History
It is believed that Ferdinand Magellan discovered the island in 1521, but this cannot be substantiated by historians who have researched the island's history. One of the last great Spanish voyages of exploration, under the command of Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, came upon the island on 2 March 1606. He noted in a record of the voyage: "The land is divided among many owners, and is planted with certain roots, which must form their bread. All the rest is a large and thick palm grove which is the chief sustenance of the natives. Some 500 inhabitants were seen assembled on the beach". A Franciscan friar on the voyage was so struck with admiration that he called it the island of beautiful people (gente hermosa). De Quiros described the inhabitants as "the most beautiful white and elegant people that were met during the voyage".
Russian oceanic explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen visited Rakahanga on August 8, 1820, on ships Vostok and Mirni. He took its coordinates and charted its position with accuracy; he named this atoll "Grand Duke Alexander Island", after Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaievich who would later become tsar Alexander II. According to Bellingshausen: "The inhabitants (of Rakahanga) came out in canoes and challenged us to fight by throwing stones and spears at the ship."
Commander A. C. Clarke of HMS Espiegle declared Rakahanga a British protectorate on 9 August 1889. It was included in New Zealand's boundaries in 1901.
The island was claimed under the Guano Islands Act for the United States, a claim which was ceded in a treaty between the U.S. and the Cook Islands in 1980.
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