Our Series on remote islands takes us to Rapa, in the Austral Islands Group. Rapa is southernmost island of Polynesia, and one of the most remote populated places on the planet. It is over 500km from Raivavae, the nearest of the Austral Islands, and over 1000km from Tahiti, the nearest large population centre.
Due to its remote nature, the island has lived in autarky for many centuries, based on a clanic system typical of Polynesian societies. It was visited by non Polynesians for the first time in the late 18th century, and annexed by France, along with the other Austral Islands, in 1887. It is now part of the Austral District of French Polynesia.
One anecdote about the name Rapa is that both Rapa and Easter Island were raided by Peruvian slave traders and slaves were sent to the Chincha Islands, off the shores of Peru. When Spain occupied the islands in 1864, they freed the slaves and repatriated both populations to their native islands. When people from Rapa saw Easter Island, they found many similarities with their own island, and nicknamed it Rapa Nui, or "Greater Rapa". The name Rapa Nui has now become a common word to designate both Easter Island and its indigenous population, despite not being endonymous to the island.
More on Rapa
Rapa
