Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands ("Rekohu" in the Moriori language) are an archipelago of New Zealand located in the Pacific Ocean, comprising ten islands within a 40 km radius. The archipelago is located 800 km east of Christchurch, in New Zealand. The islands have officially belonged to New Zealand since 1842.
The 2001 census recorded a population of 717 in the Chatham Islands.
Geography
The total area of the islands is 996 km², almost all of it on the two largest islands, Chatham (this is where the capital Waitangi is located) and Pitt. These main islands are the only ones inhabited; the smaller islands constitute, to a large extent, reserves with restricted or prohibited access. The islands are:
- Chatham IslandWharekauri)
- Pitt Island
- Little Mangere
- Star Keys (Motuhope)
- Forty-Fours (Motuhara)
- Mangere
- Rabbit
- Southeast Island (Southeast Island)Rangatira)
- The Sisters (Rangitatahi)
- The Pyramid (Pyramid)Tarakoikoia)
Most of this land is covered by ferns and grasses, although there are some areas of forest. The terrain is rugged, more so on Pitt Island than on the others, with the highest point on Pitt Island at 290 m. Chatham Island, the main island of this set, has numerous lakes and lagoons, the largest of these reservoirs being Te Whanga Lagoon. Other lakes on Chatham Island include Huro and Rangitahi. Among the streams are the Te Awainanga and the Tuku.
History
The first inhabitants of these islands were immigrant tribes from Polynesia, who settled around AD 1000. C., and from this isolation the Moriori people arose. The exact origin of these people remains the subject of various discussions. Some have thought they arrived directly from the northernmost Polynesian islands, but standard theories today view the Maori as coming from the New Zealand mainland. This debate has a political overtone, as the current Maori inhabitants, descendants of those who invaded and conquered the archipelago in 1832, claim access to Maori ancestral rights. A lengthy report of those claims, Rekohu, has been published by the Waitangi Tribunal.
The Moriori population of the islands reaches 2000 inhabitants. They live as hunters and gatherers, obtaining their food from the sea and from the native flora. This society lived peacefully, with small organizations, but maintaining a stable population by castrating a certain percentage of the male children.
The name of the Chatham Islands comes from the ship HMS Chatham, commanded by Royal Navy Lieutenant William Robert Broughton, who landed on them on November 29, 1791 and claimed possession for Great Britain.. Broughton commanded the second ship of the famous Vancouver Expedition (1791-1795).
Sealers and whalers soon made these islands a center of their activities. Fishing continues to contribute significantly to the economy, although the industries related to sealing and whales ceased their activities around 1861.
Literature
"Chatham Island", with its exact latitude and longitude, is mentioned in Jules Verne's Robur the Conqueror, where it is described as "a gigantic three-pointed starfish".
They are also mentioned in the book Cloud Atlas by British writer David Mitchell as well as in the Pulitzer Prize "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond where the story of the Morioris is told.