First sighting recorded by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of
Pedro Fernández de Quirós on 4 February 1606. They were named Cuatro Coronas ("Four Crowns" in Spanish). Gaspar González de Leza, pilot of Fernández de Quiros, charted them as Cuatro Anegadas ("Flooded Four"). They were renamed Duke of Gloucester Islands by the British explorer
Philip Carteret, who visited them in 1767, in honour of
Prince William, Duke of Gloucester. ==Administration==