Rakahanga and
Manihiki are two different islands but the culture is one. They are two islands 25 miles apart from each other and are located in the South Pacific. The island of Rakahanga was discovered in the year 1521 by
Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese voyager sailing under Spain under the command of Pedro Fernandes. The two islands were divided into different groups, which were ruled by other rulers. The people of Manihiki and Rakahanga were led by one ruler, a chief, in which he was separated from his community giving up his ritual and economic powers. The people of the two islands organized into “moieties” (one senior and one junior), which both were divided to create four sub-moieties. Twenty-five households were established. The Polynesians not only lived on the islands but also Rarotonga. They migrated to other places like New Zealand and Australia leaving 400 people on the Rakahanga and Manihiki islands. As years went by, technology advanced to another level in which high frequency radios have been invented and used for inter-island communication between the island of Rakahanga for medical and educational purposes. Telecom Cook Islands holds the rights of the medical and educational frequencies linked to the Cook Islands for outer-island communication. Telecom Cook Islands is the sole provider of telephone services in the Cook Islands. The 13 inhabited islands except Rakahanga have a satellite earth station, which enables communication on the island by telephone, email, and Internet. Rakahanga consumes telephone and facsimile services that can be possible by the High Frequency radio link. The Cook Island black pearl industry is centred in Manihiki. ==The language==