Austral Islands

archipelago in French Polynesia

AI overview

The Austral Islands are a chain of islands located in French Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean. They matter as part of France's territorial holdings in the Pacific and contribute to French Polynesia's geography and cultural diversity.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: archipelago
Part of: Polynesia
Has part: Tubuai
Named after: south
Country: France
Located in: French Polynesia
Contains: Tubuai
Population: 6310
Area: 152
Elevation: 435
Time zone: UTC−10:00
Body of water: Pacific Ocean
Location: Pacific Ocean
Image: Tubuai depuis le motu Mitiha.jpg

Show 4 more facts

Commons category: Austral Islands
topic's main category: Category:Austral Islands
described by source: Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
native label: Tuha’a pae mā

Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~21 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The Austral Islands (French: Îles Australes, officially Archipel des Australes; Tahitian: Tuha'a Pae) are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic in the South Pacific. Geographically, they consist of two separate archipelagos, namely in the northwest the Tupua'i islands (French: Îles Tubuaï) consisting of the Îles Maria, Rimatara, Rūrutu, Tupua'i Island proper and Ra'ivāvae, and in the southeast the Bass Islands (French: Îles basses) composed of the main island of Rapa Iti and the small Marotiri (also known as Bass Rocks or Îlots de Bass). Inhabitants of the islands are known for their pandanus fiber weaving skills. The islands of Maria and Marotiri are not suitable for sustained habitation. Several of the islands have uninhabited islets or rocks off their coastlines. Austral Islands' population is 6,965 on almost 150 km (58 sq mi). The capital of the Austral Islands administrative subdivision is Tupua'i.

History

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Austral Islands” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.