Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north. Mangareva has a permanent population of 1,239 (2012) and the largest village on the island, Rikitea, is the chief town of the Gambier Islands. The island is approximately long and, at , it comprises about 56% of the land area of the whole Gambier group. Mangareva has a high central ridge which runs the length of the island. The highest point in the Gambiers is Mount Duff, on Mangareva, rising to along the island's south coast. The island has a large lagoon in diameter containing reefs whose fish and shellfish helped ancient islanders survive much more successfully than on nearby islands with no reefs. History Mangareva was first settled by Polynesians in the first millennium CE. While carbon dating has so far only dated settlements to 1160-1220, there is evidence from the Pitcairn Islands of trade with Mangareva from 1000 CE, and it is likely settlement dates to around 800 CE. The island was once heavily forested and supported a large population that traded with other islands via canoes. However, excessive logging by the islanders between the 10th and 15th centuries resulted in deforestation of the island, with disastrous results for both its environment and its economy (see Gambier Islands for more details). The first European to visit Mangareva was a British captain, James Wilson, who arrived in 1797 on the ship Duff. Wilson named the island group in honour of Admiral James Gambier, who had helped him to equip his vessel. Mangareva and its dependencies in the Gambier Islands were ruled by a line of kings – and, later, regents – until the French formally annexed the islands. King Maputeoa requested a French protectorate on 16 February 1844, but the French government never ratified it. On 4 February 1870, the Mangarevan government and its prince regent, Arone Teikatoara, formally withdrew the protectorate request and asked the French not to intervene in the kingdom's affairs. However, after Father Honoré Laval was removed to Tahiti, the native government changed its stance: On 30 November 1871, Prince Regent Arone and the French colonial authority in Tahiti signed an agreement reaffirming the islands’ protectorate status. The Gambier Islands were finally annexed on 21 February 1881 under Prince Regent