Following the mutiny on HMS "Bounty" on 28 April 1789, Captain William Bligh was the first westerner to sight this group of 20 islands, when Bligh's open-boat journey made the first passage by Europeans through the Fiji Islands. However, the Yasawas remained largely ignored by the wider world until the United States used them for communication outposts during World War II. On his way to Kupang, Captain Bligh and his crew became the first Europeans to visit several islands in the Fijian island group, which is why the sea area north of Viti Levu, which encloses Monuriki, is named "Bligh Water". Bligh Water, together with the Koro Sea, are situated in the middle of the map of Fiji and more or less separate the north of the country from the south.