Fakaofo, formerly known as Bowditch Island, is a South Pacific Oceanatoll located in the Tokelau Group. The actual land area is only about 3 km2 (1.1 sq mi), consisting of islets on a coral reef surrounding a central lagoon of some 45 km2. According to the 2006 census 483 people officially live on Fakaofo (however just 370 were present at census night). Of those present 70% belong to the Congregational Church and 22% to the Catholic Church.[2]
The island was sighted by the whale ship General Jackson in 1835 and named DeWolf Island after their ship's owner. The General Jackson returned in 1839.
The island was then named Bowditch (after Nathaniel Bowditch), this island was visited by the American ship USS Peacock which was part of the first American voyage of discovery – The United States Exploring Expedition (also known as "the Ex Ex" or "the Wilkes Expedition"), 1838–1842, United States Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes commanding.[3] Nathaniel Bowditch (1773–1838) was a noted American navigator who wrote a famous two-volume encyclopedia of navigation and sailing that is still used and published today by the Defense Mapping Agency Topographic Center (DMATC).
In Twenty Years Before The Mast,[4][a] Charles Erskine wrote "The people found on this island had no knowledge of fire, which I believe, is the only instance of the kind on record."
In a village on the island is a coral slab monument personifying Tui Tokelau, a god once worshiped in the islands.
^This book should not be confused with another book with a similar title by Richard Henry Dana Jr., which tells about hide trading on the California coast in the early 19th century.
^Erskine, Charles (1896). Twenty Years Before The Mast. Philadelphia, PA, USA: George W. Jacobs & Co.
^Skaggs, Jimmy M. (1994). The Great Guano Rush: Entrepreneurs and American Overseas Expansion. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 135–136, 236. ISBN9780312103163.
