Rangiroa and Tuamotu Archipelago. Tourism, Information and Education. It took almost three centuries for famous explorers from all over the world to chart the 78 atolls of which the archipelago consists. The first explorer to arrive in this part of the world was Magellan, who reported the existence of the atoll of Puka Puka back in 1521. It was only in 1835 that the last two islands, Kauehi and Taiaro, were discovered by Captain Fitz Roy. In 1823, the Russian hydrographer A.J. Krusenstern published his "Atlas de l'Oc an Pacifique", containing the first maps of the Pacific Ocean to be published; this atlas included detailed maps of 20 of the Tuamotu atolls drawn up by the author's compatriot Thadeus Von Bellingshausen and by those who had undertaken previous scientific expeditions to this part of the world. In 1845, the American Commodore Charles Wilkes produced the first complete map of the Tuamotu archipelago.
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