Island Salted there Gómez

The island Sala Gómez is an uninhabited small island there Pacific Ocean, pertaining to the Chile. She is often regarded as the point more in the East of the Polynésie.

Geography

The island Sala Gómez () is located there 3.220 km at the West of the Chilean coast, 2.500 km in the West of the islands Desventuradas and to 415 km in the North-East of the Easter Island which is the ground nearest. Salted there Gómez consists of two small island S, small in the west measuring 4 ha surface (270 meters of north in the south, 200 meters of the east in the west) and larger in the East measuring 11 ha (500 meters of north in the south, 270 meters of is in west), which are connected by narrow a Isthme to north, of hardly 30 meters of width of average. The total surface area is approximately 15 hectares (0,15 km ²) and the overall length, islands and isthmus included, are of 770 meters. Its higher point, in the south of the Eastern island, is of 30 meters, small cliff a 10 height meters overhanging a hillock of 20 meters. The most point of the Western island is of 26 meters.

The island is covered with marine salt and the east coast truffée of innumerable basins to the foot of cliffs making accosting difficult except in calm weather.

Even if there does not exist source of permanent fresh water, one finds a depression geological on the Eastern rock which offers a soft water reserve 75 meters in diameter, filled by rainwater. Even when this place appears dry on its surface, sand remains wet with a few in-depth centimetres. When it is not filled with water, it is the only place of the island where can be posed a helicopter.

In 1994, the Chilean navy installed an automatic headlight and an alarm system to the Tsunami S. the island was declared since natural sanctuary.

History

Exploration

Although no proof makes it possible to think that the island was already inhabited, the inhabitants of the Easter Island were certainly with the current of its existence as its name pre-European attests it. The tradition also reports that the island would have been occasionally visited in order to collect eggs there but that the difficulties of access allotted to the gods Make Make and Haua protected the marine birds from those which ate their eggs and their offspring. It is partly because of its historical connections with the Easter Island that Sala there Gómez belonged to the Polynésie. In addition, its position makes it thus it ground more in the east of Polynesia, a title generally granted wrongly to the Easter Island 415 km more in the West. .

The first European to see the island was Jose Salas Valdés, marine Spanish the August 23rd 1793. Between this date and 1917, the known visits of the island took place only in 1805, 1806, 1817, 1825, 1875 and 1917.

Name

In language Rapanui, the name of the island east Motu Motiro Hiva or Manu Motu Motiro Hiva , meaning the small island with the birds on the road of Hiva . Hiva is one of the names which one finds for several Polynesian islands, especially with the Marquesas Islands. In Rapanui language, however, that means far from the grounds and it is the name of the mythical place of origin of the Polynesians. Seen of the Easter Island, Sala Gómez is there in the direction opposed to the Marchionesses and the territory inhabited nearest " with the delà" of Gómez Salted would be there the coast of South America. It is one of the factors which led Thor Heyerdahl to establish its theory on contacts pre-Europeans between Polynesia and South America.

The current name of Salted there Gómez comes from the name of Jose Salas Valdés and that of Jose Manuel Gómez, which made the first detailed description of the island in October 1805. Isla Salted-there-Gómez . -->

Political situation

Chile declared its sovereignty on Sala there Gómez in 1808 and since 1888 the island is managed by the Chilean navy. Since March 1st 1966, it is attached to the department of the Easter Island. The July 25th 1974, the department was transformed into Province of the Easter Island.

Geology

Gómez salted is a volcanic island there, emerged part of an underwater high mountain which rises of a sea-bed located at 3500 Mr. the Récif Scott (not to be confused with the Scoot Reef off the Western coast of Australia), 1,5 km in the North-East of the island east another peak of the same underwater mountain and which is only with 25 meters of sea surface. Gómez salted is there part of the dorsal Sala there Gómez and like the Easter Island in the west, the only place of the area where an underwater mountain reaches the sea level. There is several ten underwater mounts on this dorsal, which extends on 2232 km towards the east until the mount Nazca , where it joined the Dorsale Nazca.

Except the Easter Island, Sala Gómez is there the youngest mountain of the chain, supposed to be formed by a hot Point having progressed regularly towards the west, there are 27 My for the Nazca chain to 2 My for the Easter Island.

Flora

With the Easter Island, Sala Gómez forms a écorégion there called the Rapa Harmed subtropical broadleaf forests . The island in it even is however not covered with largely desert forest but by accommodating only four species of terrestrial plants among which one finds Asplenium (a variety of Fougère) which leads only in protected areas and to high altitudes.

Fauna

Except a great number of species of insects, only not-watery fauna is formed by a dozen species of birds of sea, which use the island as nursery. Here estimates of population in 1985:

These populations can vary considerably from one year to another, according to the weather conditions. In 1986, the figures were for example much weaker.

The marine animal-life includes/understands a large variety of Crustacé S and sea urchin S, as well as coral fish and sharks. The latter are apparently curious, but nonaggressive.

See too

Cultural reference

The German poet Adelbert von Chamisso wrote a poem on the island, based on the reflections that it inspired to him at the time of its visit in 1816.

Other Chilean oceanic islands:

the Easter Island
the Archipelago Juan Fernández
San Felix there San Ambrosio

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