Editing Atafu (section)

==History==
[[File:Tokelau Atafu vaka canoe. 20070715.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A traditional canoe or vaka]]
It is likely that [[Polynesians]] visited the island in ancient times, but they may not have settled there. The European discovery of the atoll came on 21 June 1765; it was made by [[John Byron]], of {{HMS|Dolphin|1751|6}}. Byron found no one living on the island at that time.<ref name="Council Staff"/> He named the island "Duke of York's island".<ref>*{{cite book | last = Quanchi | first = Max| year = 2005 | title = Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands | publisher = The Scarecrow Press | isbn = 0810853957}}</ref> According to Tokelauan oral tradition, Atafu was established by a man named Tonuia and his wife named Lagimaina, along with their seven children.<ref>[https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-MacToke-t1-body-d1-d3-d2-d3.html Ethnology of the Tokelau Islands], Gordon MacGregor, 1937</ref>

In 1859, the U.S. Guano Company claimed Duke of York along with a number of other Tokelauan atolls under the U.S. [[Guano Islands Act]]. The U.S. State Department bonded the claim in 1860. However, many of these islands were not worked by the company and in 1889 they were claimed by Great Britain as part of the [[Union Islands]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Great Guano Rush: Entrepreneurs and American Overseas Expansion |year=1994 |last=Skaggs |first=Jimmy M. |isbn=9780312103163 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |pages=135–136, 236}}</ref> In 1916, the Union Islands were annexed to the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]] colony and then, in 1925, reassigned to the [[Dominion of New Zealand]] under the administration of [[Territory of Western Samoa]].<ref>{{cite report|title=The Sovereignty of Guano Islands in the Pacific Ocean|last=Rogers|first=E.S.|date=January 9, 1933|publisher=Department of State, Office of the Legal Advisor|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b3266546-ba11-41ea-b0ad-df1b40106580/content |pages=226–228}}</ref> In 1979, as part of the [[Treaty of Tokehega]], the U.S. formally renounced its prior claim on Atafu and the other Tokelauan islands now under New Zealand sovereignty, and a [[maritime boundary]] between Tokelau and [[American Samoa]] was established.

On 26 August 2007, [[Ralph Tuijn]], who was attempting to row a boat from South America to Australia, crash-landed on Atafu.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zeemanoceanchallenge.com/news.php?id=1903&language=EN |title=Zeeman Ocean Challenge |access-date=1 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208094633/http://www.zeemanoceanchallenge.com/news.php?id=1903&language=EN |archive-date=8 February 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On 26 November 2010, three teenage boys from Atafu were rescued after having drifted {{convert|1300|km|mi|-2|abbr=on}} for 50 days in the Pacific.<ref name="Stuff.co.nz_4396549">{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4396549/Boozy-teens-midnight-trip-goes-1300km-astray |title=Boozy teens' midnight trip goes 1300km astray |author=Field, Michael |date=27 November 2010 |work=[[The Dominion Post (Wellington)|The Dominion Post]] |accessdate=17 September 2011}}</ref><ref name=rnzi>{{cite news|title=Joy in Tokelau over rescue of missing teenagers
 |url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=57266|work=[[Radio New Zealand International]] |date=27 November 2010 |accessdate=2010-11-27}}</ref>