Fakarava Atoll

Fakarava's long coral rim encloses one of the great lagoons of the Tuamotu, northeast of Tahiti. The atoll is roughly rectangular, with access to the inner waters through Garuae in the north and Tumakohua, also called Tetamanu, in the south. Its Polynesian history preceded the European names placed on charts: the Pōmare dynasty originated here before gaining rule over Tahiti.

On 17 July 1820 the Russian navigator Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen recorded the atoll and named it Wittgenstein Island. The British sailor Ireland used that name in 1831, and Robert FitzRoy visited in 1835. Later in the nineteenth century, Fakarava became French territory and its lagoon harbour supported exchange in coconut oil and mother-of-pearl. Tetamanu, beside the southern passage, was formerly the atoll's capital and housed the Tuamotu administrator in that century.