The History Corner . . . by Caroline Curvan
On July 14, at approximately 8:30pm, the Europa passed about 50 miles north of Aitutaki. It had been hoped that a course allowing a sighting of the island could be taken, but the gods of wind and water had other plans.
First Mate Terry asked me “why all the interest in Aitutaki?” You might be asking this question too. Well, the answer is that the first European to set foot on it is none other than the acclaimed/infamous/astonishing/villainous (you choose your adjective) Captain William S. Bligh, Esq., late of the HMS Bounty. Yes, the one of the eponymous Mutiny thereof.
On April 11, 1789 (just a mere 17 days before the fateful Mutiny) the Bountywas surprised to discover “Whytootackee” [sic]froma distance of 15 miles. (Captain Bligh was surprised because he had been through the area on Captain Cook’s last voyage and hadn’t stumbled across it then.). The Bounty was eventually able to interact with several natives who approached the ship in their canoe and were permitted on board, where theyrubbed noses with Bligh, ate some pork, and gave him a mother of pearl shell decorated with plaited hair. Bligh would leave the next day and soon enter the annals of history and Hollywood.
Of course, Polynesians were the first settlers and are believed to have arrived here c. 200BC. It’s thought they came from Tonga and Samoa,based on ancient chants, oral histories, and some basalt adze heads found there – there is no basalt in the volcanically formed Cook Islands, but there is some in Samoa. This would have been one of the first stops of these ancient navigators as they peopled the Polynesian triangle, going next to the Society Islands and the Marquesas (c. 100BC),Hawaii (c. 300AD), and finally New Zealand (c. 800AD).
The first European sighting of these coral atolls came in 1595 when the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Neira saw the island of PukaPuka in the distance and, since it was the feast day of Saint Bernard, he named it San Bernardo.
After Captain James Cook visited in 1773 and 1777, the whole atoll became known as Hervey Islands, after Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol and a Lord of the Admiralty. (In addition to being a skilled navigator, Cook was also skilled at ingratiating himself with the powers that be.)
It wasn’t until the 1820s that they became known as the Cook Islands, apparently thanks to Russian naval chart of the area drawn by a von Krusenstern, who it seems to have simply decided to change the name to honor the great navigator rather than some stay-at-home nobleman and political appointee. No one seemed to mind, so the name stuck.
Life was simple then.
For me, Aitutaki is important because my favorite expedition, the US Exploring Expedition of 1838 – 1842, landed here in 1840. Expedition linguist Horatio Hale interviewed the inhabitants of Aitutaki and learned that their ancestors came from a place called Avaiki. Connecting this name to the Havaikiof the Marquesas, the island of Hawai’i, and the island of Savai’i of Samoa, Halewas the first to realize that all these names were connected and made the logical leap that they all werelikely named after the same central place all the different islanders had originated from. But where would this place have been? And how, he wondered, could these early navigators sail EASTagainst the prevailing winds? Using the reams of meteorological information gathered by others on his Expedition, Hale realized that during January, February and March westerly and northwesterly winds prevail. If these first navigators traveled east during those months, they could easily get home during the rest of the year when the winds favored a westerly course. It took until well into the 20th century for Hale’s hypotheses to be thoroughly vindicated thanks to modern archeological techniques and a new respect for native stories and knowledge.
More modern information includes the fact that in 2010Aitutaki was named “the world’s most beautiful island” by Lonely Planet. And by 2014, Aitutaki was the 2nd most visited Cook Island, after Rarotonga.
Today, for various reasons I won’t go into here, but feel free to check Wikipedia if you’re interested, the Cook Islands have been politically affiliated with New Zealand since 1901. (Cook Islanders are NZ citizens.) However, they are considered self-governing, though they receive social and other services from New Zealand.