History
[edit]The island is known as the place where Pierre Chanel, a French priest, was martyred in 1841 and became the only Catholic saint in the Polynesian region. It is also said that it was marked on a European map when Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, a Dutch navigator traveling around the world in 1616, touched the island. They called the island Hoorn Eylanden after the city of Hoorn, where Schouten was born, and it was settled under the name of Hoorn.
Understand
[edit]Regions
[edit]- Alo - the chiefdom comprising the eastern two-thirds of the island. The Alo chiefdom also covers the neighbouring Alofi Island, which is uninhabited.
- Sigavé (Singave) - the chiefdom comprising western third of the island
Villages
[edit]- Leava - the capital of Sigavé, and the island's third largest village
- Mala'e - the capital of Alo
- Ono - the island's largest village, in Alo
- Taoa - the island's second largest village, in Alo