Teahupoʻo
human settlement
Teahupoʻo (Tahitian pronunciation: [te.a.hu.ˈpo.ʔo]) is a village on the southeastern coast of the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia, France, in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is known for the large, consistent surf that occurs off its shore, and resulting international surfing competitions.
Village
The village of Teahupoʻo has a population of roughly 1,500. The village has a single, one-lane road. The name Teahupoʻo loosely translates from Tahitian to English as "to sever the head" or "place of skulls", in reference to a battle that once took place in the village. The village's population has been significantly affected by radioactivity generated in a 1974 French test of a nuclear bomb.
Geography
Teahupoʻo has a reputation for surfing, partly due to its unique form. An extremely shallow coral reef, which ranges up to 20 inches (51 cm) beneath the water's surface, is responsible for a very hollow-breaking wave. The wave's unique shape, with an effect of almost breaking below sea level, is due to the shape of the reef beneath the wave. This is semi-circular, and drops down sharply, creating a 'below water' effect; the extreme angles in descent create an instant instability to the wave.
The public source identifies “Teahupoʻo” as human settlement. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Teahupoʻo, human and settlement.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1426729. Authority coordinates are -17.847, -149.267. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974.
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This entry incorporates text from “Teahupoʻo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.