Nassau Island

Nassau Island, coral formation of the Cook Islands, a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean. Nassau is the only island of the northern Cooks that is not an atoll and is oval in shape. The island is surrounded by a fringing reef and has sand dunes 35 feet (11 metres) high. It is located some 56 miles (90 km) southeast of Pukapuka Atoll, which historically claimed ownership of Nassau and with which it remained closely associated.

Nassau Island is thought to have been uninhabited at the time of its first European sighting, which was likely made in 1803 by the French navigator Louis Coutance of the Adèle. In 1835 it received its name from an American whaler whose ship was named Nassau. The island was annexed to Britain in 1892. It remained uninhabited until the 1900s, when a Samoan firm transported labourers from Kiribati to work in the copra industry. It was bought from the Cook Islands administration in 1951 by the local government of Pukapuka, which administers Nassau. Solar power is the island’s primary energy source. Taro, coconut, and fruits are grown, and copra is exported. Fishing takes place off the reef. Area 0.5 square mile (1.3 square km). Pop. (2006) 75; (2011) 73.