Tikopia Atoll

Tikopia is a small volcanic island southeast of the Santa Cruz group, with the crater lake Te Roto at its centre. Its people speak a Polynesian language and trace their history through clans and chiefly lineages. Four chiefs held ritual authority on the island. In 1606 the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós sighted Tikopia; its European name did not displace the long-established island community.