🇼🇫 Wallis and Futuna

Artefacts characteristic of the Lapita culture date the first settlement of Wallis and Futuna to roughly 850–800 BCE. The islands served as natural stopover points for boat traffic between Fiji and Samoa, embedding them in wider Pacific exchange networks.

Tongan incursions met varying degrees of resistance and assimilation across the two island groups. Wallis underwent deep changes in society, language and culture, while Futuna retained more of its pre-Tongan features, a divergence still visible in the territory's two distinct languages.

Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire charted Futuna in 1616 during their circumnavigation, placing the group on European maps for the first time and naming it the Hoornse Eylanden after their home town of Hoorn; the name was later rendered in French as Isles de Horne and survives as the Hoorn Islands. Wallis itself was reached later, by the British captain Samuel Wallis in 1767.

The British explorer passed the northeastern island group shortly after becoming the first European to visit Tahiti. The islands have borne his name ever since, alongside the indigenous name Uvea.

Pierre Chanel in Futuna and Pierre Bataillon in Wallis led the first significant European settlement of the territory. Their mission brought virtually the entire population into the Catholic faith, which remains the dominant religion and an institutional force in education and public life.

Although the Dutch and British had reached the islands first, it was France that declared a protectorate over them in 1842.

Following an uprising by part of the local population, the missionaries appealed to France for protection. This appeal opened the path to formal French involvement in the islands' affairs.

The queen of the traditional chiefdom of Wallis signed a protectorate treaty ratified by France on 5 April 1887. French authority was limited to external affairs, leaving customary royal power over subjects intact.

Anise Tamole of Sigave and Setefano Tuikalepa of Alo requested attachment to France a year after Wallis. From that point the islands fell under the authority of the French colony of New Caledonia, though customary kingship endured.

The French resident put forward a plan to annex the protectorate outright, but it failed. A further annexation proposal was abandoned in 1922 as too costly.

The kingdoms were formally integrated into the colony of Wallis and Futuna, which remained under the authority of New Caledonia. This converted the protectorate into a colonial possession while customary structures persisted in practice.

The resident's experiment in state education failed after a few years. Schooling remained overwhelmingly in the hands of the Catholic mission.

After 17 months of isolation under a Vichy-loyal bishop and resident — Wallis and Futuna being notably the only French colony to side with the Vichy regime — Free French and then American forces arrived, with US Marine Corps units landing on 29 May 1942 and some 2,000 American troops in all. The US Army built a base and extensive infrastructure, introducing consumer goods and Western lifestyles that weakened customary, religious and administrative authority. Futuna was not occupied.

The departure of the GIs made a return to subsistence agriculture difficult and triggered hardship on Wallis. The period marked the start of sustained migration to the New Hebrides and New Caledonia, where a large Wallisian and Futunian community became established.

Persistent scarcity of local employment has driven young islanders to the more prosperous French territory of New Caledonia, where as French citizens they may settle and work freely. By the 2019 New Caledonian census, 22,520 residents reported Wallisian and Futunian ethnicity, far exceeding the home population.

The 1959 referendum ended the territory's subordination to New Caledonia, taking effect on 29 July 1961. The resulting statute also recognised the special role of religion and customary authority in the territory's governance.

Wallis and Futuna formally became a French overseas territory in its own right on 29 July 1961, following the 1959 vote of its inhabitants, ending administration from New Caledonia. Instruction in schools also switched from Wallisian and Futunian to French from that year.

After more than half a century, responsibility for primary schooling passed from the Diocese to the Vice-Rectorate. The transfer aligned the territory more closely with mainland French secular education administration.

The July 2023 census counted 11,151 residents, down from 14,944 in 2003, with 72.5 per cent on Wallis and 27.5 per cent on Futuna. Sustained emigration to New Caledonia, intensified by clan political tensions, underlies the fall.

Four plants were installed at Lavegahau, Falaleu and Vaitupu on Wallis and one at Mamati on Futuna, supplying several hundred households. Further plants are planned for 2026 towards a target of 50 per cent renewable electricity by 2029.

Voting took place on 20 March 2022 under universal suffrage for those over 18. Munipoese Muliʻakaʻaka has served as president of the Territorial Assembly since that month.

The ONB and an expert panel identified a significant extinction risk facing the endemic vascular plants of Wallis and Futuna. The listing formally recognised the fragility of the territory's unique flora.

Cyclones affecting the territory are becoming more frequent and increasingly occur outside the usual season, as with Ella in 2017. The trend raises exposure risks for a small, low-capacity island territory.

Patalione Kanimoa was installed in Uvea, Lino Leleivai in Alo and Eufenio Takala in Sigave, resolving a prolonged period of contested succession. President François Hollande attended the ceremony, underlining the constitutional recognition of customary authority.

The territory's first mobile network began operating on 22 December 2015. It marked a rapid telecommunications leap for islands that had only acquired landline telephony in the 1960s.

The territory organised and staged the regional multi-sport event, requiring renovation of the Kafika sports centre. It was the first time the islands had hosted such an event.

His installation on 25 July 2008 followed a six-month mourning period after Tomasi Kulimoetoke's death in May 2007. He was deposed in 2014, and the succession dispute between rival aristocratic clans has driven emigration from Wallis since the mid-2000s.

Broadband was installed in 2007, though connection to the global network long relied on slow and costly satellite links. By the end of 2011 there were 1,144 broadband subscribers.

The 50th king of Uvea sheltered a grandson convicted of manslaughter, arguing he should be tried under tribal law. Supporters rioted and defeated efforts to replace him, exposing a lasting tension between customary authority and the French penal system.

On 28 March 2003 the territory's status changed from territoire d'outre-mer to collectivité d'outre-mer. The change reflected the wider French constitutional reform of overseas statuses.

An earlier bank opened in 1977 but closed in 1989, leaving the islands with no banking service for two years. The 1991 establishment restored formal financial infrastructure to the territory.

Electrification of the islands began in 1987, a late but transformative step for domestic and commercial life. It laid the basis for later telecommunications and renewable energy projects.

The Prefect and the bishop agreed that the Diocese of Wallis and Futuna would run primary schooling, an arrangement lasting until 2025. This meant the 1905 French separation of Church and State never applied in the territory, with catechism integrated into the curriculum.