Alofitai

Alofitai
	Alofitai
	Alofitai
Coordinates	14 ° 20 ′ S , 178 ° 4 ′ W Coordinates: 14 ° 20 ′ S , 178 ° 4 ′ W
Basic data
Country	France
Overseas local authority	Wallis and Futuna
kingdom	Alo
ISO 3166-2	WF
Residents	1 (2013)
	Alofitai Beach

Alofitai (also spelled Alofitaï ; often just Alofi ) is the only place to live on the island of Alofi . It belongs to the Kingdom of Alo within the French overseas territory of Wallis and Futuna . With one inhabitant it is the smallest village in Wallis and Futuna, it has no infrastructure.

location

Alofitai is located in the northwest of Alofi. The rest of the island off the coast is mostly forested . There are long beaches along the coast. Alofitai has the Chapelle d'Alofi as a church . Alofi forms a twin island with Futuna, the place can be reached from the south end of Futuna, two kilometers in sight, from the local places Ono, Kolia and Vele in the past by canoe, today by motorboat. In front of Alofitai there is a narrow coral reef (barrier reef), the islands are separated from each other by the Sain Channel .

history

Historical map with Alofitai

Futuna and Alofi have been known as Horn Islands on European nautical charts since 1616 . Ethno-archaeological investigations from the 1970s onwards brought only a few finds that merely substantiated the fact that it belonged to the Lapita culture . In the third phase of the history of Wallis and Futuna, with the formation of the kingdoms of Sigave and Alo , Alofi came into possession of the latter.

Alofi was never a settlement area of the Kingdom of Alo due to a lack of sufficient fresh water sources, but the island was mainly used for horticulture in the coastal area, also as a fishing area. The few landowners from Futuna used Alofi to grow vegetables and fruits (e.g. storable yams and breadfruit). Thus the island and the place Alofitai was only seasonally inhabited, but was considered a village with its own chief with the rank of aliki . On Sundays the residents of the Futuna across the street also came over to Mass in the Alofi chapel.

population

The population is very small with one inhabitant.

Alofitai: Population from 1996 to 2013
year		Residents
1996	0
2003	2
2008	1
2013	1
Data source: INSEE

Individual evidence

↑ Populations légales des îles Wallis et Futuna en 2013. Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (INSEE), November 21, 2013, accessed on December 1, 2017 (French).
^ EG Burrows: Topography and Culture on Two Polynesian Islands. In: Geographical Review , Vol. 28, No. 2, 1938, pp. 214-223, here p. 222. doi : 10.2307 / 210472 . Retrieved July 10, 2017 (English).
^ Paul van der Grijp: Development Polynesian Style: Contemporary Futunan social economy and its cultural features. In: The Journal of the Polynesian Society , Volume 114, No. 4, 2005, pp. 311-338, here p. 322. JSTOR 20707304 . Retrieved July 10, 2017 (English).

[1] Populations légales des îles Wallis et Futuna en 2013. Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (INSEE), November 21, 2013, accessed on December 1, 2017 (French).

[2] EG Burrows: Topography and Culture on Two Polynesian Islands. In: Geographical Review , Vol. 28, No. 2, 1938, pp. 214-223, here p. 222. doi : 10.2307 / 210472 . Retrieved July 10, 2017 (English).

[3] Paul van der Grijp: Development Polynesian Style: Contemporary Futunan social economy and its cultural features. In: The Journal of the Polynesian Society , Volume 114, No. 4, 2005, pp. 311-338, here p. 322. JSTOR 20707304 . Retrieved July 10, 2017 (English).