- Land & lagoon surface : 18,3 sqkm
- Highest point : 124 metres a.s.l.
- Population 1,946 people in 2001

- 28 accommodations on Aitutaki 2005
- Currency CI & New Zealand Dollar
- Common access by Air Rarotonga

- Longitude : 159° 45' 0'' - West
- Latitude : 18° 51' 0'' - South
- Capt Bligh / Bounty - 11 April 1789

- Aitutaki is one of the 15 Cook Islands
- part of the Southern Group islands
- closest neighbour Manuae island

AITUTAKI
This is the classic Hollywood-movie South Seas island! It's surrounded
by a large turquoise lagoon and palm clad tropical islets. White sand beaches
dazzle the eye, and snorkeling, sailing, diving and fishing are available.
After Rarotonga, Aitutaki will seem like a small rural town. The pace
is slow, with few commercial distractions. Accommodations are comfortable,
and water-sports are excellent.

Orientation
The large main island sits in the northern half of a triangular lagoon,
which stretches 7 miles on each leg. Small islets (motus) are spread around
the lagoon, mostly to the east and south. The land is fertile and
well-watered, although there are no permanent streams. Bananas, arrow-root,
and tropical flowers abound, and fishing is good both in the lagoon and
ocean. Low hills dominate the interior, with Mt. Maungapu reaching a
height of 408 ft (124 m).
The main village of Arutanga is a sleepy collection of government
buildings, shops, and a small wharf. The motus are uninhabited, except for
the small resort near the airstrip.

Getting There
The 45-min. flight operates daily (ex. Sunday) on Air Rarotonga (22-888).
Roundtrip fares start at NZ$254, with discounted air/land packages and
one-day excursions available. (For freighter schedules, call the
Rarotonga Waterfront Commission (21-921).)
Keep your camera ready during your flight, as the aerial views of both
Rarotonga and Aitutaki are excellent.

HISTORY
Oral traditions speak of three leaders in early Aitutaki history. The great
Polynesian chief tain Ru reached Aitutaki about 900 AD, with his four wives,
four brothers, and twenty tamaine tapa-iru (royal virgins). Many years later
his grandson, Taruia, became the ariki (chief) of the island.
Ruatapu, another chief from eastern Polynesia, came to Aitutaki during
Taruia's reign. He tricked Taruia into taking a short trip to Rarotonga, and
then declared himself the new ariki before Taruia came home. The three
chiefly families of Aitutaki are all descended from Ruatapu.
The origin of the name is disputed. Some say it comes from Ru's choice
of Utaki-Enua-O-Ru-Ki-Te-Moana, meaning "Ru's cargo of people he led to
and over the ocean." Others claim it was named after the early warrior
Utataki-Enua. A traditional name is Ara'ura -"fragrant wreaths for dancing."

European Contact
The first European discoverer was the infamous Captain Bligh in the Bounty,
who stopped offshore April 11, 1789 after departing Tahiti. A canoe
approached, and its paddler was invited on board. He rubbed noses with
Bligh, gave him a pearlshell breast ornament tied with human hair, and told
him the island was called Wytootackee.
This was the Bounty's last stop before Fletcher Christian and his
mutineers set Bligh and some men adrift in a small boat 17 days later.
Bligh miraculously survived and returned to England. Captain
Edwards' Pandora stopped in May, 1791, searching for the exclusive
Christian, as did Bligh on July 25, 1792. Neither found the mutineers, who
ended on remote Pitcairn in the eastern Pacific.
Captain Goodenough of the Cumberland visited in 1814 after his
disastrous months on Rarotonga. He left the two Rarotongan women he had
kidnapped---Tepaeru and Mata---before he continued on to Australia.

The Missionary Era Begins
The famous missionary John Williams made his first landfall in the Cooks at
Aitutaki, on October 26, 1821. He observed that some of the locals
"were tattooed from head to foot; some were painted with
pipeclay and ochre, others were smeared all over with charcoal; and all were
dancing and shouting in their canoes."
When Williams departed he left the Polynesian missionary Papeiha (from
Raiatea, near Tahiti), who changed the course of Cook Islands history.
Papeiha converted high chief Tamatoa, and Tepaeru, one of the
Rarotongan women. Within two years most of the island had been converted.
In 1823 Williams returned, and took Papeiha, Tepaeru and Chief Tamatoa
to Rarotonga. Tamatoa and Tepaeru
---niece of a Rarotongan chief---were instrumental in convincing the
Rarotongans of Papeiha's sincerity. Papeiha converted key chiefs, and the
other islands soon joined in the conversion.
October 26 is Gospel Day, a national holiday commemorating the first
missionaries' arrival in the country.
No missionaries came for another 16 years, but naturalist Charles
Darwin stopped in 1835, in the Beagle.
Aitutaki became a frequent stop for whalers, traders, and escaped
convicts from Australia's penal colony. Drinking and violence were common,
and it was said local custom allowed a man to marry one day and divorce the
next. Measles and other introduced diseases decimated the local population,
and Christian converts became demoralized without a resident missionary.
It was a society of "debauchery and disorder," as one writer put it,
when Reverend Henry Royle arrived in 1839. His church was twice burned to
the ground, and his family threatened. Despite these hardships he restored
some semblance of order, and stayed 37 years, one of the longest periods of
European missionary service.
Albert Royle Henry, the country's first Premier, was a grandson of
one of Royle's devoted followers, and was named for the early missionary.

British Annexation
Of all local rivalries, none is greater than that of Rarotonga andAitutaki.
Rarotonga became a British "protectorate" in 1888. Aitutaki, however,
was fully "annexed" into the British Empire, its lagoon coverted as a
Pacific harbor. When Rarotongans learned Aitutaki was "more British" by the
annexation, they became quite jealous. This lasted 12 years, until
Rarotonga was annexed.

Dogs and Disease
Early this century many Pacific islands had outbreaks of leprosy, and
little treatment was available (until the 1950's). Isolation kept it from
spreading, and lepers were quarantined for life on small islets. Rapota was
Aitutaki's leper colony until 1926, when all were transferred to a new
hospital in Fiji.

Captain William Bligh
Some historians claim locals thought dogs spread leprosy, so they were
killed during an epidemic. Others think villagers simply tired of dog
fights during town meetings, while some say the dogs were eaten during a
famine.
Whatever its origin, dogs are still not allowed on Aitutaki (or
Mauke). Pigs have filled the pet void in some families.

The War Years
When World War II began many Cook Islanders enlisted in NZ's armed forces,
but the biggest effect was on little Aitu-taki. About 1000 US servicemen
arrived in 1942 to build an airstrip and defend the area if the western
Pacific was lost. The airstrip was the largest in the Cooks at the time, and
is still in use today.
The island experienced an economic boom unmatched to this day. The
military paid wages twice that of the NZ colonial administration, and
everything grown or sewn sold at high prices.
Local ladies also enjoyed their companionship. Writer James Norman Hall
once said of Aitutaki women:"I have seen girls from that island who would
be called beautifulin any country."
Many servicemen agreed. From 1943 to 1946 three-quarters of the
children born had American fathers.
The boom ended with the war, but spawned the Cook Islands Progressive
Association, which lobbied for higher prices and reliable shipping. Albert
Henry headed the Auckland branch, and the CIPA later became the core of the
successful independence movement.

The Flying Boat Era
After the war, regular air services began from Auckland to Raro-tonga.
DC-3's stopped at Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and Aitutaki. When this three-day
route was abandoned, Aitutaki was chosen as the Cooks' sole air link to the
world.
Tasman Empire Air Lines (TEAL), which became Air New Zealand, flew
huge Solent sea-planes from Auckland to Tahiti, stopping in lagoons at Fiji,
Samoa, and Aitutaki. This famous Coral Route operated from 1951-1960, and
was Tahiti's only flight until 1961 (when the airport was built to enable
the filming of Mutiny on the Bounty!).
The Solents were not little sea-planes. These 34-ton, four-engined
"flying boats," as they were called, carried 45 passengers on two decks,
and stewardesses cooked meals in flight. The Solents often flew only 1000
feet above the ocean, and it took a minute-and-a-half to become airborne on
their lagoon "runways."
They landed near Akaiami, and were refueled by hand using dozens of oil
drums. Passengers had a couple of hours to swim and stretch their legs.
Passengers for Raro transferred to the main island, then waited days---or
weeks---for the interisland freighter.
On one trip an engine died on take-off. The Solent landed safely in the
lagoon, and the 40 passengers transferred to the main island. The crew flew
the disabled plane to Tahiti for repairs. Eight days later it for the
passengers, many of whom had second thoughts about leaving this tropical
paradise.
A Solent is on display at Auckland's Museum of Transport and
Technology. There are few remains of Akaiami's jetty and storage buildings,
but it still claims fame as once being the world's only uninhabited
international airport!