Nuku Hiva, volcanic island of the northwestern Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, in the central South Pacific Ocean. Nuku Hiva is the Marquesas’ principal island. It is also widely regarded as the most beautiful of the Marquesas. Its rugged wooded terrain rises to Mount Tekao (3,888 feet [1,185 metres]) and is drained by small streams. There is no coastal plain or fringing coral reef.
The island has remains of numerous Polynesian stone house foundations, fortifications, and temples. First sighted by the French navigator Étienne Marchand in 1791, the island was named Madison Island by a U.S. naval officer, David Porter, who claimed it for the United States in 1813. France, however, annexed the Marquesas in 1842 and built a fort on the island. Nuku Hiva had a small sandalwood trade in the early 19th century and subsequently became a favoured stopping place for whalers. The narrow valleys are fertile and, under a warm and humid climate, yield copra and fruit for export. Hakapehi (Tai-o-hae), on the south coast, the main harbour and port, is the administrative seat for the Marquesas. Another harbour, Anaho Bay, is on the north coast. American writer Herman Melville visited the region in the 1840s, and Nuku Hiva was the setting for his first novel, Typee (1846). Area 131 square miles (339 square km). Pop. (2002) 2,652.