* The Minerva Reefs (Tongan: Ongo Teleki), briefly de facto independent in 1972 as the Republic of Minerva, are a group of two submerged atolls located in the Pacific Ocean south of Fiji and Tonga.
* Minerva Reef has for some time been at the centre of a territorial dispute between Tonga and Fiji.
* The Republic of Minerva was a micronation consisting of the Minerva Reefs. It was one of the few modern attempts at creating a sovereign micronation on the reclaimed land of an artificial island in 1972
* In 1982, a group of Americans led again by Morris C. “Bud” Davis tried to occupy the reefs, but were forced off by Tongan troops after three weeks. In recent years several groups have allegedly sought to re-establish Minerva. No known claimant group since 1982 has made any attempt to take possession of the Minerva Reefs.
* The North Reef diameter is about 5.6 km (3.5 mi), South Reef diameter of about 4.8 km (3.0 mi). Terrain: two (atolls) on dormant volcanic seamounts.
Both Minerva Reefs are about 435 km (270 mi) southwest of the Tongatapu Group. The atolls are on a common submarine platform from 549 to 1097 metres (1800 to 3600 feet) below the surface of the sea.
* The reefs were named after the whaleship Minerva, wrecked on what became known as South Minerva after setting out from Sydney in 1829.
* Minerva Reef is a known graveyard of vessels with many other ships destined to be wrecked on its treacherous coral banks including the Strathcona, which was sailing north soon after completion in Auckland in 1914.
* In both cases involving the Minerva and Strathcona most of the crew saved themselves in whaleboats or rafts and reached the Lau Islands in Fiji. Of some other ships, however, no survivors are known.
