Island group Hoorn Islands | ||
Alofi is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity (collectivité d'outre-mer, or COM) of Wallis and Futuna.
Contents
Map of Alofi, Wallis and Futuna
Overview
It is virtually uninhabited(population 2 as of census of 2003 in the village of Alofitai in the west), and under the chief of Alo on Futuna, but in pre-European times it was as densely populated as Futuna, which would have had a population of almost 1900. Former villages were Sologa (north), Sa'avaka (southeast), Alofitai (west), and Mua (northwest). Some maps also show a village of Gaino in the north. Alofi island is only 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) southeast of Futuna. Futunians who have plantations on Alofi go there at least every Saturday to tend their gardens. A popular crop is tobacco, and they take enough leaves with them to be able to smoke for the rest of the week.
The island has an area of 32 square kilometres (12 square miles) and Mont Kolofau (also called Mont Bougainville) reaches to an height of 410 metres (1,350 feet). It is also known as one of the two Horne Islands, Futuna being the other.