Futuna is an island in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 belonging to the French overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer

Collectivité d'outre-mer

The French overseas collectivities , like the French regions are first-order administrative divisions of France. The COMs include some former French overseas territories and other French overseas entities with a particular status, all of which became COMs by constitutional reform on 28 March...

, or COM) of Wallis and Futuna

Wallis and Futuna

Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands , is a Polynesian French island territory in the South Pacific between Tuvalu to the northwest, Rotuma of Fiji to the west, the main part of Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast,...

. It is one of the Hoorn Islands

Hoorn Islands

The Hoorn Islands are one of the two island groups of which the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna is geographically composed. The aggregate area is 115 km², and the population 4873 .Geographically, there are two islands:*Futuna Island The Hoorn Islands (also Futuna Islands) are...

 or Îles Horne, nearby Alofi

Alofi Island

Alofi is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna...

 being the other. They are both a remnant of an old extinct volcano, now bordered with a fringing reef.

The island is famous as the place (where the cathedral of Poi now stands) where Pierre Chanel

Peter Chanel

Pierre Louis Marie Chanel, known in English as Saint Peter Chanel was a Catholic priest, missionary, and martyr.-Early years:Chanel was born in La Potière near Cuet in the area of Belley, Ain département, France....

 was martyred in 1841, becoming Polynesia's one and only Catholic saint.

Geography

The population is 4,871 (census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 of 2003), of which 2,991 reside in Alo

Alo (Wallis and Futuna)

Alo is one of three official chiefdoms of the French territory of Wallis and Futuna in Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean.-Geography:...

 and 1,880 in Sigave

Sigave

Sigavé is one of the three official chiefdoms of the French territory of Wallis and Futuna in Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean.-Geography:...

. Futuna's highest point is Mont Puke with 524 m, and the island has an area of 83 km², with 53 km² in Sigave and 30 km² in Alo (Alo).

History

Futuna and Alofi were put on the European maps by Willem Schouten

Willem Schouten

Willem Cornelisz Schouten was a Dutch navigator for the Dutch East India Company. He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean.- Biography :Willem Cornelisz Schouten was born in c...

 and Jacob Le Maire

Jacob Le Maire

Jacob Le Maire was a Dutch mariner who circumnavigated the earth in 1615-16. The strait between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados was named the Le Maire Strait in his honor, though not without controversy...

 during their famous circumnavigation of the globe with the ship the Eendracht in 1616. After having come from Niuafoou

Niuafo'ou

Niuafoou is the most northerly island in the kingdom of Tonga. It is a volcanic rim island of 15 km² and with a population of 650 in 2006.-Geography:...

, they suddenly changed their course from west to northwest and so stumbled on this island pair. They called it Hoorn Eylanden, after the city of Hoorn

Hoorn

-Cities :* Purmerend * Enkhuizen * Alkmaar * Amsterdam * Lelystad * Den Helder * Leeuwarden -Towns :* Edam...

, Schouten's birthplace, which became Horne in both French and English. Wise from their earlier experiences, they started with a show of force to the natives who approached them, which resulted in a peaceful barter with coconuts, yams and hogs from one side and iron nails, beads and knives from the other. They found a beautiful bay, a natural harbour along the southwest coast of Futuna, which they called after the ship the Eendrachts baai (Unity bay). This must be the Anse de Sigave near Leava of today. They went ashore on to get water and met the king, who told his subjects that their guests were not to be disturbed by petty thieving. In this amiable way the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 were able to replenish their stocks. A few days later the king of the other island, Alofi, came to visit with 300 men. The two kings were extremely courteous to each other, and a big feast was prepared. A kava

Kava

Kava or kava-kava is a crop of the western Pacific....

 ceremony and umu

Earth oven

An earth oven or cooking pit is one of the most simple and long-used cooking structures . At its simplest, an earth oven is simply a pit in the ground used to trap heat and bake, smoke, or steam food...

 were organised. Schouten and LeMaire were probably the first Europeans ever to witness these, and the description they gave still rings familiar tones nowadays.

Not having been bothered by thieving and hostilities, Schouten and LeMaire had the opportunity to study Futuna a little bit more careful than the Niua

Niuatoputapu

For the 2009 tsunami, see the main article: 2009 Samoa tsunami.Niuatoputapu is an island in the island nation of Tonga, Pacific Ocean. Its name means sacred island. Older European names for the island are Traitors island or Keppel island.Niuatoputapu is located in the north of the country,...

 islands. (They did not go to Alofi). But their description of the islanders is not flattering. Although they praise the men for being well proportioned, the women they found ugly, ill-shaped with breasts hanging down to their bellies as empty satchels. They all went naked and copulated in public, even in front of their revered king.

Culture

Two kings, elected with a lot of envy from the local nobility every few years, rule the population under the benevolent eye of the French. They are the king of Sigave, the western province, and the king of Alo, the eastern province including Alofi. Except for Poi all villages are along the southwest coast, and they are from west to east: Toloke, Fiua, Vaisei, Nuku, and Leava (capital with the wharf) in Sigave, and Taoa, Malae, Ono, Kolia and Vele (at the airstrip) in Alo.

As on Uvea

Wallis Island

Wallis is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna....

, all Futunans are deeply religious Catholic and the number of churches, chapels and oratories is overwhelming. Although the island is closer to Tonga

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...

 and farther from Sāmoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

 than Uvea, the vernacular and culture are more Sāmoan. The languages spoken are Futunan and French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

.