History of the Pacific Islands was the first European to sail through the islands and sighted Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis. European explorers did not return until two centuries later. In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellice's Island; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay (1812–1876). The islands came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century, when each of the Ellice Islands was declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson R.N., of HMS "Curacoa", between 9 and 16 October 1892. The Ellice Islands were administered
Top-level domain the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and is in charge of maintaining the DNS root zone. IANA currently distinguishes the following groups of top-level domains: domain (.arpa) Originally, the top-level domain space was organized into three main groups: "Countries", "Categories", and "Multiorganizations". An additional "temporary" group consisted of only the initial DNS domain, arpa, and was intended for transitional purposes toward the stabilization of the domain name system. As of 2015, IANA distinguishes the following groups of top-level domains: Countries are designated in the Domain Name System by their two-letter ISO country code; there are exceptions, however (e.g., .uk). This