MANUAE
Uninhabited
Manuae has a place in history.  It was the first island in the country to be discovered by Captain Cook, on September 23, 1773. It's halfway between AITUTAKI and ATIU.  Its two islets  - Motu Manuae and Motu Te Au Otu - and the surrounding lagoon are a marine conservation area.  It is rarely visited these days; there are no scheduled flights or commercial boat service.
Manuae aerial 2
I Name This Island....

Captain Cook named it Sandwich Island, but decided later to give that name to Hawaii! So he rechristened it Harvey Island after a Lord of the Admiralty.  For some reason, that appeared on maps as Hervey's Isle (an 'e' in the middle instead of an 'a').  This name was applied to the whole of the Southern Group until 1824 when the Russian cartographer, von Krusenstern changed the name to honour Cook, who died in 1779.  Some maps still show Manuae as Hervey's Island. 
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Population 0
2.4 sq. mls
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Manuae sunset
Manuae aerial
MANUAE FACTS
Manuae was  used as a penal colony after Britain took over the islands in 1888, beause Rarotonga had no jail.   Prisoners worked for the Cook Islands Trading Company (CITC) which leased the island as a copra plantation.  The progamme ended in 1915 when a jail was built on Rarotonga.

In 1863, a merchant vessel found William Marsters and his wives on the island and hired them as caretakers for PALMERSTON  island.  

Scientists visited the island in 1965 to observe an eclipse of the sun.

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