The Tuamotus or the Tuamotu Archipelago (French: Îles Tuamotu, officially Archipel des Tuamotu) are a French Polynesian chain of almost 80 islands and atolls, stretching from the northwest to the southeast over an area of the southern Pacific Ocean roughly the size of Western Europe, with a land area of 850 square kilometres (328 square miles) and 16,000 inhabitants, forming the largest chain of atolls in the world. Its major islands are Anaa, Fakarava, Hao and Makemo.