Futuna (Wallis and Futuna)

Futuna (/fuːˈtuːnə/; French: [fy.ty.na]) is an 80 km² island with 5,000 people and max. elevation of 500 m in the Pacific Ocean, belonging to the French overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer, or COM) of Wallis and Futuna. It is one of the Hoorn Islands or Îles Horne, nearby Alofi 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 was martyred in 1841, becoming Polynesia's one and only Catholic saint. Futuna takes its name from an endonym derived from the local futu, fish-poison tree.

Geography

The population is 4,871 (census of 2003), of which 2,991 reside in Alo and 1,880 in Sigave. 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