It is the most southern and most eastern islet of Nui and is the largest (area 1.38 km2). Most Nuians live on the western end of Fenua Tapu,[3] where a village including the settlements of Alamoni - Maiaki and Manutalake - Meang (Tanrake) lies.[4]
A Dutch expedition (the frigate Maria Reigersberg[5]) found Nui on the morning of June 14, 1825 and named Fenua Tapu as Nederlandsch Eiland.[6]
A New Island in the Pacific.— In July last, the Pollux, Dutch sloop of war, Captain Eeg, discovered a new and well-peopled island in the Pacific, to which the name of Nederlandich Island was given : its latitude and longitude laid down at 7° 10' S., and 177° 33' 16" E. from Greenwich. The natives were athletic and fierce, great thieves, and, from their shewing no symptoms of fear when muskets were discharged, evidently unacquainted with the effects of fire-arms.[7]
Dutch map of the island, made in June 1825
View of the main island
View of the atoll
References
^Map of Nui. Tuvaluislands.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2013-10-12.
^British Admiralty Nautical Chart 766 Ellice Islands. United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO). 21 March 1872.
^Sotaga Pape (1983). "Chapter 10 – Nui". In Laracy, Hugh (ed.). Tuvalu: A History. Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu. p. 71.