Tokelau is a group of islands in thePacific Ocean. It is made of threeatolls. These atolls have a surface area of about12 square kilometres (4.6sqmi). About 1,500 people live there. Theterritory belongs toNew Zealand. The atolls areAtafu,Nukunonu, andFakaofo. Together withSwains Island (which is now part ofAmerican Samoa) they are known as theUnion Islands. Swains Island is about 180km to the south of Fakaofo. Less than 50 people live on Swains Island. Tokelau is about halfway between New Zealand andHawaii.
Tokelau does not have an officialcapital. The most important languages spoken in Tokelau areEnglish andTokelauan.
The people who live in Tokelau mostly live in fourvillages: Two of them are on Fakaofo. The islands Atafu and Nukunonu each have one village. The most common language is Tokelauan, about half the people speak English.
According to the UN, many people on Tokelau areoverweight: Many of the 15 to 64 age group also suffer fromdiabetes.[1]
Abarge leaves the dock at Nukunonu in Tokelau to collect passengers andcargo from the MV Tokelau drifting in deeper waters in the distance.
Tokelau is among the most remote areas in the Pacific: There are noairports; the islands can only be reached byship: there are no sea ports, which makes travelling difficult, even between the atolls. New Zealand pays for a ship, which connects Tokelau with the next bigger seaport (Apia, onSamoa). The trip from Apia to Fakaofo takes about a day, reaching the northernmost atoll Atafu will take another three to four hours. There is no large pier on any of the islands, which means that smaller boats (calledbarges) are needed to reach the shore.[2] The ship reaches Tokelau about once every two weeks.
In 2004 there was a vote to change the status of Tokelau: Rather than being a dependent territory of New Zealand, the proposal was to be "in association with" New Zealand, much likeCook Islands andNiue. At the time, the people of Tokelau voted against this independence.
Map of TokelauWhere Tokelau is in the WorldCentral Oceania: Tokelau is in the centre at the top.
