, a Catholic Church The first European vessel known to have come upon Nukunonu was the
Royal Navy ship , in 1791, whose captain,
Edward Edwards, named Duke of Clarence Island in honour of
Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews (1765-1837), the third son of
King George III and later king himself, as William IV. At the time, the
Pandora was searching for mutineers from . During the early 19th century, Nukunonu's inhabitants were converted to
Roman Catholicism by Samoan missionaries. In 1916, the Union Islands were annexed to the
Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony and then, in 1925, reassigned to the
Dominion of New Zealand under the administration of
Territory of Western Samoa. In 1979, as part of the
Treaty of Tokehega, the U.S. formally renounced its prior claim on Nukunonu and the other Tokelauan islands now under New Zealand sovereignty, and a
maritime boundary between Tokelau and
American Samoa was established. ==Demography==