Tahiti (; ;Pronunciations for "Tahiti" in Tahitian . ) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is a tropical island located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean. Tahiti is composed of two roughly circular land masses joined by an isthmus: Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti. Both are the eroded remnants of now-extinct shield volcanoes. The terrain of Tahiti is mostly high and mountainous, with the beaches and coral reefs that surround the island supporting tourism and fishing industries.
Tahiti's population was 189,517 in 2017, making it by far the most populous island in French Polynesia and accounting for 68.7% of the collectivity's total population; the 2022 Census recorded a population of 191,779. Tahiti is the economic, cultural, and political centre of French Polynesia. The capital of French Polynesia, Papeete, is located on the northwest coast of Tahiti. The only international airport in the region, Faaā International Airport, is on Tahiti near Papeete.
Tahiti was originally settled by Polynesians between . Those of Polynesian heritage still represent about 70% of the island's population, with the rest made up of people of European, Chinese, and mixed heritage. The island was part of the Kingdom of Tahiti until its annexation by France in 1880, when it was proclaimed a colony of France, and the inhabitants became French citizens. French is the sole official language, although the Tahitian language (Reo Tahiti) is also widely spoken.
Nomenclature Tahiti was called Otaheite in earlier European documents, which is a rendering of the Tahitian phrase , and is typically pronounced . When early Europeans asked the name of the island, the reply was "'o Tahiti", meaning "it is Tahiti".
Geography, climate and vegetation
Tahiti is the highest and largest island in French Polynesia, and is close to Moorea island. It is located south of Hawaii, from Chile, from Australia. The nearest major landmass is the North Island of New Zealand, approximately to the south-west.
The island is across at its widest point and covers an area of . The highest peak is Mont Orohena (Moua Orohena) (). Mount Roonui, or Mount Ronui (Moua Rōnui), in the southeast rises to . The island consists of two roughly round portions centered on volcanic mountains and connected by a short isthmus of Taravao.
The northwestern portion is known as Tahiti Nui ("big Tahiti"), while the much smaller southeastern portion is known as Tahiti Iti ("small Tahiti") or Taiarapū. Tahiti Nui is heavily populated along the coast, especially around the capital, Papeete.
The interior of Tahiti Nui is almost entirely uninhabited.Population Densité de population. Atlas démographique 2007. ispf.pf Tahiti Iti has remained isolated, as its southeastern half (Te Pari) is accessible only to those traveling by boat or on foot. The rest of the island is encircled by a main road which cuts between the mountains and the sea. Tahiti's landscape features lush rainforests and many rivers and waterfalls, including the Papenoo on the north side and the Fautaua Falls near Papeete.
Geology
Tahiti consists of two overlapping, heavily eroded and now extinct shield volcanoes: Tahiti Nui (the bigger, northwestern part) and Tahiti Iti (the smaller, southeastern part). These volcanoes were active between 0.25 and 1.67 million years ago are associated with the same hotspot which is the source of the other Society Islands.
Climate November to April is the wet season; the wettest month is January, with of rain in Papeete. August is the driest with .
The average temperature ranges between , with little seasonal variation. The lowest and highest temperatures recorded in Papeete are , respectively.Papeete, French Polynesia . Weatherbase.com. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
History
Early settling of Tahiti
The first Tahitians arrived from Western Polynesia into the Society Islands sometime after ; some studies have proposed slightly later dates, . Linguistic, biological and archaeological evidence supports a long migration from Southeast Asia via the Fijian, Samoan and Tongan Archipelagos using outrigger canoes that were up to twenty or thirty metres long and could transport families as well as domestic animals. In 1769, for instance, James Cook mentions a great traditional ship (vaa) in Tahiti that was long and could be propelled by sail or paddles.Laneyrie-Dagen, p. 148 In 2010, an expedition on a simple outrigger canoe with a sail retraced the route back from Tahiti to Asia.O Tahiti Nui Freedom au bout de son rêve . Lesnouvelles.pf (20 November 2010). Retrieved 26 July 2013.
Civilization before the arrival of the Europeans
Before the arrival of the Europeans, the island was divided into territories, each dominated by a single clan. The most important clans were the closely related Teva i Uta (Teva of the Interior) and the Teva i Tai (Teva of the Sea)Bernard Gille, Antoine Leca (2009) Histoire des institutions de l'Océanie française: Polynésie, Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis et Futuna, L'Harmattan, whose combined territory extended from the peninsula in the south of Tahiti Nui.Salvat, p. 187
Clan leadership consisted of a chief (arii rahi), nobles (arii), and under-chiefs (Īatoai). The arii were also the religious leaders, revered for the mana (spiritual power) they inherited as descendants of the gods. As symbols of their power, they wore belts of red feathers. Nonetheless, to exercise their political power, councils or general assemblies composed of the arii and the Īatoai had to be called, especially in case of war.
The chief's spiritual power was also limited; each clan's practice was organized around their marae (stone temple) and its priests.Anne Salmond quotes John Orsmond, an early missionary, as stating, "Marae were the sanctity and glory of the land, they were the pride of the people of these islands." This was especially true for the ancestral and national marae associated with the royal line. "It was the basis of royalty; It awakened the gods; It fixed the red feather girdle of the high chiefs."
First European visits
The first European to arrive at Tahiti may have been the Spanish explorer Juan Fernández during his 1576–1577 expedition.José Toribio Medina, El Piloto Juan Fernandez, descubridor de las islas que llevan su nombre, y Juan Jufré, armador de la espedición que hizo en busca de otras en los Mares del Sur Santiago de Chile, 1918, reprinted by Gabriela Mistral, 1974, pp. 169 Alternatively, Portuguese navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, serving the Spanish Crown in an expedition to Terra Australis, was perhaps the first European to see Tahiti. He sighted an inhabited island on 10 February 1606.James Burney (1803) A Chronological History of the Voyages or Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean, Vol. 5, London, p. 222 However, it has been suggested that he actually saw the island of Rekareka to the southeast of Tahiti. Hence, although the Spanish and Portuguese made contact with nearby islands, they may not have arrived at Tahiti.
The next stage of European visits to the region came during the period of intense Anglo-French rivalry that filled the twelve years between the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. The first of these visits, and perhaps the first European visit to Tahiti, was under the command of Captain Samuel Wallis. While circumnavigating the globe in , they sighted the island on 18 June 1767.Laneyrie-Dagen, p. 181 Then they harbored in Matavai Bay between the chiefdom Pare-Arue (governed by Tu (Tu-nui-e-aa-i-te-Atua) and his regent Tutaha) and the chiefdom Haapape, governed by Amo and his wife "Oberea" (Purea). The initially friendly encounter turned tense as islanders grew suspicious and sought control of the Dolphin, leading to a week of skirmishes that culminated in violence,Salvat, pp. 44–45 but to avert all-out war after a British show of force, Oberea laid down peace offerings leading to cordial relations.
On 2 April 1768,Louis-Antoine de Bougainville" Voyage autour du monde par la frégate la Boudeuse et la flûte l'Étoile ", ch VIII Read on Wikisource the expedition of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, aboard and on the first French circumnavigation, sighted Tahiti. On 5 April, they anchored off Hitiaa O Te Ra and were welcomed by its chief Reti. Tutaha also visited Bougainville. Bougainville stayed about ten days.
By 12 April 1769, Captain James Cook had arrived in Tahiti's Matavai Bay on a scientific mission with astronomy, botany, and artistic details.Laneyrie-Dagen, p. 185 On 14 April Cook met Tutaha and Tepau and the next day he picked the site for a fortified camp at Point Venus for Charles Green's observatory. Botanist Joseph Banks and artist Sydney Parkinson, along with Cook, gathered valuable information on fauna and flora as well as on native society, language and customs, including the proper name of the island."Otahiti" The 'O' was an error of translation -- when asked the name of the island, natives replied "O Tahiti", meaning "It is Tahiti". Cook also met many island chiefs. Cook and Endeavour left Tahiti on 13 July 1769. Cook estimated the population to be 200,000, including all the nearby islands in the chain.Robert W. Kirk (2008) Pitcairn Island, the Bounty Mutineers and Their Descendants, p. 78, This estimate was reduced to 35,000 by Cook's contemporary, anthropologist and Tahiti expert Douglas L. Oliver.Oswald A. Bushnell (1993). The gifts of civilization: germs and genocide in Hawaiʻi . University of Hawaii Press, p. 240,
The Viceroy of Peru, Manuel de Amat y Juniet, under order of the Spanish Crown, organized an expedition to colonize the island in 1772. He would ultimately send three expeditions aboard the ship Aguila, the first two under the command of navigator Domingo de Bonechea. Four Tahitians, Pautu, Tipitipia, Heiao, and Tetuanui, accompanied Bonechea back to Peru in early 1773 after the first Aguila expedition.
Cook returned to Tahiti between 15 August and 1 September 1773. Greeted by the chiefs, Cook anchored in Vaitepiha Bay before returning to Point Venus. Cook left Tahiti on 14 May 1774.
Pautu and Tetuanui returned to Tahiti with Bonechea aboard Aguila on 14 November 1774; Tipitipia and Heiao had died. Bonechea died on 26 January 1775 in Tahiti and was buried near the mission he had established at Tautira Bay. Lt Tomas Gayangos took over command and set sail for Peru on 27 January, leaving the Fathers Geronimo Clota and Narciso Gonzalez and the sailors Maximo Rodriguez and Francisco Perez in charge of the mission. On the third Aguila expedition, under Don Cayetano de Langara, the mission on Tahiti was abandoned on 12 November 1775, when the Fathers successfully begged to be taken back to Lima.
During his final visit in 1777, Cook first moored in Vaitepiha Bay. From there, he reunited with many Tahitian clans and established a British presence on the remains of the Spanish mission. On 29 September 1777 Cook sailed for Papetoai Bay on Moorea.
British influence and the rise of the Pōmare
Mutineers of the Bounty
On 26 October 1788, , under the command of Captain William Bligh, landed in Tahiti with the mission of carrying Tahitian breadfruit trees (Tahitian: uru) to the Caribbean. Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist from James Cook's first expedition, had concluded that this plant would be ideal to feed the enslaved Africans working in the Caribbean plantations at very little cost. The crew remained in Tahiti for about 5 months, the time needed to transplant the trees' seedlings. Three weeks after leaving Tahiti, on 28 April 1789, the crew mutinied on the initiative of Fletcher Christian. The mutineers seized the ship and set the captain and most of those members of the crew who remained loyal to him adrift in a ship's boat. A group of mutineers then went back to settle in Tahiti, after which the Bounty, under Christian, sailed to Pitcairn Island.