Tahiti

Map of French Polynesia

Map of Tahiti and Moorea

View of Raiatea Mountain. The mummies of Tahitian rulers were formerly deposited on this mountain, traditionally considered holy.

Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The capital is Papeete, on the northwest coast. Tahiti has also been historically known as "Otaheite." This lush tropical destination, described in the eighteenth century as an earthly paradise, has been a magnet for artists and writers over the years, and continues to be a favored spot for tourists.

Geography

Tahiti is some 28 miles (45 kilometers) long at the widest point and covers 404 square miles (1048 square kilometers), with the highest elevation being at 7352 feet (2241 meters) above sea level (Mount Orohena). The island consists of two roughly round areas centered on volcanic mountains, connected by a short isthmus named after the small town of Taravao, located there.

The northwestern part is known as Tahiti Nui ("big Tahiti"), and the southeastern part, much smaller, is known as Tahiti Iti ("small Tahiti"). Whereas Tahiti Nui is quite heavily populated (especially around Papeete) and benefits from rather good infrastructure such as roads and highways, Tahiti Iti has remained quite isolated, its southeastern half (Te Pari) being accessible only by boat or hiking.

The vegetation is lush rain forest. The warmer rainy season is November through April; temperatures average 75 F to 88 F (24 C to 31 C). The dry season temperatures average 68 F to 82 F (20 C to 28 C). The fertile island soil combined with fishing provided ample food for the population.

The urban area of Papeete had a total population of 127,635 inhabitants at the 2002 census. Herman Melville was imprisoned in Papeete in 1842; his experiences there became the basis for the novel "Omoo." Paul Gauguin journeyed to Papeete in 1891 and, except for a two-year period in 1893-1895, never returned to France. He painted many Tahitian subjects. Papeari has a small Gauguin museum. Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry Adams also spent time in Papeete in 1891.

Papeete's international airport, Faa'a International Airport, was completed and opened in 1962.

History

The native population is Polynesian, and is estimated to have settled on the island sometime between 300 C.E. and 800 C.E.

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 visitor to the island.

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.

In 1774, Captain James Cook visited the island, and estimated the population at that time to be about 200,000. Another estimate from the same period was 121,500. After Cook's visit, European ships landed on the island with ever greater frequency. The best-known of these ships was HMS Bounty, whose crew mutinied shortly after leaving Tahiti in 1789.

The European influence caused significant disruption to the traditional society, bringing prostitution, venereal diseases, and alcoholic beverages 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 fall to 6000.

Vista with Fautaua Fall, a waterfall some 183 m (600 ft) high. 1920 photo

In 1842, a European crisis involving Morocco escalated between France and Great Britain when Admiral Dupetit-Thouars, acting independently of the French government, was able to convince Tahiti's Queen Pomare IV to accept a French protectorate. George Pritchard, a Birmingham-born missionary and acting British Consul, had been away at the time of the agreement. However, he returned to indoctrinate the locals against the Roman Catholic French. In November 1843, Dupetit-Thouars (again completely on his own initiative) landed sailors on the island, formally annexing it to France. He then proceeded to imprison Pritchard and subsequently sent him, unceremoniously, back to Britain.

News of the events in Tahiti had reached Europe in early 1844. The French statesman François Guizot, supported by King Louis-Philippe of France, had strongly disclaimed the annexation of the island. However, war between the French and the Tahitians continued until 1847. 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. He was given the titular position of Officer of the Orders of the Legion of Honour and Agricultural Merit of France.

In 1946, Tahiti and the whole of French Polynesia became a French overseas territory. In 2003, this status was changed to that of overseas collectivity.

In September 1995, after the government of Jacques Chirac went ahead with plans to test a nuclear device off the shores of Moruroa Atoll, there was heavy rioting for three days in Papeete. The international airport was nearly destroyed, and 40 people were injured in the chaos.

Politics

Aerial view of Papeete area

Tahitians are French citizens with full civil and political rights. 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. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the 49-member Assembly of French Polynesia. The collectivity is represented in both houses of the French National Assembly. The French military provides defense and law-enforcement.

Economics

Papeete Waterfront

By 2006, French Polynesia had a moderately developed economy, which is dependent on imported goods, financial assistance from mainland France, and tourism, which accounts for about one-fourth of gross domestic product. The Heiva festival in Papeete, celebrating indigenous culture, and the commemoration of the storming of the Bastille in France, both of which take place annually in July, draw numerous tourists.

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

Exports totalled $US211 million in 2004. Export commodities included cultured pearls (50 percent), coconut products, mother-of-pearl, vanilla, and shark meat. Export partners are France (45.8 percent), Japan (20.6 percent), Niger (13.2 percent), and the United States (12.4 percent). Imports totalled $US1706 million in 2005. Import commodities included fuels, foodstuffs, and equipment. Import partners are France (51.9 percent), Singapore (14.7 percent), New Zealand (0.5 percent), and the United States (6.5 percent).

The legal tender currency of French Polynesia is the CFP franc.

Demographics

The island had a population of 169,674 inhabitants according to the 2002 census. Then, 69 percent of the population of French Polynesia lived on 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.”

Tahitian, is one of the two official languages of French Polynesia (along with French). It is an Eastern Polynesian language closely related to Rarotongan, New Zealand Māori, and Hawaiian.

Regarding literacy, 98 percent aged 14 and over can read and write. France provides education. Tahiti hosts a French university, the University of French Polynesia, which is a small university, with around 2000 students and about 60 researchers. Physicists Pascal Ortega (lightning studies) and Alessio Guarino (nonlinear physics) are among them. In the human sciences department, sociologist Laura Schuft deserves to be mentioned for her study on the integration of mainlander French workers in Tahiti.

Culture

Painting Tahitian Women on the Beach by Paul Gauguin - Musée d'Orsay

Tattooing is an integral part of 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. Tahitian woman would traditionally tattoo their loins and buttocks deep blue. 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.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the music of Tahiti was dominated by festivals called "heiva." Dancing was a vital part of Tahitian life then, and dances were used to celebrate, pray and mark almost every occasion of life. Professional dance troupes called “arioi” were common, and they moved around the various islands and communities dancing highly sensually and erotically.

In the early nineteenth century, however, colonial laws severely restricted these and other dances, which were considered immoral. Herman Melville celebrated one such dance (he called it the "lori-lori") for its sensuality. They were replaced instead by genres of Christian music such as “himene tarava.” The word “himene” is derived from the English word “hymn” (Tahiti was first colonized by the English). Likewise, the harmonies and tune characteristics of much of the music of Polynesia is western in style and derived originally from missionary influence via hymns and other church music. One unique quality of Polynesian music is the use of the sustained sixth chord in vocal music, though typically the sixth chord is not used in religious music

Traditional instruments include a conch-shell called the “pu” and a nose flute called the “vivo,” as well as numerous kinds of drums made from hollowed-out tree trunks and dog or shark skin.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Bligh, William, Christian, Edward, “The Bounty Mutiny,” Penguin Classic, 2001. ISBN 0140439161

“French Polynesia: A book of selected readings,” selected by Ron Crocombe and Nancy J. Pollack, the Institute of Pacific Studies, 1988. ISBN 9820200326

Kay, Robert F., “Hidden Tahiti,” Ulysses Print; 2nd edition, 1998. ISBN 1569751447

External links

• Guide to the Islands of Tahiti "True Tahiti," observed Dec. 17, 2006.
• Tahiti "About Polynesia," observed Dec. 17, 2006.
• French Polynesia and Tahiti Map, "Map South Pacific," observed Dec. 17, 2006.
• Tahiti Travel Guide "South Pacific Organizer, observed Dec. 17, 2006.
• Tahiti"CIA World Factbook," (2006).
• Tahiti observed Dec. 17, 2006.
• University of French Polynesia website observed Dec. 17, 2006.
• Satellite view of Tahiti and Moorea "terraserver.com," observed Dec. 17, 2006.
• Tahiti Tourisme official website observed Dec. 17, 2006.
• Tahiti Visitor Information "Tahiti Travel Planners," observed Dec. 17, 2006.

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