Hoorn Islands

Hoorn Islands
Hoorn Islands (Futuna and Alofi)
with Futuna Island in the northwest

The Hoorn Islands (also Futuna Islands) are one of the two island groups of which the French overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer, or COM) of Wallis and Futuna is geographically composed. The aggregate area is 115 km², and the population 4,873 (census of 2003).

History

The archipelago was named by the Dutch navigators Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, first Europeans to visit the islands in 1616. It was named after the Dutch city of Hoorn, from which the expedition started.

Geography

Geographically, there are two islands:

Administratively, the Hoorn Islands encompass two of the three royal chiefdoms of Wallis and Futuna:

See also

References

    Coordinates: 14°16′57″S 178°08′59″W / 14.28250°S 178.14972°W / -14.28250; -178.14972

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/2/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.