Misplaced Pages

#10989

172-479: The Marquesas Islands ( / m ɑːr ˈ k eɪ s ə s / 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

344-502: A French warship . Protestants went to Hiva Oa, and also had little success. There were few converts; tribal warfare and human sacrifice continued. Protestant missionaries gradually left Hiva Oa and returned to Hawaii, and only James Kekela remained. In 1899, he returned to Hawaii, dying in Honolulu on 29 November 1904. Hawaiian-born missionary James Bicknell translated the Gospel of John into

516-406: A UNESCO World Heritage Site under " Te Henua Enata " ( lit.   ' The Land of Men ' ), as part of the committee 's commitment to conservation efforts protecting indigenous populations. The Marquesas Islands form one of the five administrative divisions ( subdivisions administratives ) of French Polynesia. French and Tahitian are the official languages of government. The capital of

688-415: A commensal relationship , for example brittle stars , who climb the coral to get themselves off the seafloor, helping them to catch food particles, or small zooplankton, as they drift by. This is in sharp contrast with the typical deep-sea habitat, where deposit-feeding animals rely on food they get off the ground. In tropical zones extensive coral growth results in the formation of coral atolls late in

860-467: A 2010 study that applied higher-precision radiocarbon dating methods to more reliable samples suggests that the earliest colonisation of eastern Polynesia took place much later, within a shorter time period, and in two waves: The first was a migration into the Society Islands between about 1025 and 1120 AD (four centuries later than had previously been thought); the second, between 70 and 265 years later,

1032-720: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process

1204-399: A certain pattern in terms of eruptive activity, first observed with Hawaiian seamounts but now shown to be the process followed by all seamounts of the ocean-ridge type. During the first stage the volcano erupts basalt of various types, caused by various degrees of mantle melting . In the second, most active stage of its life, ocean-ridge volcanoes erupt tholeiitic to mildly alkalic basalt as

1376-692: A classic example being the Emperor Seamounts , an extension of the Hawaiian Islands . Formed millions of years ago by volcanism , they have since subsided far below sea level. This long chain of islands and seamounts extends thousands of kilometers northwest from the island of Hawaii . There are more seamounts in the Pacific Ocean than in the Atlantic, and their distribution can be described as comprising several elongate chains of seamounts superimposed on

1548-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,

1720-437: A daunting task due to their sheer number. The most detailed seamount mappings are provided by multibeam echosounding ( sonar ), however after more than 5000 publicly held cruises, the amount of the sea floor that has been mapped remains minuscule. Satellite altimetry is a broader alternative, albeit not as detailed, with 13,000 catalogued seamounts; however this is still only a fraction of the total 100,000. The reason for this

1892-666: A direct relationship with the metropole, the government in Paris, instead of depending on Papeete . As sentiment was rising in Tahiti in the 21st century for independence from France, several prominent Marquesan political leaders in 2007 floated the idea of the Marquesas Islands separating from French Polynesia but remaining within the French Republic. This has generated controversy in Tahiti, where pro-independence Tahitian leaders have accused

SECTION 10

#1732836974011

2064-543: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and

2236-405: A global understanding of seamount ecosystems, and the roles they have in the biogeography , biodiversity , productivity and evolution of marine organisms. Possibly the best ecologically studied seamount in the world is Davidson Seamount , with six major expeditions recording over 60,000 species observations. The contrast between the seamount and the surrounding area was well-marked. One of

2408-626: A more or less random background distribution. Seamount chains occur in all three major ocean basins, with the Pacific having the most number and most extensive seamount chains. These include the Hawaiian (Emperor), Mariana, Gilbert, Tuomotu and Austral Seamounts (and island groups) in the north Pacific and the Louisville and Sala y Gomez ridges in the southern Pacific Ocean. In the North Atlantic Ocean,

2580-534: A number of seamounts or shoals, located primarily in the area of the northern Marquesas. Among these are: Most of the Marquesas Islands are of volcanic origin, created by the Marquesas hotspot that underlies the Pacific Plate . The Marquesas Islands lie above a submarine volcanic plateau of the same name. The plateau, like the islands, is generally believed to be less than 5 million years old, though one hypothesis

2752-594: A number of delegates proportional to the size of its population. The president of the CODIM and the community council have their offices in Atuona , on the island of Hiva Oa . The current president is Benoît Kautai , mayor of Nuku Hiva , who was elected president by the community council in July 2020 after the 2020 French municipal elections and is due to serve for six years until the next municipal elections. The community of communes of

2924-464: A number of seamounts are active undersea volcanoes; two examples are Kamaʻehuakanaloa (formerly Lo‘ihi) in the Hawaiian Islands and Vailulu'u in the Manu'a Group ( Samoa ). The most apparent lava flows at a seamount are the eruptive flows that cover their flanks, however igneous intrusions , in the forms of dikes and sills , are also an important part of seamount growth. The most common type of flow

3096-420: A particular pattern of growth, activity, subsidence and eventual extinction. The first stage of a seamount's evolution is its early activity, building its flanks and core up from the sea floor. This is followed by a period of intense volcanism, during which the new volcano erupts almost all (e.g. 98%) of its total magmatic volume. The seamount may even grow above sea level to become an oceanic island (for example,

3268-688: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on

3440-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in

3612-429: A result of a larger area melting in the mantle. This is finally capped by alkalic flows late in its eruptive history, as the link between the seamount and its source of volcanism is cut by crustal movement. Some seamounts also experience a brief "rejuvenated" period after a hiatus of 1.5 to 10 million years, the flows of which are highly alkalic and produce many xenoliths . In recent years, geologists have confirmed that

SECTION 20

#1732836974011

3784-425: A result, the CODIM is now in charge of drafting a blueprint for local economic development. The French Polynesian government also transferred to the CODIM the power to grant subsidies in favor of cultural and sports activities. Transfers of powers from the six communes to the CODIM have been extremely limited. Besides drafting a blueprint for economic development and granting subsidies for cultural and sports activities,

3956-639: A rich habitat and environment. In 1791, the American maritime fur trader Joseph Ingraham first visited the northern Marquesas while commanding the brig Hope . He named them the Washington Islands. In 1813, Commodore David Porter claimed Nuku Hiva for the United States, but the United States Congress never ratified that claim. For a brief period the islands exported sandalwood , however

4128-573: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and

4300-513: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only

4472-897: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as

4644-567: A small sand bank on a coral reef , the only atoll in the Marquesas Islands. Unlike most French Polynesian islands, the Marquesas islands (other than Motu One) are not surrounded by protective fringing reefs. In those islands, coral is found only in bays and other protected areas, or, in the case of Fatu Huku , in an unusual place: in fossilized form at the top of the island. The South Equatorial Current lashes all these islands fiercely; its force has carved sea-caves that dot their shores. Although

4816-488: A storm in June 1526; it was part of an expedition headed by García Jofre de Loaísa . The Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña reached them nearly 70 years later, on 21 July 1595. He named the islands after his patron, García Hurtado de Mendoza , 5th Marquis of Cañete ( Spanish : Marqués de Cañete ), who served as Viceroy of Peru from 1590 to 1596. Mendaña visited first Fatu Hiva and then Tahuata before continuing on to

4988-456: A summit collapse on the northern edge of Vlinder Seamount resulted in a pronounced headwall scarp and a field of debris up to 6 km (4 mi) away. A catastrophic collapse at Detroit Seamount flattened its whole structure extensively. Lastly, in 2004, scientists found marine fossils 61 m (200 ft) up the flank of Kohala mountain in Hawaii . Subsidation analysis found that at

5160-536: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in

5332-484: A wide variety of tectonic settings, resulting in a very diverse structural bank. Seamounts come in a wide variety of structural shapes, from conical to flat-topped to complexly shaped. Some are built very large and very low, such as Koko Guyot and Detroit Seamount ; others are built more steeply, such as Kamaʻehuakanaloa Seamount and Bowie Seamount . Some seamounts also have a carbonate or sediment cap . Many seamounts show signs of intrusive activity , which

Marquesas Islands - Misplaced Pages Continue

5504-425: Is Bowie Seamount , which has also been declared a marine protected area by Canada for its ecological richness. The study of seamounts has been hindered for a long time by the lack of technology. Although seamounts have been sampled as far back as the 19th century, their depth and position meant that the technology to explore and sample seamounts in sufficient detail did not exist until the last few decades. Even with

5676-413: Is pillow lava , named so after its distinctive shape. Less common are sheet flows, which are glassy and marginal, and indicative of larger-scale flows. Volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks dominate shallow-water seamounts. They are the products of the explosive activity of seamounts that are near the water's surface, and can also form from mechanical wear of existing volcanic rock. Seamounts can form in

5848-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French

6020-745: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French

6192-467: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English

6364-484: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given

6536-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including

6708-456: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share

6880-435: Is done by bottom trawling , which scrapes whole ecosystems off seamounts. Because of their large numbers, many seamounts remain to be properly studied, and even mapped. Bathymetry and satellite altimetry are two technologies working to close the gap. There have been instances where naval vessels have collided with uncharted seamounts; for example, Muirfield Seamount is named after the ship that struck it in 1973. However,

7052-628: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in

Marquesas Islands - Misplaced Pages Continue

7224-552: Is greatest as a proportion of seafloor area in the North Pacific Ocean, equal to 4.39% of that ocean region. The Arctic Ocean has only 16 seamounts and no guyots, and the Mediterranean and Black seas together have only 23 seamounts and 2 guyots. The 9,951 seamounts which have been mapped cover an area of 8,088,550 km (3,123,010 sq mi). Seamounts have an average area of 790 km (310 sq mi), with

7396-495: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English

7568-490: Is helped by geochemical exchange between the seamounts and the ocean water. Seamounts may thus be vital stopping points for some migratory animals , specifically whales . Some recent research indicates whales may use such features as navigational aids throughout their migration. For a long time it has been surmised that many pelagic animals visit seamounts as well, to gather food, but proof of this aggregating effect has been lacking. The first demonstration of this conjecture

7740-406: Is hurt by the simple lack of information available. Seamounts are very poorly studied, with only 350 of the estimated 100,000 seamounts in the world having received sampling, and fewer than 100 in depth. Much of this lack of information can be attributed to a lack of technology, and to the daunting task of reaching these underwater structures; the technology to fully explore them has only been around

7912-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from

8084-455: Is known to have been distributed via sailing canoes over distances of more than 2500 km to provide adze heads to Mo'orea (Society Islands), Mangareva (Gambier Islands), Tubuai (Austral Islands), Rarotonga (Cook Islands), and Tabuaeran (Northern Line Islands). The first Europeans to reach the Marquesas may have been the crew members aboard the San Lesmes , a Spanish vessel that disappeared in

8256-604: Is likely to lead to inflation , steepening of volcanic slopes, and ultimately, flank collapse. There are also several sub-classes of seamounts. The first are guyots , seamounts with a flat top. These tops must be 200 m (656 ft) or more below the surface of the sea; the diameters of these flat summits can be over 10 km (6.2 mi). Knolls are isolated elevation spikes measuring less than 1,000 meters (3,281 ft). Lastly, pinnacles are small pillar-like seamounts. Seamounts are exceptionally important to their biome ecologically, but their role in their environment

8428-462: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in

8600-775: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for

8772-452: Is poorly understood. Because they project out above the surrounding sea floor, they disturb standard water flow, causing eddies and associated hydrological phenomena that ultimately result in water movement in an otherwise still ocean bottom. Currents have been measured at up to 0.9 knots, or 48 centimeters per second. Because of this upwelling seamounts often carry above-average plankton populations, seamounts are thus centers where

SECTION 50

#1732836974011

8944-468: Is responsible for as much as 95% of ecological damage to seamounts. Corals from seamounts are also vulnerable, as they are highly valued for making jewellery and decorative objects. Significant harvests have been produced from seamounts, often leaving coral beds depleted. Individual nations are beginning to note the effect of fishing on seamounts, and the European Commission has agreed to fund

9116-562: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,

9288-404: Is that often, in the late of stages of their life, extrusions begin to seep in the seamount. This activity leads to inflation, over-extension of the volcano's flanks, and ultimately flank collapse , leading to submarine landslides with the potential to start major tsunamis , which can be among the largest natural disasters in the world. In an illustration of the potent power of flank collapses,

9460-399: Is that the fishes that are targeted over seamounts are typically long-lived, slow-growing, and slow-maturing. The problem is confounded by the dangers of trawling , which damages seamount surface communities, and the fact that many seamounts are located in international waters, making proper monitoring difficult. Bottom trawling in particular is extremely devastating to seamount ecology, and

9632-464: Is that the plateau (not the islands) is significantly older, and has been formed by forces similar to those that have formed the Inca Plateau , which is subducting under northern Peru . The Marquesas islands are estimated to range in age from 1.3 million years old (Fatu Hiva) to 6 million years old (Eiao). All of them except Motu One are volcanic islands . Motu One is a low island , consisting of

9804-463: Is that uncertainties in the technology limit recognition to features 1,500 m (4,921 ft) or larger. In the future, technological advances could allow for a larger and more detailed catalogue. Observations from CryoSat-2 combined with data from other satellites has shown thousands of previously uncharted seamounts, with more to come as data is interpreted. Seamounts are a possible future source of economically important metals. Even though

9976-480: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure

10148-479: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in

10320-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially

10492-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism

SECTION 60

#1732836974011

10664-537: The circonscription des Marquises ("district of the Marquesas"), one of French Polynesia's four circonscriptions ("districts") created in 2000 by the Assembly of French Polynesia to serve as deconcentrated subdivisions of the government of French Polynesia in the islands away from Tahiti and Moorea . The head of the circonscription des Marquises is the tavana hau , known as administrateur territorial in French ("territorial administrator"), but

10836-498: The 2009 eruption of Hunga Tonga ). After a period of explosive activity near the ocean surface , the eruptions slowly die away. With eruptions becoming infrequent and the seamount losing its ability to maintain itself, the volcano starts to erode . After finally becoming extinct (possibly after a brief rejuvenated period), they are ground back down by the waves. Seamounts are built in a far more dynamic oceanic setting than their land counterparts, resulting in horizontal subsidence as

11008-738: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of

11180-459: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as

11352-520: The Assembly of French Polynesia (see also Politics of French Polynesia ). The Marquesas Islands are subdivided in six communes (municipalities). In each of the six communes the local residents with either a French or another EU citizenship elect a municipal council and a mayor in charge of managing local affairs within the commune. Three communes ( Nuku-Hiva , Ua-Pou , and Hiva-Oa ) are further subdivided into associated communes due to their larger population. The communes and associated communes are

11524-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of

11696-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains

11868-547: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,

12040-820: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It

12212-622: The New England Seamounts extend from the eastern coast of the United States to the mid-ocean ridge. Craig and Sandwell noted that clusters of larger Atlantic seamounts tend to be associated with other evidence of hotspot activity, such as on the Walvis Ridge , Vitória-Trindade Ridge , Bermuda Islands and Cape Verde Islands . The mid-Atlantic ridge and spreading ridges in the Indian Ocean are also associated with abundant seamounts. Otherwise, seamounts tend not to form distinctive chains in

12384-609: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It

12556-465: The Solomon Islands . His expedition charted the four southernmost Marquesas as Magdalena (Fatu Hiva), Dominica ( Hiva ʻOa ), San Pedro ( Moho Tani ), and Santa Cristina (Tahuata). In the late 18th century, European explorers estimated that the population was 80,000 to 100,000. Europeans and Americans were impressed with how easy life appeared to be in the islands, which had

12728-605: The Tahitian title tavana hau is most often used. The tavana hau is the direct representative of the president of French Polynesia's government who appoints him. The tavana hau and his staff sit in Taiohae on Nuku Hiva, same as the State administrator. The tavana hau is in charge of: The Marquesas Islands also form the electoral district of the Marquesas Islands, one of French Polynesia 's six electoral districts for

12900-951: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin

13072-465: The "desert" region of Nuku Hiva is only 510 millimetres (20 in). Droughts are frequent, sometimes lasting several years, and seem to be associated with the El Niño phenomenon. The typical variability of the sea-level climate in the Marquesas is well illustrated by measurements made at the Atuona weather station on Hiva ʻOa: The highest recorded annual rainfall there is 3,760 millimetres (148 in);

13244-489: 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 Taiohae , on the island of Nuku Hiva . The population of

13416-633: The 18th century to about 20,000 by the middle of the 19th century, and to just over 4,000 by the beginning of the 20th century, reaching an all-time low of 2,255 in 1926. After that, the population started to increase, reaching 8,548 by the time of the November 2002 census (not including the Marquesan community residing in Tahiti ), and 9,346 by the time of the August 2017 census. In 2024, the Marquesas Islands were listed as

13588-502: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;

13760-500: The 2017 census (down from 3,493 at the 2007 census), whereas 5,907 people born in the Marquesas Islands lived in the Marquesas (down from 6,106 at the 2007 census), and 705 lived in the rest of French Polynesia (up from 679 at the 2007 census). The total number of people born in the Marquesas Islands and living in French Polynesia decreased from 10,278 at the 2007 census to 9,965 at the 2017 census, as net births were not able to offset

13932-742: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed

14104-505: The CODIM is currently in charge only of creating hiking trails, drafting studies for waste collection (but not actually managing waste collection, which the communes kept for themselves), drafting a blueprint for transports between the islands of the archipelago, acquiring computers and office equipment for the six communes of the archipelago, and offering legal and technical support to the six communes. The French Polynesian public auditor ( chambre territoriale des comptes ) has pointed out that

14276-442: The CODIM is not a full-fledged territorial collectivity , but only a federation of communes (in French Polynesia, only the overseas collectivity of French Polynesia and the 48 communes are territorial collectivities). The CODIM is governed by a president and by a community council ( conseil communautaire ) which is made up of 15 delegates elected by the municipal councils of the six communes among their members, with each commune having

14448-682: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French

14620-886: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,

14792-582: The Catholic Diocese of Taiohae ( Latin : Dioecesis Taiohaënus seu Humanae Telluris ). According to 2017 data 90.1% of the population of the Marquesas Islands was affiliated with the Catholic Church, an increase from 1950 when Catholics formed 87.3% of population of the islands. Although the Mendaña ships had chaplains on board, there does not appear to have been any serious attempt at missionary work in

14964-524: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of

15136-567: The French central State and the government of French Polynesia. As a deconcentrated subdivision of the French central State, the Marquesas Islands form the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas (French: subdivision administrative des Marquises ), one of French Polynesia 's five administrative subdivisions . The head of the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas is the administrateur d'État ("State administrator"), generally simply known as administrateur , also sometimes called chef de la subdivision administrative ("head of

15308-531: The French central government of encouraging the separation of the Marquesas Islands from French Polynesia. The Marquesas Islands do not have a provincial or regional assembly, but since 2010 the six communes (municipalities) into which the Marquesas Islands are divided have gathered to form an intercommunality , the community of communes of the Marquesas Islands (in French: communauté de communes des îles Marquises , or CODIM). As all communities of communes in France,

15480-476: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained

15652-475: The Indian and Southern Oceans, but rather their distribution appears to be more or less random. Isolated seamounts and those without clear volcanic origins are less common; examples include Bollons Seamount , Eratosthenes Seamount , Axial Seamount and Gorringe Ridge . If all known seamounts were collected into one area, they would make a landform the size of Europe . Their overall abundance makes them one of

15824-512: The Marquesan language in 1857. From 1838 to 1839, the Catholic mission was able to establish itself, supported by the French order Pères et religieuses des Sacrés-Cœurs de Picpus (founded in 1800). The missionaries spread from Mangareva to Tahuata, Ua Pou, Fatu Hiva and Nuku Hiva . They suffered the same hostile tribal reception as the previous Protestants. However, with the support of the French authorities, they were able to sustain themselves in

15996-440: The Marquesan languages is their almost universal replacement of the /r/ or /l/ of other Polynesian languages by a /ʔ/ (glottal stop). Like other Polynesian languages, the phonology of Marquesan languages is characterised by a paucity of consonants and a comparative abundance of vowels. French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )

16168-531: The Marquesas Islands administrative subdivision is the settlement of Taiohae on the island of Nuku Hiva . The sparsely populated Marquesas Islands are located 1,371 km (852 mi) from Tahiti . With 183,645 inhabitants (2012 census), Tahiti is the most populous island of French Polynesia, containing 68.5% of the total population of the grouping. Residents of the Marquesas have chafed at Tahiti's overwhelming dominance, complaining of neglect by politicians based in Tahiti, and leaders have suggested developing

16340-459: The Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia . They are usually classified into two groups, North Marquesan and South Marquesan, corresponding roughly along geographic lines. The North Marquesan dialects are spoken on the islands of Ua Pu and Nuku Hiva , and South Marquesan dialects on the islands of Hiva ʻOa , Tahuata and Fatu Hiva . The dialects of Ua Huka are often incorrectly classified as North Marquesan; they are instead transitional. While

16512-429: The Marquesas Islands was 9,346 inhabitants at the time of the August 2017 census. The Marquesas Islands group is one of the most remote in the world. It lies about 1,370 kilometres (850 mi) northeast of Tahiti and about 4,800 kilometres (3,000 mi) west of Mexico (the nearest continental land mass). It is thought to have been formed by a centre of upwelling magma , called the Marquesas hotspot . The islands in

16684-480: The Marquesas Islands was created in 2010 with the aim of delegating powers both from the six communes and from the overseas collectivity of French Polynesia to this new intercommunal structure, due to the isolation of the Marquesas Islands and distance from the seat of the French Polynesian government in Tahiti. The government of French Polynesia transferred to the CODIM the power to oversee economic development. As

16856-546: The Marquesas Islands. The first missionaries to arrive in the Marquesas from 1797, coming from England via Tahiti, were William Pascoe Crook (1775–1846) and John Harris (1754–1819) of the London Missionary Society . Harris could not endure the conditions at all and returned to Tahiti only a few months later. A contemporary report says that he was picked up on the beach, utterly desperate, naked and looted. Crook remained until 1799. The American mission from Hawaii

17028-501: The Marquesas lie within the tropics, they are remarkably dry. That is because they constitute the first major break for the prevailing easterly winds that arise from the (atmospherically) dry Humboldt Current . This subjects the Marquesas to frequent drought conditions. Only those islands that reach highest into the clouds (generally, higher than 750 metres (2,460 ft) above sea level) reliably have periods of precipitation. These conditions have historically led to periodic fluctuations in

17200-417: The Marquesas, as can be seen in the language statistics: 50.8% of the Marquesas Islands' residents whose age was 15 or older and who were born in Tahiti and lived in the Marquesas at the 2017 census reported that the language they spoke the most at home was Marquesan , whereas 42.1% reported French , and only 6.6% reported Tahitian . 3,353 people born in the Marquesas Islands lived on the island of Tahiti at

17372-450: The North Pacific Ocean, and follow a distinctive evolutionary pattern of eruption, build-up, subsidence and erosion. In recent years, several active seamounts have been observed, for example Kamaʻehuakanaloa (formerly Lōʻihi) in the Hawaiian Islands . Because of their abundance, seamounts are one of the most common marine ecosystems in the world. Interactions between seamounts and underwater currents, as well as their elevated position in

17544-513: The OASIS project, a detailed study of the effects of fishing on seamount communities in the North Atlantic . Another project working towards conservation is CenSeam , a Census of Marine Life project formed in 2005. CenSeam is intended to provide the framework needed to prioritise, integrate, expand and facilitate seamount research efforts in order to significantly reduce the unknown and build towards

17716-406: The actions of the CODIM have been very limited and fallen short of its theoretical powers due to a very small budget (less than 100 million Pacific Francs, i.e. less than US$ 1 million). For example, the CODIM has not exercised its power to acquire computers and office equipment for the six communes of the archipelago, and more generally its creation has not led to a pooling of resources and expenses by

17888-571: The administrative subdivision"). The administrateur is a civil servant under the authority of the High Commissioner of the French Republic in French Polynesia in Papeete . The administrateur and his staff sit in Taiohae , on the island of Nuku Hiva , which has become the administrative capital of the Marquesas Islands, having replaced Atuona on the island of Hiva ʻOa , which was previously

18060-414: The availability of fresh water. Periodic lack of water has made human habitation only intermittently sustainable in certain parts of the various islands throughout the archipelago. For example, Ua Huka Island (maximum elevation 857 metres (2,812 ft)) has a history of low population levels, and Eiao Island (maximum elevation 576 metres (1,890 ft)) has been intermittently uninhabited. There are also

18232-675: The average size of seamounts. Nearly 50% of guyot area and 42% of the number of guyots occur in the North Pacific Ocean, covering 342,070 km (132,070 sq mi). The largest three guyots are all in the North Pacific: the Kuko Guyot (estimated 24,600 km (9,500 sq mi)), Suiko Guyot (estimated 20,220 km (7,810 sq mi)) and the Pallada Guyot (estimated 13,680 km (5,280 sq mi)). Seamounts are often found in groupings or submerged archipelagos ,

18404-418: The capital (although, in reverse to this general trend, Atuona was selected as the seat of the community of communes of the Marquesas Islands in 2010). Acting as the representative of the French central State and delegate of Papeete's High Commissioner, the administrateur of the Marquesas is in charge of: As a deconcentrated subdivision of the government of French Polynesia, the Marquesas Islands form

18576-506: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Seamount Earth's oceans contain more than 14,500 identified seamounts, of which 9,951 seamounts and 283 guyots, covering a total area of 8,796,150 km (3,396,210 sq mi), have been mapped but only a few have been studied in detail by scientists. Seamounts and guyots are most abundant in

18748-750: The crust to the surface. Volcanoes formed near or above subducting zones are created because the subducting tectonic plate adds volatiles to the overriding plate that lowers its melting point . Which of these two process involved in the formation of a seamount has a profound effect on its eruptive materials. Lava flows from mid-ocean ridge and plate boundary seamounts are mostly basaltic (both tholeiitic and alkalic ), whereas flows from subducting ridge volcanoes are mostly calc-alkaline lavas. Compared to mid-ocean ridge seamounts, subduction zone seamounts generally have more sodium , alkali , and volatile abundances, and less magnesium , resulting in more explosive, viscous eruptions. All volcanic seamounts follow

18920-508: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French

19092-532: The departures to New Caledonia and Metropolitan France due to the economic crisis experienced by French Polynesia. Most of the population of the Marquesas Islands is Christian as a consequence of the missionary activity of the Catholic Church , and various Protestant Christian groups. The main church in the area is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Taiohae ( French : Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Taiohae ), seat of

19264-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French

19436-425: The effect of seamounts on endemicity. They have , however, been confidently shown to provide a habitat to species that have difficulty surviving elsewhere. The volcanic rocks on the slopes of seamounts are heavily populated by suspension feeders , particularly corals , which capitalize on the strong currents around the seamount to supply them with food. These coral are therefore host to numerous other organisms in

19608-585: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as

19780-506: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of

19952-465: The first two have any potential of being targeted by mining in the next few decades. Some seamounts have not been mapped and thus pose a navigational danger. For instance, Muirfield Seamount is named after the ship that hit it in 1973. More recently, the submarine USS San Francisco ran into an uncharted seamount in 2005 at a speed of 35 knots (40.3 mph; 64.8 km/h), sustaining serious damage and killing one seaman. One major seamount risk

20124-417: The fish that feed on them aggregate, in turn falling prey to further predation, making seamounts important biological hotspots. Seamounts provide habitats and spawning grounds for these larger animals, including numerous fish. Some species, including black oreo (Allocyttus niger) and blackstripe cardinalfish (Apogon nigrofasciatus) , have been shown to occur more often on seamounts than anywhere else on

20296-410: The following: Between the 2007 and 2017 censuses, the population of residents of the Marquesas Islands born in Tahiti rose by 50.5% (from 1,810 at the 2007 census to 2,726 at the 2017), and as a result, they made up 29.2% of the population in 2017. A lot of these arrivals from Tahiti, however, are children of Marquesans who had migrated to Tahiti and given birth there, and whose children are returning to

20468-858: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,

20640-818: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being

20812-445: The greatest danger from seamounts are flank collapses; as they get older, extrusions seeping in the seamounts put pressure on their sides, causing landslides that have the potential to generate massive tsunamis . Seamounts can be found in every ocean basin in the world, distributed extremely widely both in space and in age. A seamount is technically defined as an isolated rise in elevation of 1,000 m (3,281 ft) or more from

20984-463: The group fall naturally into two geographical divisions. One is the northern group, consisting of Eiao , Hatutu ( Hatutaa ), Motu One , and the islands surrounding the large island of Nuku Hiva : Motu Iti , also called Hatu Iti ; Ua Pou ; Motu Oa ; and Ua Huka ). The other is the southern group, consisting of Fatu Uku , Tahuata , Moho Tani ( Motane ), Terihi , Fatu Hiva , and Motu Nao (also called Thomasset Rock), which are clustered around

21156-413: The island is in the northern Marquesas group, the dialects show more morphological and phonological affinities with South Marquesan. The North Marquesan dialects are sometimes considered to be two separate languages: North Marquesan and Tai Pi Marquesan , the latter being spoken in the valleys of the eastern third of the island of Nuku Hiva, in the ancient province of Tai Pi . The most striking feature of

21328-447: The islands have valleys that empty into small bays, they are remarkable for their mountain ridges, which end abruptly in cliffs at the edge of the sea. Temperatures in the Marquesas are stable all year round. Precipitation is highly variable: greater in the northern and eastern (windward) coastal areas and mountains, averaging 2,500 millimetres (98 in) annually; much lower in the western (leeward) areas. Average annual precipitation in

21500-450: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French

21672-474: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon

21844-602: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,

22016-497: The last few decades. Before consistent conservation efforts can begin, the seamounts of the world must first be mapped , a task that is still in progress. Overfishing is a serious threat to seamount ecological welfare. There are several well-documented cases of fishery exploitation, for example the orange roughy ( Hoplostethus atlanticus ) off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand and the pelagic armorhead ( Pseudopentaceros richardsoni ) near Japan and Russia. The reason for this

22188-475: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what

22360-756: The long run, despite the obstacles. They even managed to baptize King Moana of Nuku Hiva who, however, would die of smallpox in 1863. The missionaries of all denominations did their best to eradicate the traditional culture in any way possible. Not only were the Christians disapproving of the long-enjoyed consumption of kava , the ancient and sacred tattoo artwork, and general dancing and traditional music, but they were especially horrified by tribal fertility /virility rites and skull dissection . However, they also tried – and finally succeeded – putting an end to cannibalism , human sacrifice and constant tribal warfare. French and Tahitian are

22532-481: The lowest is 560 millimetres (22 in). The first recorded settlers of the Marquesas were Polynesians who arrived from West Polynesia, descendants of the Lapita Culture . Early attempts to carbon-date evidence from the site suggested they arrived before 100 AD, with other estimates proposing settlement from 600 AD, but several more recent independent studies suggest that they arrived more recently. For example,

22704-472: The main island of Hiva ʻOa . The Marquesas are among the largest island groups in French Polynesia. Their combined land area is 1,049 square kilometres (405 sq mi). One of the islands in the group, Nuku Hiva, is the second-largest island in the entire territory (after Tahiti ). With the exception of Motu One, all the islands of the Marquesas are of volcanic origin. Although Polynesia tends to be associated with images of lush tropical vegetation, and

22876-516: The most common, and least understood, marine structures and biomes on Earth, a sort of exploratory frontier. Most seamounts are built by one of two volcanic processes, although some, such as the Christmas Island Seamount Province near Australia, are more enigmatic. Volcanoes near plate boundaries and mid-ocean ridges are built by decompression melting of rock in the upper mantle . The lower density magma rises through

23048-408: The natural resources in the islands has historically supported a large population. The inhabitants historically made a living by fishing, collecting shellfish, hunting birds, and gardening. They relied heavily on breadfruit but raised at least 32 other introduced crops. Hard evidence of significant pre-European interarchipelago trade has been found in basalt from the Marquesan quarry island of Eiao. It

23220-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by

23392-470: The ocean floor. Marine mammals , sharks , tuna , and cephalopods all congregate over seamounts to feed, as well as some species of seabirds when the features are particularly shallow. Seamounts often project upwards into shallower zones more hospitable to sea life, providing habitats for marine species that are not found on or around the surrounding deeper ocean bottom. Because seamounts are isolated from each other they form "undersea islands" creating

23564-470: The ocean makes up 70% of Earth's surface area, technological challenges have severely limited the extent of deep sea mining . But with the constantly decreasing supply on land, some mining specialists see oceanic mining as the destined future, and seamounts stand out as candidates. Seamounts are abundant, and all have metal resource potential because of various enrichment processes during the seamount's life. An example for epithermal gold mineralization on

23736-471: The official languages of all of French Polynesia, but the Marquesan languages, in their various forms, remain the primary means of communication among residents within this archipelago. In addition, knowledge of French is now almost universal among residents of the Marquesas Islands (see census data below). Marquesan is a collection of East-Central Polynesian language dialects, of the Marquesic group, spoken in

23908-574: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;

24080-496: The only elected councils in the Marquesas since there does not exist a provincial or regional assembly for the entire archipelago (the community council of the CODIM ( community of communes of the Marquesas Islands) is not directly elected by local residents, but is only made up of delegates chosen by the municipal councils of the six communes). Municipal elections are held every six years on the same day as municipal elections in

24252-528: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of

24424-462: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French

24596-536: The primary ecological havens on the seamount is its deep sea coral garden, and many of the specimens noted were over a century old. Following the expansion of knowledge on the seamount there was extensive support to make it a marine sanctuary , a motion that was granted in 2008 as part of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary . Much of what is known about seamounts ecologically is based on observations from Davidson. Another such seamount

24768-654: The resource was depleted within four years. The islands were a popular port of call for whaling ships in the Age of Sail . The first on record to visit was the Hope , in April 1791. The last known such visitor was the American whaler Alaska in February 1907. In 1842, France conducted a successful military operation in support of the native chief Iotete 's claim that he was king of the whole island of Tahuata. The French government then laid claim to

24940-464: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in

25112-417: The rest of France (see 2020 French municipal elections for the last municipal elections). Each municipal council then selects delegates among its members to sit in the community council of the CODIM in Atuona (on the island of Hiva Oa ). The areas and populations of the communes at the 2012 Census were as follows: The places of birth of the 9,346 residents of the Marquesas Islands at the 2017 census were

25284-399: The right technology available, only a scant 1% of the total number have been explored, and sampling and information remains biased towards the top 500 m (1,640 ft). New species are observed or collected and valuable information is obtained on almost every submersible dive at seamounts. Before seamounts and their oceanographic impact can be fully understood, they must be mapped,

25456-439: The same biogeographical interest. As they are formed from volcanic rock , the substrate is much harder than the surrounding sedimentary deep sea floor. This causes a different type of fauna to exist than on the seafloor, and leads to a theoretically higher degree of endemism . However, recent research especially centered at Davidson Seamount suggests that seamounts may not be especially endemic, and discussions are ongoing on

25628-720: The seafloor is Conical Seamount, located about 8 km south of Lihir Island in Papua New Guinea. Conical Seamount has a basal diameter of about 2.8 km and rises about 600 m above the seafloor to a water depth of 1050 m. Grab samples from its summit contain the highest gold concentrations yet reported from the modern seafloor (max. 230 g/t Au, avg. 26 g/t, n=40). Iron - manganese , hydrothermal iron oxide , sulfide , sulfate , sulfur , hydrothermal manganese oxide , and phosphorite (the latter especially in parts of Micronesia) are all mineral resources that are deposited upon or within seamounts. However, only

25800-475: The seamount moves with the tectonic plate towards a subduction zone . Here it is subducted under the plate margin and ultimately destroyed, but it may leave evidence of its passage by carving an indentation into the opposing wall of the subduction trench. The majority of seamounts have already completed their eruptive cycle, so access to early flows by researchers is limited by late volcanic activity. Ocean-ridge volcanoes in particular have been observed to follow

25972-529: The seamount's life. In addition soft sediments tend to accumulate on seamounts, which are typically populated by polychaetes ( annelid marine worms ) oligochaetes ( microdrile worms), and gastropod mollusks ( sea slugs ). Xenophyophores have also been found. They tend to gather small particulates and thus form beds, which alters sediment deposition and creates a habitat for smaller animals. Many seamounts also have hydrothermal vent communities, for example Suiyo and Kamaʻehuakanaloa seamounts. This

26144-426: The six communes. Most of the CODIM's budget has been spent on drafting a blueprint for local economic development, but the CODIM has neither the power nor the financial means to implement the blueprint and build the required infrastructure. The public auditor has called for an expansion of the powers and financial resources of the CODIM. Administratively, the Marquesas Islands form a deconcentrated subdivision of both

26316-678: The smallest seamounts found in the Arctic Ocean and the Mediterranean and Black Seas; whilst the largest mean seamount size, 890 km (340 sq mi), occurs in the Indian Ocean . The largest seamount has an area of 15,500 km (6,000 sq mi) and it occurs in the North Pacific. Guyots cover a total area of 707,600 km (273,200 sq mi) and have an average area of 2,500 km (970 sq mi), more than twice

26488-433: 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 colonized 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

26660-442: The surrounding seafloor, and with a limited summit area, of conical form. There are more than 14,500 seamounts. In addition to seamounts, there are more than 80,000 small knolls , ridges and hills less than 1,000 m in height in the world's oceans. Most seamounts are volcanic in origin, and thus tend to be found on oceanic crust near mid-ocean ridges , mantle plumes , and island arcs . Overall, seamount and guyot coverage

26832-462: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In

27004-673: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French

27176-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by

27348-425: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of

27520-422: The water, attract plankton , corals , fish, and marine mammals alike. Their aggregational effect has been noted by the commercial fishing industry , and many seamounts support extensive fisheries. There are ongoing concerns on the negative impact of fishing on seamount ecosystems, and well-documented cases of stock decline, for example with the orange roughy ( Hoplostethus atlanticus ). 95% of ecological damage

27692-577: The whole island group and established a settlement on Nuku Hiva. That settlement was abandoned in 1857, but France re-established control over the group in 1870. It later incorporated the Marquesas into French Polynesia . The indigenous people of the Marquesas suffered high death rates from diseases carried by Western explorers, such as smallpox and measles , because none of them had any immunity to them. The Marquesas lost more people to death from these diseases than any other island group in Polynesia. The population shrank from over 78,000 inhabitants in

27864-481: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of

28036-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as

28208-411: Was a dispersal of migrants to all the remaining Marquesas islands between about 1190 and 1290 AD. This relatively rapid colonisation is believed to account for the "remarkable uniformity of East Polynesian culture, biology and language". A different study, published in 2014, suggested that the date of first settlement in the Marquesas was somewhat earlier: between around 900 and 1000 AD. The richness of

28380-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French

28552-531: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but

28724-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul

28896-469: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates

29068-452: Was no more successful. William Patterson Alexander (1805–1864), Benjamin Parker (1803–1877), and Richard Armstrong (1805–1860) arrived in the Marquesas in 1834 from Hawaii with their wives and a three-month-old baby. They returned the same year. In 1853, more missionaries led by James Kekela (1824–1904) arrived at Fatu Hiva with their wives from Hawaii, but were unable to remain there because of clashes with Catholic missionaries arriving on

29240-822: Was published in 2008. The effect that seamounts have on fish populations has not gone unnoticed by the commercial fishing industry . Seamounts were first extensively fished in the second half of the 20th century, due to poor management practices and increased fishing pressure seriously depleting stock numbers on the typical fishing ground, the continental shelf . Seamounts have been the site of targeted fishing since that time. Nearly 80 species of fish and shellfish are commercially harvested from seamounts, including spiny lobster (Palinuridae), mackerel (Scombridae and others), red king crab ( Paralithodes camtschaticus ), red snapper ( Lutjanus campechanus ), tuna (Scombridae), Orange roughy ( Hoplostethus atlanticus ), and perch (Percidae). The ecological conservation of seamounts

29412-411: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of

29584-437: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,

#10989