Land and People

Wallis and Futuna Islands (wŏl'ĭs, fūtū'nä) , French overseas territory (2005 est. pop. 16,000), 106 sq mi (274 sq km), South Pacific, W of Samoa and NE of Fiji. Comprising two small groups, the Wallis Islands and the Hoorn Islands, which are c.120 mi (190 km) apart, it is sometimes called Wallis Archipelago. The main volcanic islands are Uvea (Wallis) and Futuna and Alofi (Hoorn); the chief town is Mata-Utu, on Uvea. Copra was an important export until the mid-1960s, when an attack of rhinoceros beetles ravaged the islands' palm trees; some copra and timber is exported. Many islanders have migrated to New Caledonia for employment. The islands came under French control in 1842 and became an overseas territory in 1961. They are governed by an administrator, three traditional Polynesian kings, and a territorial assembly.

Economy

The territory's economy is limited to traditional subsistence agriculture, with about 80% of the labor force earning its livelihood from agriculture (coconuts and vegetables), livestock (mostly pigs), and fishing. About 4% of the population is employed in government. Revenues come from French Government subsidies, licensing of fishing rights to Japan and South Korea, import taxes, and remittances from expatriate workers in New Caledonia.
The gross domestic product had in 1995 a purchasing power parity of about $28.7 million total, about $2,000 per capita. The territory takes in about $20 million per year in revenues against about $17 million in expenditures.
Industries include copra, handicrafts, fishing, and lumber. Agricultural products include breadfruit, yams, taro, bananas, pigs, and goats. In 1995, about $370,000 worth of commodities (copra, breadfruit, yams, taro roots, handicrafts) were exported, and about $13.5 million worth of commodities (foodstuffs, manufactured goods, transportation equipment, fuel, clothing) were imported, primarily from France, Australia, and New Zealand.
The territory uses the CFP Franc, along with the French territories of New Caledonia and French Polynesia; the CFP franc (XPF) is fixed vs. the euro, at the rate of 1,000 XPF = 8.38 euro.

History

Although they were discovered by the Dutch and the British in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was the French who were the first Europeans to settle in the territory, with the arrival of French missionaries in 1837, who converted the population to Catholicism. Wallis is named after the Cornish explorer Samuel Wallis.
On April 5, 1842, they asked for the protection of France after the rebellion of a part of the local population. On April 5, 1887, the queen of Uvea (on the island of Wallis) signed a treaty officially establishing a French protectorate. The kings of Sigave and Alo on the islands of Futuna and Alofi also signed a treaty establishing French protectorate on February 16, 1888. The islands were put under the authority of the French colony of New Caledonia.
In 1917, the three traditional chiefdoms were annexed to France and turned into the Colony of Wallis and Futuna, still under the authority of the Colony of New Caledonia.
In 1959, the inhabitants of the islands voted to become a French overseas territory, effective in 1961, thus ending their subordination to New Caledonia.