Simple directory > Regional > Wallis and Futuna

Country : Wallis and Futuna Official name: Wallis and Futuna Head of State: President of France; Administrateur Supérieur M le Préfet Xavier de Furst (appointed 15 Dec 2004) Ruling party: Rassemblement pour la République (RPR) (Rally for the Republic) Area: 144 square km – Wallis (or Uvea): 77.6km; Futuna: 64.4km Population: 15,300 (2004) Capital: Mata Utu (on Wallis) Official language: Wallisian, Futunian, French Currency: Comptoirs Français du Pacifique franc (CFPf) = 100 centimes Exchange rate: CFPf92.21 per US$ (Nov 2004) (pegged CFPf119.25 per euro) GDP per capita: US$2,000 (2003) Balance of trade: -US$50,000 (2003)

Historical profile

Futuna and Alofi were settled by Samoans, and around 1450AD Uvea was settled by Tongans.

1616 Futuna and Alofi were sighted by two Dutch navigators, Willem Cornelius van Schouten and Jacob le Maire, who re-named them the Hoorn Islands.

1767 Samuel Wallis, the English navigator, sighted the island of Uvea, which was re-christened Wallis.

1820 The Takumasiva royal dynasty was restored in the kingdom of Uvea (Wallis).

1842 The authorities in Wallis requested French protection, which was granted.

1886–87 Queen Amelia of Uvea signed a protectorate treaty, which was ratified by the French in April 1887. In September 1887, the Kings of Alo and Sigave (the kingdoms of Futuna) also requested French protection and this was granted.

1924 The islands assumed the official status of a French colony.

1942 US and French forces arrived during the Second World War and the islands were used as a strategic air base.

1958 The French constitution was adopted.

1959 Tomasi Kulimoetoke II became the Lavelua (King of Uvea), ending a period of instability within the royal family.

1961 Wallis and Futuna became a French Térritoire d'Outre-Mer (TOM) (Overseas Territory).

1999 Sagato Alofi became the the Tuiagaifo (King of Alo); Pasilio Keletaona became the Keletaona (King of Sigave).

2000 Alain Waquet was appointed Administrateur Supérieur. Atalo Tao Fifanua, kivalu (prime minister) of the kingdom of Uvea, resigned.

2001 Tisimasi Heofala was endorsed as the kivalu of Uvea.

2002 The ruling right-wing Rassemblement pour la République (RPR) (Rally for the Republic) and its affiliates retained a majority in the Territorial Assembly elections. Christian Job was appointed Administrateur Supérieur, replacing Alain Waquet.

Wallis and Futuna's only newspaper, the weekly Te Fenua Fo'ou, closed down on 2 April after being subjected to threats and raids from the local (traditional) authorities. The publisher, Michel Bodineau, said the newspaper had been banned by a royal order from the Lavelua (King of Uvea), who had objected to news items about alleged royal support for a former member of the local parliament, Mrs Make Pilioko, who had contested the general elections. The newspaper had stated that she was not fit to be elected because of convictions for misuse of funds.

2004 On 15 December, Xavier de Furst was appointed administrator superior.

2005 The grandson of the King of Uvea (Wallis), the Lavelua, was found guilty of unintentional homicide after a road accident which killed a man in 2004. The Lavelua refused to allow his relative to be jailed, saying he had already settled the matter in a traditional manner, but Tomasi Tuhagala was put in jail after the three royal families in Wallis and Futuna intervened. The French government, which pays the King's salary, also influenced the outcome.

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