The island was called "Sagitario" in 1606 by Pedro Fernandes de Queirós who led a Spanish expedition to Terra Australis from Peru.

[3] Makatea is one of three important Pacific raised coral islands that had large phosphate deposits, the other two being Nauru and Banaba.

[4] Phosphate mining drew hundreds of people to Makatea in the years before the French Centre d'Experimentation du Pacifique (CEP) started nuclear experiments.

For over two decades or even longer, Makatea was a very active little island because of the ships arriving to load phosphate and to bring supplies and food to the many workers and their families that lived there.

One of the deepest, called "the pothole", located under the windmill, is 80 metres (260 ft) deep and reaches the water table.

The once active village where the miners lived had a school, bakery, first-aid medical centre, and all the things needed to make life comfortable.

In early 2022, the French Polynesian government was reported to have agreed to a further study of Makatea atoll in response to an application by a New Zealand company seeking to resume phosphate mining.

[5] In February 1956 the United States submarine Caiman en route from Tahiti to Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas encountered the MV Nasarada, under Capt Oto Orbeck, in distress several miles from Makatea at about 05:00hrs.