Arutua
Arutua, or Ngaru-atua 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 , width . The lagoon area is and the land area is. Its lagoon is wide and deep with one navigable passage.
, 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 subgroup of the Tuamotus.History
The first recorded European to visit Arutua Atoll was Jakob Roggeveen 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. The seat of the commune is the village Rautini. The commune is in the administrative subdivision of the Îles Tuamotu-Gambier.Demographics
| Island | Population
| Area | Area of lagoon |
| Apataki | 442 | 20.0 | 706 |
| Arutua | 808 | 15.0 | 484 |
| Kaukura | 414 | 11.0 | 434 |
| TOTAL | 1664 | 46.0 | 1624 |
Table 1. Current population.
| Island | 2007 | 2012 | 2017 |
| Apataki | 495 | 350 | 442 |
| Arutua | 725 | 680 | 808 |
| Kaukura | 541 | 475 | 414 |
| TOTAL | 1761 | 1505 | 1664 |
Table 2. Population over time.Images and maps
