Tony Lang, age 14, of McAllen, Texas, for his question:

WHO DISCOVERED THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS?

The Marquesas Islands are a group of 11 volcanic islands which lie about 740 miles northeast of Tahiti in the South Pacific. They belong to France and were discovered in 1595 by a Spanish explorer named Alvaro de Mendana. Later on, Captain James Cook, Joseph Ingraham and others explored the islands.

The islands cover an area of only 492 square miles and the entire population numbers just over 5,000. The capital is Atuona on an island called Hiva Oa. The people are actually governed from Papeete in Tahiti.

Once the Marquesas were populated by at least 100,000 Polynesians. They are related to the Tahitians but have a civilization of their own. After contact with white men, diseases killed most of the Polynesians. Others left for other South Pacific Islands.

The Marquesas have a healthful climate with variable rainfall. The chief crops include breadfruit, taro, bananas, sweet potatoes and coconuts. The chief export is copra, the dried meat of coconuts.