Futuna (islands)

The first Europeans to see the archipelago - Jacob Lehmer and Willem Schauten - named it Horn in honor of their hometown. It is generally accepted that the island got its local name in honor of the Futu tree growing on the coast of Futuna Island ^[3] . In the XIX century, islands on some maps were designated under the name Allofatu ^[3] .

The Futuna (Horn) group consists of two islands: Futuna and Alofi . They are separated by a strait up to 1.7 km wide. Futuna Island is sometimes called Eastern Futuna, so as not to confuse it with Western Futuna from the group of New Hebrides islands belonging to Vanuatu .

Futuna Square is 83 km² ^[4] , Alofi is 32 km² ^[5] . These are high volcanic islands. The highest points are Mount Puke 524 m on Futuna and Mount Kolofau 417 m on Alofi. The islands have undergone a recent rise and have a very rugged topography. With the exception of a few small coastal plains, the shores of these islands are steep. The relief of Futuna Island is represented by a number of low plateaus, gradually rising to Mount Puke, separated by small plains. Extreme points about. Futuna: northern - metro Fatua; eastern - m. Vele; southern - the coast at the airport of Vele; western - the coast near the village of Toloke. On Alofi, Mount Kolofau is surrounded by a plateau 150–200 m high. The extreme points of about. Alofi: north - the coast of Wahua Wawe; eastern - m. Sauma; southern - m. Afaga; Western - M. Mafa'a. The Horn Islands are geologically young, so reefs are located off the coast (about 50 m) and do not form a lagoon. Futuna Island has an apron reef. Due to the reef rise, it turned out to be shallow and periodically appears on the surface of the water, which prevents its growth ^[6] . On Alofi, the entire reef apron does not cover the island and forms a small lagoon with a maximum depth of 3 m near the village of Alofitai ^[7] .

The islands are not far from the Fijian fault zone (one of the most active in the tectonic plan, located between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates), and due to the existence of the fault passing through Futuna and Alofi (some researchers distinguish Futuna tectonic microplate here ^[8] ) on these the islands regularly experience external earthquakes (the last, with an intensity of 6.5 on the Richter scale , occurred on March 13, 1993 ).

The formation of the Horn Islands began in the Pliocene (the formation of three ancient volcanoes). Their volcanic activity ceased in the Pleistocene . After the cessation of volcanism, the islands experienced a significant rise (up to 500 m) ^[9] . Local residents have their own legend about the emergence of the island:

• Once Maui Alonga, a god who worked only under the auspices of the night, learned from his servant Te-Ailo-ito that there are many schools of fish in the depths of the ocean, which means there is a group of small islands. That very evening, God sailed into the sea in his canoe and abandoned his net. He raised one island, and as soon as it appeared above the surface of the ocean, he began to jump on it to make it flat. So he caught and leveled several islands. The beginning of dawn. Maui abandoned his net for the last time. Having caught another island, he managed to jump on it only a few times. Therefore, Futuna Island turned out so uneven. This myth is similar to other myths about the origin of the islands of Oceania.

They explained earthquakes on the islands as follows: the god Mafu-Isse-Fulu or Mafu-ike-Fulu sleeps at great depths beneath the island. When he turns over from side to side in a dream, an earthquake occurs.

Futuna has about 50 short rivers, the largest of which are Vainifao, Gutuvai, Vai Lasi and Leava. The coast is swampy. Rivers dry from April to October and then suddenly fill up with water during the rainy season. Alofi has no permanent watercourses.

The early history of the Horn Islands is traditionally divided into three periods: Kele Uli, Kele Mea and Kele Ula. Lapite culture ceramics are associated with the first period, when the settlements were located mainly on the coast of the islands. During the period of Kele Mea, the Futunans began to build houses inside the island and fortified settlements. Alofi Island was also inhabited during this period. The period of Kele Ula is associated with an oral tradition. The Futunans have already contacted the inhabitants of the islands of Samoa and Tonga . The tradition of the arrival of a Chinese ship, whose crew left numerous descendants ^{[10], has also} survived.

Europeans first saw these islands on April 28, 1616 . Near the islands of Futuna and Alofi, Dutch sailors Jacob Lemer and Willem Schouten sailed on the Eendracht ship. They named the islands of Horn ( Dutch Hoorn ), after the city they came from. The next time these islands were visited only on May 11, 1768 by Louis Bougainville , however, the isolation of the inhabitants was broken only after 50 years by whalers.

The first Europeans who settled here from November 8, 1837 were the French missionaries of the Society of Mary ( French Les Sœurs Missionnaires de la Société de Marie ). They converted the local population to Catholicism . The first missionary of Futuna Island, Pierre Marie Chanel ( French Pierre Marie Chanel ) was martyred on April 28, 1841 ^[11] and was canonized on June 12, 1954 (declared the Holy Patron of Oceania). The relics of St. Chanel were returned to the island of Futuna from France in 1976 ^[12] .

Administratively, the territory is divided into two territorial districts: Sigawa and Alo, which coincides with the traditional kingdoms of the islands.

According to the 2008 census, 4,257 people lived on the islands ^[13] . The largest settlement of the islands is Ono, where 667 people live. In total there are 15 settlements on the islands. Most of the population is represented by the people of Futuna (uvea). The main languages ​​are Futunan (East Futunan) and French . The main religion is Catholicism .