Mar·que·sas Islands 
(mär-kāzəz, -səz, -səs)
(mär-kāzəz, -səz, -səs) A volcanic archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean, part of French Polynesia. Portions of the Marquesas were claimed for Spain in 1595 and for the United States in 1791, but France took definitive possession of the archipelago in 1842.