Anuta Atoll

Anuta is a small volcanic island in Temotu Province, in the southeastern Solomon Islands. It is one of the smallest permanently inhabited Polynesian islands and one of the Polynesian outlier communities of Melanesia. The island lies about 500 kilometres east-southeast of Nendö and roughly halfway between the Solomon Islands archipelago and Tuvalu. Its nearest inhabited neighbour is Tikopia, about 112 kilometres to the southwest.

The island covers only 0.4 square kilometres and measures about 820 yards across. Its highest point stands 213 feet above sea level, and a fringing coral reef surrounds the coast. Such a tiny land area, vast ocean distances, and the reef edge have long shaped the community's navigation and food gathering. Anuta first appeared in written records in 1791, and geographic isolation remained important to its political and social development.

Its people preserve an extensive canoe tradition, including large V-shaped hulls built for sailing windward, and oral history describes settlement by voyagers from Tonga and ’Uvea about fifteen generations ago. Population has sometimes reached around 300, producing exceptional density for an island of this size. Anuta is therefore a compact Polynesian community whose identity is inseparable from seafaring, reef fishing, and connections across the Pacific.