Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. It was formerly called also Île Marchand and Madison Island.

This was the site for Survivor: Marquesas, the fourth installment of the popular CBS reality televison show. Herman Melville wrote his book Typee based on his experiences in the Tai Pi Vai valley in the eastern part of the island. Robert Louis Stevenson's first landfall on his voyage on the Casco, was at Hatiheu , on the north side of Nuku Hiva, in 1888.

Geography

Its highest point, in the northwestern part of the island, is Tekao, which reaches an elevation of 1,224 m (4,016 ft.).

The coastline of western Nuku Hiva is characterized by a steep, but fairly regular coastline, indented occasionally by small bays leading to deep valleys, which lead into the interior.

The coastline of the eastern part of the island, on the other hand, is indented by deep bays, the largest of which are Haka Ui and Tai o Hae, and in the former province of Tai Pi , Vai‘i, Ho‘o Umi, Ha‘a Tuatua, Ana Ho and Hatiheu.

The central part of the island is a high plateau, the Tōvi‘i, covered primarily by a tall-grass prairie. On the western edge rises Tekao, the island's highest peak. The western and northern edges of Tōvi‘i are a mountain ridge, which catches much of the rain that waters the island. As a result, the slopes of the western side of the island are much drier than the rest of the island, and are often described as a desert.

The capital of the Marquesas Islands, Tai o Hae, is located at the head of the bay of that same name.

Demographics

The population in 2002 was 2,375.

Communications

Nuku Hiva is served by a single-runway airport in the northwest corner of the island, approximately 30 miles by road, northwest of Tai o Hae. The airport is capable of handling the largest of aircraft.

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