Lost in Wallis and Futuna Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pacific Ocean

Wallis and Futuna is a collection of volcanic islands in Polynesia, lying to the north-east of New Zealand. The nearest neighbours include Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. All these islands are classed as tropical islands and are in the general South Pacific area.

The official name is Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands and the capital city is Mata Utu, located on Wallis Island.

Answer: Tongan

Of course, it wasn't known as Wallis Island back then -that name came much later when a British sailor named Samuel Wallis spotted it in 1767. Having seen it, he gave his own name to the island. Wallis had already 'discovered' Tahiti and spent some time there.

The Tongans were much earlier settlers at a time when their empire was at its height. Wallis and Futuna was never officially colonised by any European power. In 1887, forty or so years after requesting that the French protect their status, they became a French protectorate.

Answer: French

Wallis and Futuna was never officially colonised by Europeans. The Dutch sailed past in 1616 during the circumnavigation undertaken by Schouten and Le Maire and gave Futuna a Dutch name. The Englishman Samuel Wallis had spent time on Tahiti, before sailing past the island now bearing his name in 1767 - his thoughts of landing were thwarted by the hostile reception of the inhabitants.

It took until the 1830s before French priests landed and converted the islanders to Catholicism. The islands became French protectorates, not colonies, in the 1880s and French is the most common language.

Answer: Uvea

Although it sounds like a part of the eye, Uvea is the more northerly island of the group. It is composed mostly of limestone and is classed as a raised reef. It is believed to have been populated in ancient times, but its main history dates from the Tongan occupation.

It has an area of around 100 square miles (250 square km) and is the more populated of the two islands. It is surrounded by a lagoon with many small islets, which are unoccupied.

Nivea and Covea are European companies specialising in personal care and insurance respectively while nutria is an animal, also known as the coypu.

Answer: Puke

Mont Puke has an elevation of just under 1720 feet, or 524 meters. Some articles refer to it by the alternative name of Singavi, but official French maps do not use this name and it may be a confusion with the region of Sigave, one of the chiefdoms of Futuna. As heights go, Puke is not that big. For comparison, the UK's highest mountain, Ben Nevis, is 4400 feet (1350m) tall.

Orohena is the highest point of Tahiti, Mauga Silisili is that of Samoa and Aoraki, better known as Mount Cook, is in New Zealand.

Answer: Red

As Wallis and Futuna is classed as a French overseas collectivity, its official flag is the same as France itself. It does have its own unofficial flag, which is flown for local events including the Pacific Games, a sporting event for nations in Oceania. The unofficial flag has a red field, with the French flag in the top left hand corner and a small saltire (diagonal cross) which is also red with a white square background.

Prior to 1985. the flag was similar, but with a white Maltese cross instead of the saltire. This flag is now used just for the Wallis Islands.

Answer: False

Wallis Island is actually around 160 miles (260 km) to the north east of Futuna and the alliance between the two main islands is not entirely amicable. Historically, Wallis Island has more in common with Tonga while Futuna considers itself more Samoan. The native languages of each of the two main islands are noticeably different.

Futuna is the more reluctant partner, according to some sources, and its people have raised the prospect of being a separate entity.

Answer: Alofi

Not to be confused with the capital of Niue, also called Alofi, the island of Alofi lies to the south east of Futuna. The two islands are separated by Sain Channel (Chenal Sain) at a distance of just over one mile (1.7 km).

Alofi was inhabited until the mid nineteenth century but is now primarily a haven for avian wildlife such as the red-footed booby and other species.

Gozo is a Maltese island and Anguilla is in the Caribbean. Aloha is not an island, but a word used on the islands o Hawaii.

Answer: Hoorn Islands

Schouten and Le Maire, the Dutch explorers mentioned in question three's information section, gave the name based on Schouten's home city of Hoorn in The Netherlands. He used the same name for the southern tip of South America, which is still called Cape Horn.

The other options all have their roots in Dutch. Haarlem became Harlem in New York City while Aruba is one of the Dutch islands in the Caribbean. Curaçao is also in the Caribbean, forming the three ABC islands along with Bonaire and Aruba.

Answer: False

The islands did change their status in 2003 but not to become independent. They became an overseas collectivity of France at their own request The islands are divided politically into three areas which correspond with the regions governed by indigenous chieftains in the past. A Territorial Assembly is elected to run everyday matters.

France provides an overall administrator, who is the president of the Assembly and has powers of veto. France is responsible for matters such as law and education.