| Mehetia | |
| Native Name: | Mehetiʻa |
| Native Name Link: | Tahitian language |
| Location: | Pacific Ocean |
| Archipelago: | Society Islands |
| Total Islands: | 1 |
| Major Islands: | Mehetia |
| Area Km2: | 2.3 |
| Highest Mount: | Mont Fareura |
| Elevation M: | 435 |
| Country: | France |
| Country Admin Divisions Title: | Overseas collectivity |
| Country Admin Divisions: | French Polynesia |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 1: | Administrative subdivision |
| Country Admin Divisions 1: | Windward Islands |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 2: | Commune |
| Country Admin Divisions 2: | Taiarapu-Est |
| Population: | uninhabited |
| Mont Fareura | |
| Elevation M: | 435 |
| Prominence M: | 435 |
| Location: | Society Islands |
| Coordinates: | -17.8667°N -152°W |
| Type: | Stratovolcano |
| Last Eruption: | Unknown |
Mehetiʻa or Meʻetiʻa is a volcanic island in the Windward Islands, in the east of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is a very young active stratovolcano 110km (70miles) east of the Taiarapu Peninsula of Tahiti. It belongs to the Teahitiʻa-Mehetia hotspot.[1]
The island has an area of 2.3km2 and its highest point is 435 metres (1,427 ft). The peak is a well-defined volcanic crater. In 1981 the island was the centre of earthquakes.[2] [3]
Tahitian oral tradition holds that navigators stopped at Mehitiʻa, which was regarded as sacred, on their long voyage to New Zealand.[4] This oral history correlates with geological evidence found in southern New Zealand which can be traced back to Mehitiʻa.[5]
The early Polynesian voyagers commonly gave Polynesian ancestral names and symbolism to new places.[6] The high point of Mehetia is Mount Hiurai (Hi’ura’i/Hikurangi)[7] The name Hikurangi in Aotearoa / New Zealand probably came from Mehetia[8] and the name Hi’ura’i probably has its origin in Siʻulagi (Siʻulangi) in Taʻu, Samoa.[9]
The first European sighting was by the Spanish expedition of Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 9 February 1606, that charted it as Decena (ten in Spanish).[10] Later on it was sighted by Samuel Wallis in HMS Dolphin 1767 and Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768.[11] It was also sighted by Spanish navigator Domingo de Boenechea on November 6, 1772, on ship Aguila.[11] He named this island San Cristóbal.
Mehetiʻa is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of Taiarapu-Est and of its easternmost commune associée Tautira. The island is uninhabited and does not have much vegetation but has a small coral reef on the underwater slopes.