Tahiti
The fertile soil combined with fishing provided food.
Although the first European sighting of the islands was by a Spanish ship in 1606, Spain made no effort to trade with or colonise the island. Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sighted Tahiti on 18 June 1767, and is considered the first European visitor.
The relaxed and contented nature of the people and the characterisation of the island as a paradise impressed early Europeans, planting the seed for a romanticisation by the West that endures to this day.
Wallis was followed in April 1768 by the French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, completing the first French circumnavigation. Bougainville made Tahiti famous in Europe when he published Voyage autour du monde.
His account illustrated the concept of the noble savage, and influenced utopian thoughts of philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau before the French Revolution.
Tahitian girl wearing a hau; engraving after Alfred Thomas Agate
In April 1769 Captain James Cook visited the island on secret orders from the Lords of the Admiralty to view the Transit of Venus on 2 June. He set up camp at Matavai Bay and stayed on until 9 August.
The best-known was HMS Bounty, whose crew mutinied after leaving Tahiti in 1789. The European influence disrupted traditional society, bringing prostitution, venereal disease, alcohol, and Christianity.
The London Missionary Society, founded in 1795, instructed its Tahitian missionaries to intervene in what they saw as wretched conditions and demonic influence. Introduced diseases including typhus, influenza and smallpox killed so many Tahitians that by 1797, the population was only 16,000. So, he sent four expeditions within the period 1772-1775, but Charles III of Spain finally cancelled the mission as a consequence of his secular policy.
Most notable of theese expeditions was the drafting of a Diary by a soldier of the Marine named Maximo Rodriguez, covering a period of 12 months, revealing many ethnological details about the Tahitians of eighteenth century.
In November 1835 Charles Darwin visited Tahiti aboard the HMS Beagle on her circumnavigation, captained by Robert FitzRoy. He was impressed by the positive influence the missionaries had had on the sobriety and moral character of the government heads he met.
Darwin praised the scenery, but was not flattering towards Tahiti's Queen Pomare IV. In 1839 the island was visited by the United States Exploring Expedition; one of its members, Alfred Thomas Agate, produced a number of sketches of Tahitian life, some of which were later published in the United States.
In 1842, a European crisis involving Morocco escalated between France and Great Britain when Admiral Dupetit Thouars, acting independently of the French government, convinced Tahiti's Queen Pomare IV to accept a French protectorate.
However he returned to work towards indoctrinating the locals against the Roman Catholic French. He then threw Pritchard into prison, subsequently sending him back to Britain.
Dupetit Thouars taking over Tahiti on September 9, 1842.
News of Tahiti reached Europe in early 1844.
The French statesman François Guizot, supported by King Louis-Philippe of France, had denounced annexation of the island. The island remained a French protectorate until June 29, 1880, when King Pomare V (1842–1891) was forced to cede the sovereignty of Tahiti and its dependencies to France.
Papeari has a small Gauguin museum.
During the First World War, the Papeete region of the island was attacked by two German warships. He would keep an open door to a possible referendum in the future.
Elections for the Assembly of French Polynesia, the Territorial Assembly of French Polynesia, were held on May 23, 2004 (see French Polynesian legislative election, 2004).
A controversy is whether the national government of France should use its power to call for new elections in a local government in case of a political crisis.
Demographics
Further information: Tahitians
The people are of Polynesian (Pacific Islander) ancestry, so-called Demis, as well as of European ancestry and the people of East Asian (essentially Chinese) ancestry are concentrated in Tahiti, making up a larger share of the population in Tahiti than in French Polynesia overall (see Demographics section at French Polynesia). Most people from metropolitan France live in Papeete and its suburbs, notably Punaauia where they make up almost 20% of the population.
Two Tahitian girls with a hibiscus flower
Historical population
Tahitian coast
Tourism is a significant industry, mostly to the islands of Bora Bora and Moorea.
In July, the Heiva festival in Papeete celebrates Polynesian culture and the commemoration of the storming of the Bastille in Paris.
After the establishment of the CEP (Centre d'Experimentation du Pacifique) in 1963, the standard of living in French Polynesia increased considerably and many Polynesians abandoned traditional activities and many emigrated to the centre at Papeete. Even though the standard of living is elevated (due mainly to France's FDI investment), the economy is reliant on imports.
Tahiti also exports vanilla, fruits, flowers, monoi, fish, copra oil, and noni.
Unemployment affects about 13% of the active population, especially women and unqualified young people.
Tahiti’s currency, the French Pacific Franc (CFP, also known as XPF), is pegged to the Euro at 1 CFP = EUR .00838 (approx. Many courses are available such as law, commerce, science and literature.
Dance
Tahitian training a ʻupaʻupa dance
One of the most widely recognised images of the islands is the world famous Tahitian dance.
The ʻōteʻa, sometimes written as otea, is a traditional dance from Tahiti, where the dancers, standing in several rows, execute different figures. This dance, easily recognized by its "fast hip-shaking," and "grass skirts" is often confused with the Hawaiian hula, a generally slower more graceful dance which focuses more on the hands and story telling than the hips.
The ʻōteʻa is one of the few dances which already existed in pre-European times as a male dance.
Or it can be the pahu, the ancient Tahitian standing drum covered with a shark skin and struck by the hands or with sticks. For the men the themes can be chosen from warfare or sailing, and then they may use spears or paddles.
For women the themes are closer to home or from nature, combing their hair, or the flight of a butterfly for example. The Moorea Ferry is also a notable ferry that operates from Papeete.
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