Suwarrow
Satellite image of Suwarrow. Anchorage Island is immediately west of the lagoon's entrance
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Central-Southern Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: 13°16′9″S 163°6′41″W / 13.26917°S 163.11139°W |
| Archipelago | Cook Islands |
| Area | 9.8 km2 (3.8 sq mi) |
| Administration | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 2 (seasonal) |
| Ethnic groups | Polynesian |
Suwarrow (also called Suvorov, Suvarou, or Suvarov) is an island in the northern group of the Cook Islands in the south Pacific Ocean. It is about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) south of the equator and 930 kilometres (580 mi) north-northwest of the capital island of Rarotonga.
Suwarrow is a roughly quadrilateral-shaped coral atoll, 80 kilometres (50 mi) in circumference, with over 20 small islets (motu) surrounding a central lagoon 19 by 8 kilometres (11.8 by 5.0 mi). Cyclones have often created storm surges which sweep over the atoll since its small component of land is extremely low-lying.
Although Suwarrow was inhabited by Polynesians during prehistory it was uninhabited when discovered by the Russian-American Company ship Suvorov, which reportedly followed clouds of birds to the atoll on September 17, 1814. (The ship was named after Russian general Alexander Suvorov, who appears as "Suwarrow" in Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan and also in Alaric Alexander Watt's alliterative poem "The Siege of Belgrade".) It has been only intermittently inhabited since. The atoll's name has also been spelled variously as Souvorow, Souwaroff, and Souworoff. "Suwarrow" is the official spelling adopted by New Zealand.
In April 1890 Robert Louis Stevenson, his wife Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson, and her son Lloyd Osborne were passengers on the trading steamer Janet Nicoll, which called at Suwarrow during a trading cruise around the central Pacific. The journal of Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson was published under the title The Cruise of the Janet Nichol.Jack Buckland was also a passenger on Janet Nicoll; he later returned to Suwarrow to be the island trader.
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