the maritime boundary between the Cook Islands and American Samoa, the United States signed the Cook Islands – United States Maritime Boundary Treaty acknowledging that Pukapuka was under Cook Islands' sovereignty. Economy Although the island has a well-maintained airstrip, flights from Rarotonga are very infrequent. The five-hour flight from Rarotonga via Air Rarotonga now operates when there is a Government charter once every six weeks or so. The island is closer to Samoa than to the rest of the Cook Islands and transport via Samoa is becoming a preferred option for Pukapukans visiting in organised groups (tele parties) from New Zealand and Australia. Culture Pukapuka has its own language and customs that are different from those of the rest of the Cook Islands. The entire population is said to be descended from seventeen men, two women and an unknown number of children who survived a catastrophic storm and tsunami in the 17th century. A new estimate of the date of the calamity based on oral histories suggests that it happened about 1590. Following blackbirding raids, by 1870 the population of the atoll was reduced to 340 people. The island had a population of 664 at the 2001 census, but since 2005 the population has declined to less than 500. The American writer Robert Dean Frisbie settled on Pukapuka in 1924, married a native woman, and raised his family on the island. He wrote several books about his experiences on Pukapuka and surrounding islands. He said at the time he was looking for a place beyond the reach of "the faintest echo from the noisy clamour of the civilised world". Frisbee’s daughter Johnny and her return to Pukapuka is featured in the 2021 documentary The Island in Me. See also Pukapukan language List of Guano Island claims List of reduplicated place names References External links Cook Islands site Images of damage caused by Cyclone Percy Atolls of the Cook Islands Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Former regions and territories of the United States Cook Islands–United States relations Former disputed islands Northern Cook Islands