Society Islands

So·ci·e·ty Islands  (s-s-t)

An island group of French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean east of Samoa. The group is made up of the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands. First visited by a Portuguese navigator in the early 17th century, the islands were claimed for France by Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768 and named by Capt. James Cook in 1769. They became a French protectorate in 1843 and a part of the overseas territory of French Polynesia in 1946.

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Society Islands

pl n

(Placename) a group of islands in the S Pacific: administratively part of French Polynesia; consists of the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands; became a French protectorate in 1843 and a colony in 1880. Pop.: 189 524 (1996). Area: 1595 sq. km (616 sq. miles)

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Society Islands - an island group of French Polynesia in the South Pacific to the east of Samoa French Oceania, French Polynesia - a French overseas possession in the South Pacific Tahiti - an island in the south Pacific; the most important island in French Polynesia; made famous by Robert Louis Stevenson and Paul Gauguin