French Polynesia

Polynésie française Porinetia Farani
Motto: Tahiti Nui Mare'are'a
Anthem: La Marseillaise
Location of French Polynesia
Capital (and largest city)		Papeete
Official languages		French, Tahitian
Government		Dependent territory
-	President of F.P.	Oscar Temaru
Overseas territory
-	Bastille Day	14 July 1789
Area
-	Total	4,167 km² (~164th) 1,609 sq mi
-	Water (%)	12
Population
-	July 2006 estimate	260,338 (180th)
-	November 2002 census	245,405
GDP (PPP)		2003 estimate
-	Total	$4.58 billion (162nd)
-	Per capita	$17,500 (2003 est.) (59th)
Currency		CFP franc (XPF)
Time zone		(UTC-10)
Internet TLD		.pf
Calling code		+689

French Polynesia, or as it is known in Tahitian Porinetia Farani) is a French "overseas country" in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island, and the seat of the capital of the territory (Papeete). Although not an integral part of its territory, Clipperton Island is administered from French Polynesia.

Geography

French Polynesia is an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean, about half way between South America and Australia. It is made up of 118 islands and atolls, the largest and most populated of which is Tahiti, and has a total land area of 4167 square kilometerss.

The island groups are: Austral Islands, Bass Islands often considered part of the Austral Islands, Gambier Islands often considered part of the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Marquesas Islands, theSociety Islands (including Tahiti), and the Tuamotu Archipelago.

Aside from Tahiti, important atolls and islands, and island groups in French Polynesia include Bora Bora, Hiva `Oa, Huahine, Maiao, Maupiti, Mehetia, Moorea, Nuku Hiva, Raiatea, Tahaa, Tetiaroa, Tubuai, and Tupai.

Makatea in French Polynesia is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean, the others being Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Nauru.

French Polynesia has a tropical but moderate climate, with an average temperature of 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit). There is a warm rainy season from November to April and a cool dry season from May to October. Marquesas Islands are the driest, and the Tubuai Islands are the wettest.

The terrain is a mixture of low islands with reefs, and rugged high islands, the highest point being Mont Orohena, 2241 meters.

Natural resources include timber, fish, cobalt, and hydropower. Forests and woodland make 31 percent of land, one percent is arable land, six percent permanent crops, five percent permanent pastures, and 57 percent is classified as “other.”

Natural hazards include occasional cyclonic storms in January. French Polynesia is located in an area of high seismic activity.

History

Polynesians from Tonga and Samoa settled the Marquesas Islands were settled around 300 C.E., archaeological evidence suggests. British explorer Samuel Wallis came upon what is now Tahiti in 1767. French navigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville followed soon after, and Captain James Cook arrived in 1769. Cook named Tahiti and called its surrounding islands the Society Islands after his sponsor, Britain’s Royal Society.

William Bligh in 1814, some years after the mutiny

Lieutenant William Bligh and the crew of the HMS Bounty reached Tahiti in October 1788 to pick up breadfruit plants, and transport them to the West Indies in hopes that they would grow well there and become a cheap source of food for slaves. Bligh and his crew spent five months in Tahiti, then called “Otaheite,” collecting and preparing a total of 1015 breadfruit plants. Bligh allowed the crew to live ashore and care for the potted breadfruit plants, and they became socialised to the customs and culture of the Tahitians. Many of the seamen and some of the "young gentlemen" had themselves tattooed in native fashion. Master's Mate and Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian married Maimiti, a Tahitian woman. Other warrant officers and seamen of the Bounty were also said to have formed "connections" with Tahitian women.

Members of the London Missionary Society, who arrived in 1796, were the first European settlers. France annexed the islands beginning in the 1840s.

The port town of Papeete grew as the main economic, administrative, and religious centre in the early twentieth century. The island of Bora-Bora in the Society Islands became a refuelling station for United States forces in the Second World War.

The colony became an overseas territory of France in 1946. In 1966, France began a nuclear testing programme on uninhabited islands in the Tuamotu Archipelago. A push for greater autonomy throughout the 1970s and 1980s resulted in several statutes that gave the territorial government more power.

Tahiti’s high prices and international anti-nuclear sentiment caused the tourism industry to decline in the early 1990s. In September 1995, France stirred up widespread protests by resuming nuclear testing at Fangataufa atoll after a three-year moratorium. The last test was on January 27th, 1996. The French government signed, in March 1996, the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty, which banned nuclear testing in the region. Widespread unemployment resulted, and France promised to contribute economic aid to help the territory diversify its economy.

Politics

In a plebiscite held in 1958, the islands voted for the status of an overseas territory within the French community. Between 2003 and early 2004, the islands were classed as an overseas collectivity of France. However, in 2004 the islands were granted the new designation of “overseas country”, which gives an increased amount of autonomy to the territory.

The politics of French Polynesia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democracy. As a French overseas collectivity, the President of French Polynesia is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the 49-member Assembly of French Polynesia. Representatives are elected by universal adult suffrage, and the collectivity is represented in both houses of the French National Assembly.

French Polynesia has five administrative subdivisions: the Society Islands (Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands), the Marquesas Islands, the Austral Islands (including the Bass Islands}, the Tuamotus, and the Gambier Islands.

Map of French Polynesia, from the library of UTX

The conservative government led by Gaston Flosse of the pro-autonomy Tahoeraa Huiraatira (People’s Rally for the Republic Party) came to power in 1982 and dominated the islands’ politics in the late 20th century. In 2004, when granted the status of “overseas country,” Flosse became French Polynesia’s first president. Legislative elections were held in May of that year, and Flosse’s party was ousted from power by a progressive coalition led by pro-independence candidate Oscar Temaru. However, less than five months later, amid much controversy, fresh parliamentary elections were held and Flosse restored himself as president. Temaru contested the vote and after a series of negotiations was returned to power in March 2005.

As an overseas territory of France, defence and law-enforcement are provided by the French military.

Economy

Since 1962, when France stationed military personnel in the region, French Polynesia changed from a subsistence economy to one in which a high proportion of the work force was either employed by the military or supports the tourism industry. By year 2006, French Polynesia had a moderately developed economy, which is dependent on imported goods, tourism, and the financial assistance of mainland France. Tourist facilities are well developed and are available on the major islands. Tourism accounts for about one-fourth of GDP and is a primary source of hard currency earnings. Also, as the noni fruit from these islands is discovered for its medicinal uses, people have been able to find jobs related to this agricultural industry.

The legal tender currency of French Polynesia is the CFP franc. Many merchants have been reported to accept other currencies readily, but many tourists have been disappointed and inconvenienced through assuming they can use US dollars. Few merchants actually wish to bother to calculate the current exchange rate and then make the foreign exchange at a bank.

French Polynesia’s per capita GDP was US17,500 in 2003. The territory received $US367-million in economic aid in 1997. Agriculture products included coconuts, vanilla, vegetables, fruits, poultry, beef, and dairy products.

Exports totalled $US211-million in 2004. Export commodities included cultured pearls 50 percent, coconut products, mother-of-pearl, vanilla, and shark meat. Export partners were France 45.8 percent, Japan 20.6 percent, Niger 13.2 percent, United States 12.4 percent.

In the mid-1990s French Polynesia was producing more than 95 per cent of the world’s supply of cultured pearls.

Imports totalled $US1706-million in 2005. Import commodities included fuels, foodstuffs, equipment. Import partners were France 51.9 percent, Singapore 14.7 percent, New Zealand 7.5 percent, and the United States 6.5 percent.

While most major roads are paved and well-maintained, many secondary roads are not. Traffic is brisk and all types of vehicles and pedestrians jockey for space on narrow streets.

Demographics

Total population at the 2002 census was 245,405 inhabitants, 83 percent of whom are Polynesian, local French six percent, metropolitan French 4 percent, other Europeans two percent, East Asian (mainly Chinese) five percent. In 2002, 69 percent of the population of French Polynesia lived in the island of Tahiti. The urban area of Papeete, the capital city, had 127,635 inhabitants.

French Polynesia is a Christian territory. Fifty four percent are Protestant, 30 percent Roman Catholic, and 16 percent are listed as “other.”

French is one official language, as is Tahitian. Other languages with only local (if any official) status are Marquesan, Puka-Pukan, Tuamotuan, Mangarevan, Tubuaian, and Rapan.

Regarding literacy, 98 percent aged 14 and over can read and write. France provides education. The University of French Polynesia, a small university of around 2000 students, is located in Faa'a, Tahiti.

Culture

The Christian missionaries tried to wipe out traditional Polynesian culture by levelling temples, destroying carvings, and banning tattoos and heady, erotic dancing. But some traditional ways survived, and in the late twentieth century there was a strong push to rediscover traditional arts.

Traditional musical instruments include “pahu” and “toere” drums and the curious nose flute called a “vivo.” Guitars and ukuleles made their way into Polynesia and the locals developed a unique song style that owes much to country and western music in form but has a distinctive South Pacific island groove. Customary dancing (“tamure”) has slowly returned, but the art of making “tapa” (bark paper and cloth), has all but disappeared. Tattooing is an integral part of the Tahitan culture. The western word “tattoo” is taken from the Tahiti word "tatau" meaning open wound. A tattoo represent a girl's sexual maturity, tribe rank and other social symbols. Tahiti woman would traditionally tattoo their loins and buttocks deep blue, taken up also by some of the HMS Bounty Mutineers during their wild extended stay on the islands. A traditional tattoo is made from a bone containing between three and 20 needles. The needles are then dipped in a pigment made from soot of burnt candlenut mixed with water and oil. The needle is tapped against the skin with a wooden stick causing the skin to be punctured. This practice was banned in 1986 but traditional artists developed a machine constructed from an electric shaver to avoid risk of disease and this practice is in place today. Designs used in the tattoos were often the same as the other decorative arts like wood- carving, decorated gourds and painted barkcloth. Each tribe would have its own design or body placement of familiar motif, lke the Maori tribes spiral pattern of a tree fern, unique in the Pacific. Tattoos are ancestral and tribespeople do not like to parade their tattoos to outsiders. A higher-ranking individual would have more tattoos that an ordinary tribesman.

Dress standards in French Polynesia are relaxed, even in the classiest restaurants, and beach wear is often just from the waist down. Church is serious and Sunday is the day of worship, fully clothed.

The Polynesian concept of family is broader than in the west — cousins, uncles, and aunts make up the family, known as “fetii.” The family might also have adopted children, “faaamu,” and children are commonly entrusted to relatives or childless women.

French Polynesia has a unique culinary tradition, with old South Pacific cooking methods combining with French, Italian and Chinese cuisine. This appears in restaurants and in the cheap roadside mobile snack bars, “les roulottes.” Food is cooked in traditional pit ovens common throughout the Pacific. A hole is dug in the ground, stones are placed within it and then a fire is lit to heat the stones. The food, wrapped in banana leaves, is placed on top, and then the hole is filled in again with earth. The baking process takes several hours. In French Polynesia this kind of oven is called an “ahimaa,” and the feast is called a “tamaaraa.”

On Tahiti, Papeete is a cosmopolitan city with a strong western influence. Residents enjoy French cuisine. Food, most clothing and other goods are imported, largely from France. The cost of living in Papeete and other urban areas on Tahiti is high, by Pacific Island standards. The lifestyle is much slower on more remote islands, with more subsistence activities.

French national holidays are celebrated. Canoe racing and other water sports are popular. Tahitian music and dances have enthusiastic audiences.

French Polynesia has one of the lowest crime rates within France and its territories. However, petty crime, such as pocket picking and purse snatching, occurs.

Medical treatment is generally good, but is limited in areas that are more remote or less populated. Patients with emergencies or with serious illnesses are referred to Papeete, where two hospitals and several private clinics provide 24-hour medical service.

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