants of the original rainforest, consisting of Hibiscus tiliaceus, Piper latifolium, Pterophylla marquesana, and Metrosideros. In the humid and shady areas of the narrow gorges grow lush masses of moss and ferns. In the west of the island, the rainforest changes to a drier forest, composed mainly of hibiscus, pandanus, guavas and glochidion. In the lower areas of the large valleys, coconut and breadfruit trees have been planted. There is still a remnant of Pisonia grandis in the lower reaches of Hane Bay.
The short valleys of the north coast are almost devoid of vegetation, and the upper parts of the mountains are even arid and desert-like.
Fauna
Because of the sparse vegetation, there are only a few species of native land animals on Ua Huka, mainly insects, lizards, land birds and spiders including a genus of spiders endemic to the Marquesas named after this island itself belonging to the canopy spider family. The large number of feral goats and horses that graze freely there contribute to scrub deforestation. Horses were brought from Chile to Ua Huka by Admiral du Petit-Thouars in 1842, it has gained a reputation ever since as the "horse island" where it is said that there are more horses than people on the island numbering around 3,000.Life is richer around the island: giant tortoises in Haavei Bay, sharks, dolphins, manta rays and thousands of seabirds live on the islets. In particular, Hemeni and Teuaua, also known as the "bird islands", are home to a large colony of terns. The Polynesian Ornithological Society "MANU" lists 35 species of birds on Ua Huka, 16 marine and 17 terrestrial, 8 of which are endemic.
Its forests also contain the last specimens of the Iphis monarch, a small passerine bird.
There are six endemic and critically endangered landbird species in Ua Huka:
- Iphis monarch
- Marquesas warbler
- Marquesas salangana
- Marquesas pigeon
- Ultramarine lorikeet pihiti
- White-headed fruit pigeon
Administration
The administrative centre of the commune is the settlement of Hane.
Demography
The people of Ua Huka live on the south coast in the villages of Vaipae'e, Hane and Hokatu. These three villages are part of the commune of Ua Huka. The island had 584 inhabitants in the 2002 census, a number that increased to 719 inhabitants according to 2022 figures, 13 living mainly in the villages of Vaipae and Hane.Population growth is one of the lowest in the Marquesas, mainly due to emigration. As there is no secondary school on the island, young people are forced to leave at a very young age, first to Nuku Hiva and then to Pape'ete for higher education. Many do not return to Ua Huka afterwards.
Languages
The languages spoken on Ua Huka are mainly French and Marquesan, with one peculiarity: the dialect spoken here contains elements of the northern and southern Marquesan languages. The southern elements are very close to a dialect spoken by the inhabitants of the island of Tahuata, which shows that there were frequent exchanges between the two islands before the arrival of Westerners.Tahitian is spoken by a minority.