Ouvéa Atoll is divided into customary districts with a rich ethnocultural and religious heritage linked to the island's initial Polynesian and Melanesian double settlement. The chiefdom of Mouli, in the south, is of Polynesian origin while the central tribes around Fayaoué are Melanesian and those of the north have mixed origins. The population density of 26 inhab/km2 gives pride of place to the uninhabited spaces.