WALLIS AND FUTUNA

officially Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands, French Territoire de Wallis et Futuna self-governing French overseas territory located about 250 miles (400 km) west of Western Samoa, and 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Vanua Levu, Fiji, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of Uvea Island (Wallis Island) and the islands of Futuna and Alofi (known together as the Hoorn , or Futuna, Islands) 125 miles (200 km) to the southwest. The capital is Mata-Utu on Uvea. Area 106 square miles (274 square km). Pop. (1995 est.) 14,700. French Territoire de Wallis et Futuna, self-governing overseas territory of France consisting of two island groups in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory is a part of western Polynesia. It includes Wallis (Uvea) Island and the islands of Futuna and Alofi (together known as the Horne, or Futuna, Islands), with a total land area of 106 square miles (274 square kilometres). The capital is Mata-Utu, on Uvea. The island of Wallis takes its European name from its 18th-century British discoverer, Captain Samuel Wallis, but the indigenous name, Uvea, has a much greater antiquity. Neither Uvea nor Futuna should be confused with islands of the same or similar names elsewhere. Uvea is sometimes confused with Ouva in the Loyalty Islands near New Caledonia. Futuna has a namesake among the islands of the nation of Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides), and, indeed, folklore suggests that both the namesake and Sikaiana Island in the Solomon Islands were settled from Futuna in the pre-European era. Additional reading Information on various topics can be found in general sources cited in the beginning section of this bibliography, as well as in such periodicals as The Pacific Guide (annual), published in England, mostly for business travelers in the area; and The Contemporary Pacific (semiannual), which began publication in 1989, from the University of Hawaii Press; as well as in relevant chapters of such surveys as Otis W. Freeman, Geography of the Pacific (1951); and Emiliana Afeaki et al., Politics in Polynesia (1983). History The Dutch explorers Jakob Le Maire and Willem Corneliszoon Schouten sighted Futuna in 1616 during the early voyages of exploration in the Pacific. A lapse of 151 years occurred before Captain Samuel Wallis discovered Uvea in 1767. There was another lapse of more than 50 years before the whaling industry reached the area, in the 1820s, and Europeans began to make regular calls at both islands. French Marist priests arrived as missionaries in the 1830s. They achieved considerable success within a decade and have remained an important force in the politics of the island group. Protestants never mounted a serious challenge, and the inhabitants of the islands were spared the religious conflicts that were common elsewhere in the Pacific. As early as the 1840s, the islanders petitioned for French protection, but France was slow to respond; Wallis became a French protectorate in 1887, and Futuna in the following year. Over the next five decades, the French administration became well-entrenched and ruled the colony with a relatively firm hand. In 1942, in its preparations for the Japanese invasion of the American central Pacific, the United States based 6,000 troops on Uvea, and within a short time they built a system of roads, two landing strips, and anchoring facilities in the lagoon. These developments still form the basis of the island's infrastructure. A permanent change in the colony's status occurred in 1959 when the islanders elected to become an overseas territory of France. In subsequent elections, the people of Wallis and Futuna have demonstrated conservatism, opposing Socialist governments in France and any proposal for a change in their dependent status. Robert C. Kiste