Manihiki – the Island of Pearls in the northern Cook Islands
Manihiki is known informally as the Island of Pearls, and the lagoon that earned it that name has shaped life here for centuries. Polynesians are believed to have lived on the atoll since at least 900 or 1000 AD, and local folklore tells of the fisherman Huku, of Māui, and of the land that broke away to become Manihiki. For generations the atoll also served as a food reserve for the people of neighbouring Rakahanga, who crossed the open sea every few years so that the vacated island could recover. Pedro Fernandes de Queirós is believed to have sighted it in 1606. Today Manihiki remains one of the most remote inhabited places in the Pacific, about 1,299 kilometres north of Rarotonga. Share your own memories and photographs with us.