Arutua

Arutua
Arutua
Commune
	Location (in red) within the Tuamotu Archipelago
	Location of Arutua
	Coordinates: 15°14′43″S 146°36′44″W / 15.245236°S 146.612086°W
Country	France
Overseas collectivity	French Polynesia
Subdivision	Îles Tuamotu-Gambier
Area 1	46.0 km2 (17.8 sq mi)
Population (2022)	1,736
• Density	38/km2 (98/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−10:00
INSEE/Postal code	98713 /
	1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Arutua
	NASA picture of Arutua Atoll
	Arutua
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	15°14′43″S 146°36′43″W / 15.24528°S 146.61194°W
Archipelago	Tuamotus
Area	484 km2 (187 sq mi) (lagoon); 15 km2 (6 sq mi) (above water)
Length	31 km (19.3 mi)
Width	24 km (14.9 mi)
Administration
	France
Overseas collectivity	French Polynesia
Administrative subdivision	Îles Tuamotu-Gambier
Commune	Arutua
Largest settlement	Rautini
Demographics
Population	826 (2022)

Arutua, or Ngaru-atua^[2] is an atoll in the Tuamotu group in French Polynesia. It is located 40 km SW of Rangiroa. The closest land is Apataki Atoll, only 16 km to the East.

Arutua Atoll has a roughly pentagonal shape. Length 31 km (19 mi) , width 24 km (15 mi) . The lagoon area is 484 km² (187 sq mi) and the land area is 15 km² (6 sq mi). Its lagoon is wide and deep with one navigable passage. As of 2012^[update], Arutua had a population of 680 inhabitants. The main village is Rautini. There is a small airport at Arutua which was opened in 1984.

Geographically Arutua belongs to the Palliser Islands (Îles Palliser) subgroup of the Tuamotus.

History

The first recorded European to visit Arutua Atoll was Jakob Roggeveen (who also first sighted Easter Island) in 1722. British mariner Frederick Beechey touched at Arutua in 1826. He named this atoll "Cockburn Island".

Administration

This atoll is part of the commune of Arutua, which consists of Arutua, as well as the atolls of Apataki and Kaukura.^[3] The seat of the commune is the village Rautini.^[3] The commune is in the administrative subdivision of the Îles Tuamotu-Gambier.^[4]