Wallis and Futuna Islands

Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands, is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific between Tuvalu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, the New Zealand territory of Tokelau and the Phoenix Islands (Kiribati). Wallis and Futuna is not part of French Polynesia, nor even contiguous with it, as the former are located at the very opposite western end of Polynesia.

Its land area is 142.42 km with a population of about 12,000.The territory is made up of three main volcanic tropical islands along with a number of tiny islets, and is split into two island groups that lie about 260 km apart, namely Wallis Islands (Uvea) in the northeast, and Hoorn Islands (also called the Futuna Islands) in the southwest, including Futuna Island proper and the mostly uninhabited Alofi Island.

Polynesians settled the islands that would later be called Wallis and Futuna around the year 1000. French were the first Europeans to settle in the territory. By 1888, a French protectorate of Wallis and Futuna Islands was established. In 1917, the protectorate was turned into Frence Colony, which was still under the authority of the Colony of New Caledonia. In 1959, the inhabitants of the islands voted to become a French overseas territory, effective in 1961, thus ending their subordination to New Caledonia.