Nancy Rohloff, age 14, of Biloxi, Miss., for her question:

WHERE ARE THE SOCIETY ISLANDS?

The Society Islands is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands lie slightly northeast of the Cook Islands, about 4,200 miles southwest of San Francisco.

An explorer named Samuel Wallis claimed the islands for Great Britain in 1767 but another explorer, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, claimed them for France in 1768.

The Society Islands became a French protectorate in 1842 and a colony in 1880.

There are 14 islands in the group. Tahiti and Raiatea are the largest islands.

The Society Islands cover an area of 646 square miles and have a population of about 82,000 people.

Ancient volcanoes on the Society Islands form many high peaks, making the land rough and mountainous. Some of the islands are low atolls and are used as fishing centers.

The capital of the island group is the busy seaport of Papeete, on Tahiti. The people of the islands are Polynesians. Many of them fish and dive for pearls.