Marquesas Islands

The Marquesas Islands ( mar-KAY-səss; French: Îles Marquises or Archipel des Marquises or Marquises [maʁkiz]; Marquesan: Te Henua ʻEnana (North Marquesan) and Te Fenua ʻEnata (South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. Their highest point is the peak of Mount Oave (French: Mont Oave) on Ua Pou island, at 1,230 m (4,035 ft) above sea level. Archaeological research suggests the islands were settled in the 10th century AD by voyagers from West Polynesia. Over the centuries that followed, the islands have maintained a "remarkably uniform culture, biology and language". The Marquesas were named after the 16th-century Spanish Viceroy of Peru, the Marquis of Cañete (Spanish: Marqués de Cañete), by navigator Álvaro de Mendaña, who visited them in 1595. The Marquesas Islands constitute one of the five administrative divisions (subdivisions administratives) of French Polynesia. The capital of the Marquesas Islands' administrative subdivision is the town of Taioha'e, on the island of Nuku Hiva. The population of the Marquesas Islands was 9,346 inhabitants at the time of the August 2017 census.