History of Tuvalu

The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians, so the origins of the people of Tuvalu can be traced to the spread of humans out of Southeast Asia, from Taiwan, via Melanesia and across the Pacific islands of Polynesia. Various names were given to individual islands by the captains and chartmakers on visiting European ships. In 1819 the island of Funafuti, was named Ellice Island; the name Ellice Islands was later applied to all nine islands, after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay.

From Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA. More on occurri.