Ua Pou is the third largest of the Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It is located about 50 km south of Nuku Hiva, in the northern Marquesas. Until the beginning of the 1980s, it was the most populous of the Marquesas Islands, because when the other islands were being ravaged by diseases introduced by European explorers and traders, the Catholic priests on the island finally took to quarantining the remnant of the native population inside their churches whenever visiting ships approached the island, thereby reducing their exposure to external diseases. The center of the island is characterized by four high basalt pillars that reach high above the surrounding mountains. The highest of these pillars, Mount Oave, reaches to above sea level and is the highest elevation in the Marquesas. The island covers an area of, and is located just northwest of the small island of Motu Oa. Its population was 2,213 at the 2017 census. The largest settlement is Hakahau, on Hakahau Bay, on the northeast coast.
Administration
Administratively Ua Pou forms the commune of Ua-Pou, part of the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas Islands. This commune consists solely of the island of Ua Pou and its offshore rocks. Ua-Pou consists of the following associated communes:
The administrative center of the commune is the settlement of Hakahau, located within the associated commune of Hakahau, on the north-eastern shore of the island.
Population
History
Ua Pou is the only major island that was unified under a single monarchprior to the arrival of Europeanexplorers. Prior to the island's unification, reportedly about 1585, there is evidence that the tribes of Ua Pou were sometimes united in war with the tribes of Te I'i on Nuku Hiva against those of Tai Pi Vai. Despite the fact that tribes from both the eastern and western halves of Ua Pou were often united in war against each other, however, it appears that such differences among them were not considered when members of tribes from either side of the island sought refuge among the tribes of Te I'i on Nuku Hiva.
