Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, at {{coor dm|17|40|S|149|30|W|}}. The island had a population of 169,674 inhabitants at the 2002 census. (This makes it the most populated island of French Polynesia, holding 69% of the total population.) The capital is Papeete, on the northwest coast. Tahiti has also been historically known as Otaheite.

History

The native population is Polynesian, and is estimated to have settled on the island sometime between AD 300 and 800, although some estimates place the date earlier.

Related Topics:
Polynesia - 300 - 800

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The fertile island soil combined with fishing provided ample food for the population with ease. The perceived relaxed and contented nature of the local people and the characterization of the island as a paradise much impressed early European visitors, planting the seed for a romanticization by the West that endures to this day.

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Although the islands were first spotted by a Spanish ship in 1606, Spain made no effort to trade with or colonize the island. Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sighted Tahiti on June 18, 1767 and is considered the first European discoverer of the island.

Related Topics:
Spanish - 1606 - Samuel Wallis - English - June 18 - 1767

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Wallis was followed in April 1768 by the French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville who was completing the first French circumnavigation. Bougainville made Tahiti famous in Europe when he published the account of his travel in Voyage autour du Monde. He described the island as an earthly paradise where men and women live happily in innocence, away from the corruption of civilization. His account of the island powerfully illustrated the concept of the noble savage, and influenced the utopian thoughts of philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau before the advent of the French Revolution.

Related Topics:
Louis-Antoine de Bougainville - Voyage autour du Monde - Noble savage - Utopian - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - French Revolution

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In 1774 Captain James Cook visited the island, and estimated the population at that time to be some 200,000. This was probably too high; another estimate from the same period was 121,500.

Related Topics:
1774 - James Cook

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After Cook's visit, European ships landed on the island with ever greater frequency. The best-known of these ships was the HMS Bounty, whose crew mutinied shortly after leaving Tahiti in 1789. The European influence caused significant disruption to the traditional society, by bringing prostitution, venereal diseases, and alcohol to the island. Introduced diseases including typhus and smallpox killed so many Tahitians that by 1797, the island's population was only about 16,000. Later it was to drop as low as 6,000.

Related Topics:
Europe - HMS ''Bounty'' - 1789 - Prostitution - Venereal disease - Alcohol - Typhus - Smallpox - 1797

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In 1842 the kingdom of Tahiti was declared a French protectorate.

Related Topics:
1842 - French - Protectorate

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In 1880, King Pomare V (1842–1891) was forced to cede the sovereignty of Tahiti and its dependencies to France on 29 June, whereupon he was given the titular position of Officer of the Orders of the Legion of Honour and Agricultural Merit of France.

Related Topics:
1880 - Pomare V - 1842 - 1891 - France - 29 June - Officer of the Orders of the Legion of Honour - Agricultural Merit of France

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In 1946, Tahiti and the whole of French Polynesia, become a Territoire d'outre-mer (French overseas territory), and in 2003, this status was changed to that of Pays d'outre-mer.

Related Topics:
1946 - Territoire d'outre-mer - 2003 - Pays d'outre-mer

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French painter Paul Gauguin lived on Tahiti in the 1890s and painted many Tahitian subjects. Papeari has a small Gauguin museum.

Related Topics:
Paul Gauguin - 1890s

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