The Cook Islands are a group of 15 islands and atolls located in the South Pacific, with Tonga to the west and the Society Islands of French Polynesia to the east. The islands are divided into two groups: the Northern Group, which consists of Manihiki, Nassau, Penryhn, Pukapuka, Rakahanga, and Suwarrow, and the Southern Group, which includes Aitutaki, Atiu, Mangala, Manuae, Mauke, Mitiaro, Palmerston, Rarotonga, and Takutea. The Southern Group is considered "high" islands and are of volcanic origin, while the Northern Group is made up of sunken volcanoes. The majority of the population lives in the Southern Group, but Takutea and Manuae are uninhabited.
Possession Island is a small island in the Torres Strait Islands group off the coast of far northern Queensland, Australia. It is part of Possession Island National Park, an area of 5.10 square kilometers (1.97 sq mi) that also includes Eborac Island. The island is inhabited by a group of Torres Strait Islanders called the Kaurareg, and it is also the location where British navigator Lieutenant James Cook claimed possession of the entire east coast he had explored for Britain in 1770. The Torres Strait Islands are an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait, a waterway separating far northern continental Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. The islands are inhabited by the indigenous Torres Strait Islanders, and Lieutenant James Cook first claimed British sovereignty over the eastern part of Australia at Possession Island in 1770. The islands are now mostly part of Queensland, Australia.