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Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands)Tokelau Amendment Act 1976 is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral : Atafu, Nukunonu, and Fakaofo. They have a combined land area of . In addition to these three, Swains Island (Olohega), which forms part of the same archipelago, is the subject of an ongoing territorial dispute, while being currently administered by the United States as part of American Samoa. Tokelau lies north of the Samoan Islands, east of Tuvalu, south of the Phoenix Islands, southwest of the more distant Line Islands, and northwest of the Cook Islands.
Tokelau has a population of approximately 1,500 people; it has the fourth-smallest population of any sovereign state or dependency in the world. As of the 2016 census, around 45% of its residents had been born overseas, mostly in Samoa or New Zealand. The populace has a life expectancy of 69, which is comparable to that of other island nations. Approximately 94% of the population speak Tokelauan as their first language. Tokelau has the smallest economy of any nation. It is a leader in renewable energy, being the first 100% nation in the world.
Tokelau is officially referred to as a nation by both the New Zealand government and the Tokelauan government. It is free and democratic, with elections every three years. However, in 2007, the United Nations General Assembly included Tokelau on its list of non-self-governing territories. Its inclusion on this list is controversial, as Tokelauans have twice narrowly failed to reach a supermajority for further self-determination in referendums, and the islands' small population makes the viability of self-government challenging. The basis of Tokelau's legislative, administrative and judicial systems is the Tokelau Islands Act 1948, which has been amended several times. Since 1993, the territory has annually elected its own head of government, the Ulu-o-Tokelau. Before 1993, the administrator of Tokelau was the highest official in the government and the territory was directly administered by a New Zealand government department.
On 29 October 1825, August R. Strong of the USS Dolphin and his crew arrived at the atoll Nukunonu. He wrote: The Journal of the South Pacific, 110 (3), p. 296
On 14 February 1835, Captain Smith, of the United States Whaling General Jackson, wrote of having sighted Fakaofo, which he chose to call D'Wolf's Island. On 25 January 1841, the United States Exploring Expedition visited Atafu, and discovered a small population living on the island. The residents appeared to be there only temporarily, because there was no chief among them, and they had the kind of double that were typically used for inter-island travel. They appeared to have interacted with foreigners in the past, because they expressed a desire to engage in barter with the expedition crew, and they possessed items that were apparently of foreign origin: blue beads and a plane-iron. A few days later, French explorer Captain Morvan sighted Fakaofo. The American expedition reached Nukunonu on 28 January 1841, but did not record any information about inhabitants. On 29 January 1841, the expedition sighted Fakaofo and named it Bowditch.Nathaniel Bowditch (1773–1838) was an American mathematician remembered for his work on ocean navigation. The Fakaofo islanders were found to be similar in appearance and behavior to the Atafu islanders.
Missionaries preached Christianity in Tokelau from 1845 to the 1870s. French Catholic missionaries on Wallis Island (also known as 'Uvea) and missionaries of the Protestant London Missionary Society in Samoa used native teachers to convert the Tokelauans. Atafu was converted to Protestantism by the London Missionary Society, Nukunonu was converted to Catholicism and Fakaofo was converted to both denominations. The Rev. Samuel James Whitmee, of the London Missionary Society, visited Tokelau in 1870.
Helped by Swains Island-based Eli Jennings Sr, blackbirding arrived in 1863 and kidnapped nearly all (253) of the able-bodied men to work as labourers, depopulating the atolls.H.E. Maude's Slavers in Paradise (A.N.U., Canberra, 1981) The Tokelauan men died of dysentery and smallpox, and very few returned. With that loss, the system of governance became based on the "Taupulega", or "Councils of Elders", on which individual families on each atoll were represented. During that time, immigrants settled, followed by American, Scottish people, French, Portuguese and German beachcombers, marrying local women and repopulating the atolls.
In 1856 the United States claimed that it held sovereignty over the island and the other Tokelauan atolls under the Guano Islands Act. In 1979, the U.S. conceded that Tokelau was under New Zealand sovereignty, and a maritime boundary between Tokelau and American Samoa was established by the Treaty of Tokehega.
In 1889, Tokelau became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. This lasted until 1916, when it was annexed and incorporated into the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. In 1926, it was incorporated into New Zealand.
No significant land is more than above high water of ordinary tides. This means Tokelau is particularly vulnerable to future sea level rise.
The Time&Date website states that "the international time zone community has apparently been listing the wrong local time for Tokelau since 1901" and that "most sources, including the commonly referred to International Atlas by Shanks/Pottenger, claim that the UTC offset is +14 hours, or equivalent (UTC-10:00 before 29 December 2011 and afterwards, UTC-10:00 plus one day)."
The Union Islands (Revocation) Order in Council, 1948S.R.O. & S.I. Rev. XVI, 866 after reciting the agreement by the governments of the United Kingdom and New Zealand that the islands should become part of New Zealand, revoked the Union Islands (No. 2) Order in Council, 1925, with effect from a date fixed by the Governor-General of New Zealand after he was satisfied that the New Zealand Parliament had provided for the incorporation of the islands with New Zealand, as it did by the Tokelau Islands Act 1948.Act. No. 24 of 1948 Tokelau formally became part of New Zealand on 1 January 1949.
The Dominion of New Zealand, of which Tokelau formerly was a part, has since been superseded by the Realm of New Zealand, of which Tokelau remains a part. When the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 came into effect on 1 January 1949, Tokelauans who were British subjects gained New Zealand citizenship; a status they still hold.
Villages are entitled to enact their own laws regulating their daily lives and New Zealand law only applies where it has been extended by specific enactment. Serious crime is rare and there are no prisons, and offenders are publicly rebuked, fined or made to work.
The Tokelau Amendment Act of 1996 confers legislative power on the General Fono, a Unicameralism body. The number of seats each atoll receives in the Fono is determined by populationat present, Fakaofo and Atafu each have seven and Nukunonu has six. Faipule and pulenuku also sit in the Fono.
On 11 November 2004, Tokelau and New Zealand took steps to formulate a treaty that would turn Tokelau from a non-self-governing territory to a self-governing state in Associated state with New Zealand. Besides the treaty, a United Nations-sponsored referendum on self-determination took place, with the three islands voting on successive days starting 13 February 2006. (Tokelauans in Apia, Samoa, voted on 11 February.) Out of 581 votes cast, 349 were for Free Association, being short of the two-thirds majority required for the measure to pass. The referendum was profiled (somewhat light-heartedly) in the 1 May 2006 issue of The New Yorker magazine. A repeat referendum took place on 20–24 October 2007, again narrowly failing to approve self-government. This time the vote was short by just 16 votes or 3%.
In May 2008, the United Nations' Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged colonial powers "to complete the decolonization process in every one of the remaining 16 non-self-governing territories", including Tokelau. "Colonialism has no place in today's world," says Secretary General in message to Decolonization Seminar in Indonesia", United Nations press release, 14 May 2008 This led The New Zealand Herald to comment that the United Nations was "apparently frustrated by two failed attempts to get Tokelau to vote for independence". In April 2008, speaking as leader of the National Party, future New Zealand Prime Minister John Key stated that New Zealand had "imposed two referenda on the people of the Tokelau Islands", and questioned "the accepted wisdom that small states should undergo a de-colonisation process". John Key's speech to the NZ Institute of International Affairs, 8 April 2008
Given Tokelau's limited wharf facilities, the Navy's multi-role ship, , has been employed to provide logistics support to the territory.
Little crime has been reported in Tokelau and a total of nine police officers were reported as present as of the early 2020s: three each on Fakaofo, Nukunonu and Atafu. According to the Government they are responsible to the village authorities for the enforcement of law and order and to the public service for their various civil duties.
Swains Island was claimed by the United States pursuant to the Guano Islands Act, as were the other three islands of Tokelau; the latter three claims were ceded to Tokelau by treaty in 1979. In the draft constitution of Tokelau subject to the Tokelauan self-determination referendum in 2006, Olohega (Swains Island) was also claimed as a part of Tokelau, though the claim was surrendered in the same 1979 treaty. This established a clearly defined boundary between American Samoa and Tokelau.
Tokelau's claim to Swains is generally comparable to the Marshall Islands' claim to U.S.-administered Wake Island, but the re-emergence of this somewhat dormant issue has been an unintended result of the United Nations' recent efforts to promote decolonisation in Tokelau. Tokelauans have proven somewhat reluctant to push their national identity in the political realm: recent decolonisation moves have mainly been driven from outside for ideological reasons. But at the same time, Tokelauans are reluctant to disown their common cultural identity with Swains Islanders who speak their language.
In 2011 Tokelau declared its entire exclusive economic zone of a shark sanctuary. Pew: Tokelau Declares Shark Sanctuary, 7 September 2011
In recent years, Tokelau has sought to diversify its revenue streams. Notably, the territory has generated income through the registration of domain names under its country code top-level domain (ccTLD), .tk. By 2012, about one-sixth of Tokelau's economy was derived from this source.
Three solar power stations with a total generation capacity of 930kWp were installed to provide 100% of current electrical demand from photovoltaics, with lead acid battery backup able to store around 8MWh. The first power station was completed in August 2012. In total, 4,032 solar panels are used and 1,344 batteries weighing each. The systems are designed to withstand winds of . By 2011, Tokelau's electricity was 93% generated by , with the remainder generated from coconut oil. Coconuts and sunshine will power South Pacific islands New Scientist, published 2011-09-13. Retrieved 14 September 2011 As of 2019, increased demand and degradation of batteries had led to increased need for backup power. Plans were made for an additional 210 kW of PV and close to 2MWh of lithium-ion battery capacity.
In September 2003, Fakaofo became the first part of Tokelau with a high-speed Internet connection. Foundation Tokelau financed the project. Tokelau gave most domain names under its authority away to anyone for free to gain publicity for the territory. This has allowed the nation to gain enhanced telecommunications technologies, such as more computers and Internet access for Tokelauan residents. By 2012, there were about 120 computers, mostly laptops, and 1/6th of the economy consisted of income from .tk domain names.Andres, Tommy. " The tiny island with a huge Web presence." CNN. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
According to a 2016 analysis of domain name registration performed by the .uk registrar Nominet using data from ZookNIC, tk domains are the "world's largest country-code domain ... almost as large as second and third place holders China (.cn) and Germany (.de) combined".
On 3 March 2023, Meta sued Freenom for cybersquatting and trademark infringement, leading to a halt in new domain registrations, and in November 2023, ICANN terminated Freenom's registrar accreditation due to unresolved breaches. By February 2024, Freenom settled the lawsuit with Meta, announced its exit from the domain business, and by March 2024, 99% of Freenom domains became inaccessible, significantly affecting Cloudflare's hosted domains.
The nationals of Tokelau are called Tokelauan people, and the major ethnic group is Polynesian; it has no recorded minority groups. About 84% of inhabitants are of wholly or partly Tokelauan ethnicity; people of Samoans ethnicity make up 6.7% of the population, and Tuvaluans 2.8%. The main languagespoken by over 90% of inhabitantsis Tokelauan, but almost 60% also speak English.
The less than 1,500 Polynesian inhabitants live in three villages. Their isolation and lack of resources greatly limits economic development and confines agriculture to the subsistence level. The very limited natural resources and overcrowding are contributing to emigration to New Zealand and Samoa. In the 2013 New Zealand census, more than 7,000 people identified as Tokelauan, almost five times as many as live in Tokelau itself. Depletion of tuna has made fishing for food more difficult.
A significant proportion (44.9% in 2016) of the population were born overseas, mostly in Samoa (15.3% of total population) and New Zealand (11.5%).
While slightly more females than males live on Atafu and Fakaofo, males make up 57% of Nukunonu residents.Tokelau Census of Population and Dwellings, Table 1.3.1. Only 9% of Tokelauans aged 40 or more have never been married.Tokelau Census of
Population and Dwellings, Table 1.5. One-quarter of the population were born overseas; almost all the rest live on the same atoll they were born on.Tokelau Census of Population and Dwellings, Table 3.2. Most households own five or more pigs.Tokelau Census of Population and Dwellings, Table 6.13.
Despite its low income, Tokelau has a life expectancy of 69 years, comparable with other Oceania islands.
! width="50"
In 2016, 50.4% of responents belonged to Congregational Christian Church, 38.7% were Catholic Church, 5.9% were Presbyterianism, 4.2% were other Christian and 0.8% were unspecified. Majority of resident population of Atafu atoll (78.3%) and Fakaofo (62.7%) identified as Congregational Christians. While the majority of residents in Nukunonu (81.8%) identified as Roman Catholic.
Many Tokelauan youth travel to New Zealand to further their education, with students returning home and then heading off for another year of study.
In October 2010, table tennis became "the first sport in Tokelau to be granted membership at a Continental or World level", when the Tokelau Table Tennis Association was formally established and became the 23rd member of the Oceania Table Tennis Federation. "Tokelau, a Speck in the Ocean but an Important New Member for Oceania", International Table Tennis Federation, 7 October 2010 Tokelau is also a member of United World Wrestling.
Tokelau was due to take part, for the first time, in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, in Delhi, "Sport: Our Quest for Gold", Islands Business but, for unknown reasons, ultimately did not do so., website of the 2010 Commonwealth Games In 2018, Tokelau was noted to be ineligible for the Commonwealth Games until it became affiliated to at least five international sport federations.
Tokelau has a National Sports Federation, and a significant sporting event is the Tokelau Games, which are held yearly. When they are held, "all of Tokelau virtually stands still", as "in excess of 50% of the population take part and all work and school stops at the time". The 2010 Games included competitions in rugby sevens, netball and kilikiti, alongside "a cultural evening ... where each atoll showcases their traditional songs and dances".
Netball is thought to have been introduced to Tokelau by the British, but became more popular when New Zealand's government took over the territory. The sport is often played during inter-island sport competitions, alongside other sports like rugby league and volleyball.
In Tokelau, there are two levels to the football league. From Fale, Fakaofo, two of the best clubs are Hakava Club and Matalele Club. "Tokelau", Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, 29 July 2010.
In 2019, Tokelau agreed to connect to Southern Cross Cable's 60 Tbps NEXT subsea cable stretching between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States In September 2021, the island was connected to the new cable and services were launched in July 2022, granting it access to a network of Terabit Ethernet telecommunications service to datacenters around the world.
Tokelau has the international calling code of 690, and has had five-digit telephone numbers from November 2015 (the existing four-digit numbers were prefixed by the digit "2").
Tokelau administers the .tk country code top-level domain.
Ships load and unload cargo by motoring up to the down-wind (leeward) side of the islet where the people live and maintaining station, by intermittent use of engines, close to the reef edge so that a landing barge can be motored out to transfer cargo to or from the shore. On returning to shore, the barge negotiates a narrow channel through the reef to the beach. Usually this landing is subject to ocean swell and beaching requires considerable skill and, often, coral abrasions to bodies. When bad weather prevents the barge making the trip, the ship stands off to wait for suitable weather or goes off to one of the other atolls to attempt to load or unload its passengers or cargo, or both.
There is no airport in Tokelau, so boats are the main means of travel and transport. Some and amphibious aircraft are able to land in the island's lagoons. An airstrip was considered by the New Zealand Government in 2010. In 2016, plans to link the atolls with Samoa by helicopter had to be abandoned because of high costs, leading in the following years to renewed calls to the New Zealand government for help with establishing air services. As of 2022, it was reported that the airport project – funded by the New Zealand government – was moving forward.
Defence and police
Consistent with the principles of partnership with New Zealand, defence is the responsibility of the New Zealand Government. The New Zealand Defence Force has responsibilities for protecting the territory as well as its offshore exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The total offshore EEZ is about . Vessels of the Royal New Zealand Navy are employed for this task including its s. Tokelau has its own customs regulations. Tokelau Customs Regulations 1991
Geography
Tokelau includes three atolls in the South Pacific Ocean between longitudes 171° W and 173° W and between latitudes 8° S and 10° S, about midway between Hawaii and New Zealand. From Atafu in the north to Fakaofo in the south, Tokelau extends for less than . The atolls lie about north of Samoa. The atolls are Atafu and Nukunonu, both in an island group once called the Duke of Clarence Group, and Fakaofo, once Bowditch Island. Their combined land area is . The atolls each have a number of coral islands, where the villages are situated. The highest point of Tokelau is just above sea level. There are no ports or harbours for large vessels, however, all three atolls have a jetty to and from which supplies and passengers are shipped. Tokelau lies in the Pacific tropical cyclone belt. A fourth island that is culturally, historically, and geographically, but not politically, a part of the Tokelau Islands is Swains Island (Olohega), under United States control since about 1900 and administered as a part of American Samoa since 1925.United States Code, Title 48, section 1662: 4 March 1925, ch. 563, 43 Stat. 1357 as referred to in Tokelau: A history of Government – The constitutional history and legal development of Tokelau; Compiled and recorded for the Tokelau Law Team by Tony Angelo and Talei Pasikale, 2008
+Geographical of Tokelau's atolls
!Atoll
!Coordinates Atafu Nukunonu Fakaofo
Environment
Tokelau is located in the Western Polynesian tropical moist forests ecoregion. Most of the original vegetation has been replaced by coconut plantations, some of which have been abandoned and became scrubby forests. The atolls of Tokelau provide habitat for 38 indigenous plant species, over 150 insect species and 10 land crab species. One of the greatest threats to biodiversity is posed by introduced mammalian predators such as the Polynesian Rat.
Economy
Tokelau's economy is among the smallest globally, primarily characterized by subsistence agriculture and fishing.Foster, S. "Tokelau." Encyclopedia Britannica
/ref> The residents cultivate crops such as coconuts (for copra), taro, breadfruit, papayas, bananas, and figs, and raise livestock including pigs and poultry. Fishing, particularly for local consumption, plays a vital role in their sustenance.
Economic overview
The territory's economic activities are limited, with revenues stemming from the sale of copra, postage stamps, souvenir coins, handicrafts, and remittances from Tokelauans residing in New Zealand. These remittances are significant, given that approximately 80% of Tokelauans live abroad.
Solar power
The goal of 100% renewable electricity was met on 7 November 2012, according to the Foreign Affairs Minister of New Zealand, Murray McCully. Previously electricity was generated using diesel generators and was only available about 16 hours/day.
Internet domain name
Tokelau has increased its GDP by more than 10% through registrations of under its top-level domain, .tk. Registrations can be either free, in which case the user owns only usage rights and not the domain itself, or paid, which grants full rights. Free domains are pointed to Tokelau , which redirects the domain via HTML frames to a specified address or to a specified A record or NS record, and the redirection of up to 250 email addresses to an external address (not at a .tk domain).
Demographics
According to the 2016 Tokelau Census, Tokelau has a de jure usually resident population of 1,499 people. The census shows a 6.2% increase in the de jure usually resident population between 2011 and 2016.
Structure of the population
Total 652 633 1 285 100 0–4 74 65 139 10.82 5–9 75 75 150 11.67 10–14 72 65 137 10.66 15–19 63 53 116 9.03 20–24 54 39 93 7.24 25–29 39 47 86 6.69 30–34 36 43 79 6.15 35–39 35 27 62 4.82 40–44 35 40 75 5.84 45–49 41 40 81 6.30 50–54 27 36 63 4.90 55–59 33 20 53 4.12 60–64 31 23 54 4.20 65–69 14 23 37 2.88 70–74 14 11 25 1.95 75+ 9 26 35 2.72 Age group
! width="80pt" Male
! width="80" Female
! width="80" Total
! width="50" Percent 0–14 221 205 426 33.15 15–64 394 368 762 59.30 65+ 37 60 97 7.55 Total 813 834 1 647 100 0–4 80 81 161 9.78 5–9 86 87 173 10.50 10–14 106 81 187 11.35 15–19 68 72 140 8.50 20–24 74 65 139 8.44 25–29 58 60 118 7.16 30–34 42 60 102 6.19 35–39 53 54 107 6.50 40–44 41 47 88 5.34 45–49 53 38 91 5.53 50–54 42 56 98 5.95 55–59 28 45 73 4.43 60–64 32 28 60 3.64 65–69 25 19 44 2.67 70–74 11 14 25 1.52 75–79 10 11 21 1.28 80–84 2 11 13 0.79 85–89 2 4 6 0.36 90+ 0 1 1 0.06 0–14 272 249 521 31.63 15–64 491 525 1 016 61.69 65+ 50 60 110 6.68
Religion
Tokelau is predominantly Christian with majority belonging to either Congregational Christian Church (Ekalehia Fakalapotopotoga Kelihiano Tokelau) or Roman Catholic.
Culture
Healthcare and education
Each atoll has a school and hospital. The health services have a Director of Health in Apia and a Chief Clinical Advisor who moves from atoll to atoll as required to assist the doctors attached to each hospital. In 2007, there was not always a doctor on each island and were appointed to fill the gaps.
Sport
Due to its small size, Tokelau is unaffiliated to most international sports organisations, and rarely takes part in international events. The only significant international competition Tokelau takes part in is the Pacific Games. Tokelau won its first-ever gold medals at the 2007 Pacific Games in Apia, winning a total of five medals (three gold, a silver and a bronze), all in lawn bowls, and finishing 12th (out of 22) on the overall medal table. This included two gold medals for Violina Linda Pedro (in the women's pairs and the women's singles), making her Tokelau's most successful individual athlete to date. Medals at the 2007 Pacific Games, official website
Peter McQuarrie (2025). 9781877449413, Publications Committee of MacMillan Browne Centre for Pacific Studies. ISBN 9781877449413
Telecommunications
Tokelau has a radio telephone service between the islands and to Samoa. In 1997, a government-regulated telephone service (TeleTok) with three satellite earth stations was established, making Tokelau the last place in the world connected via phone. Each atoll has a radio-broadcast station that broadcasts shipping and weather reports and every household has a radio or access to one. News is disseminated through the government newsletter Te Vakai.
Transportation
Tokelau is served by the MV Mataliki, delivered new in 2016 as a replacement of the smaller MV Tokelau and jointly managed by the Tokelau Transport Department and the company Transport and Marine. The vessel, which has a capacity of 60 passengers on international cruises and 120 for transport between the atolls of Tokelau, operates fortnightly between Tokelau and Apia, with the trip taking a little over a day. A dedicated cargo vessel, the MV Kalopaga, entered service in 2018 and replaced chartered freight vessels.
See also
Notes
Further reading
(1996). 9781869401535, Auckland University Press. ISBN 9781869401535
(2025). 9781869403980, Auckland University Press. ISBN 9781869403980
External links
Categories: 1948 Establishments In Oceania, Dependent Territories Of New Zealand, Dependent Territories In Polynesia, Dependent Territories In Oceania, Atolls Of New Zealand, British Western Pacific Territories, Countries And Territories Where English Is An Official Language, Island Countries, States And Territories Established In 1948
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