Paumotuan

Tuamotus

Native name: Tuamotu
Flag of the Tuamotu Islands
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Archipelago	Polynesia
Total islands	78
Major islands	Anaa, Fakarava, Hao, and Makemo
Area	850 km2 (330 sq mi)
Administration
France
Overseas collectivity	French Polynesia
Demographics
Population	15,862 (2002)
Pop. density	18 /km2 (47 /sq mi)

The Tuamotus, also referred to in English as the Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (French: Îles Tuamotu, officially Archipel des Tuamotu), are a French Polynesian chain of almost 80 islands and atolls forming the largest chain of atolls in the world. This archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean stretches from the northwest to the southeast over an area roughly the size of Western Europe. The total area of land within this chain is 850 square kilometres (328 square miles), with its major islands being Anaa, Fakarava, Hao and Makemo.

The Tuamotus have approximately 16,000 inhabitants. The islands were initially settled by Polynesians, and from them modern Tuamotuans share a common culture and the Tuamotuan language.

The Tuamotus are a French overseas collectivity. The people of Tahiti originally referred to the islands with the exonym of the Paumotus, which means the "Subservient Islands", until a delegation from the island convinced the French authorities to change it to Tuamotus, which means the "Distant Islands".

French Polynesia is a semi-autonomous island group designated as an overseas country of France. The Tuamotus combine with the Gambier Islands to form the Îles Tuamotu-Gambier which is one of the five administrative divisions of French Polynesia.