Isolated Marquesas
p. 13 · Read in the full issue
Airstrips For The Isolated Marquesas
The French Government is planning to build airstrips on Nukuhiva and Hiva-oa, the two largest islands in the Marquesas, which is now the only major group in the Pacific not con nected with the rest of the world by air.
The Governor of French Polynesia, Mr. Jean Sicurani, inspected the proposed sites dur ing a visit to the Marquesas in July. The site on Nukuhiva is near Taiohae, the main port in the Group, and is reported to be suitable for a strip nearly 10,000 ft long.
The building of the strips could lead to the revitalisation of the Marquesas, which, a century and a half ago, had a population of 60,000 or so, and now has only about 4,000 people. The Group consists of 11 islands, many of them extremely fertile, with a total land area of 492 square miles.
The islands are some 470 miles north-east of Tahiti. They could be developed agriculturally and for tourism.