The Hoorn Islands (also Futuna Islands, French: Îles Horne) 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, who, in 1616, became the first Europeans to visit the islands. They named it after the Dutch city of Hoorn, from which their expedition had started. They had previously rounded and named Cape Horn on the same voyage; Schouten had been born in Hoorn.

Geography

Geographically, there are two islands: Administratively, the Hoorn Islands encompass two of Wallis and Futuna's three royal chiefdoms, namely: (The third royal chiefdom is Uvea.)