The Marquesas Islands are part of French Polynesia. They are a group of about 10 volcanic islands in the South Pacific Ocean which are inhabited by Polynesians. The Polynesians are the original settlers of the islands in the South Eastern Pacific Ocean, they crossed large distances in their canoes and gradually moved from one island to another.

The islanders mainly fish and grow crops such as bananas and sweet potatoes to feed themselves. One of the main exports from the Marquesas Islands is copra. Copra is dried coconut meat. See the Oxford University Press diagram from Living Library to find out about the different parts of a coconut.

Copyright (c) George Philip Ltd. 1998

From the Marquesas Islands, Loquax will head for Tahiti in the Society Islands. The voyage will take them through the Tuamotu Archipelago and past more South Pacific islands.