Tahiti & French Polynesia

Tahiti

Tahiti , island (2002 pop. 169.674), South Pacific, in the Windward group of the Society Islands, French Polynesia. The capital is Papeete. Tahiti is the largest (402 sq mi/1,041 sq km) and most important of the French Pacific islands. The peninsula of Taiarapu, which forms E Tahiti, is joined to the western part of the island by the Isthmus of Taravao. Tahiti is mountainous, with four prominent peaks, the highest of which is Mt. Orohena (7,618 ft/2,322 m). The chief products are tropical fruits, copra, vanilla, and sugarcane; there are pearl fisheries off the coast. Tourism is easily the most important industry on the island. The inhabitants of Tahiti are mostly Polynesian, but there is a large Chinese minority.

The island was settled by Polynesians in the 14th cent.; the first European to visit Tahiti was the English navigator Samuel Wallis, and later visits were made by Capt. James Cook (1769, 1773, 1777), and by the Bounty under Lt. William Bligh (1788). English missionaries arrived in the 1797, and French missionaries by the late 1830s. In 1843 the Tahitian queen Pomare IV was forced to agree to the establishment of a French protectorate. After her death (1877) and the subsequent abdication (1880) of her son Pomare V, France made Tahiti a colony. During World War II the Tahitians voted (1940) to support the Free French; in 1946 all the indigenous inhabitants became French citizens. In 1995, French nuclear testing at two atolls about 750 miles away sparked protests on Tahiti. Paul Gauguin did many of his paintings in Tahiti, and Robert Louis Stevenson spent some time there. Tahiti was formerly called Otaheite and King George III Island.

French Polynesia

French Polynesia, officially Territory of French Polynesia, internally self-governing overseas country (2002 pop. 245,516) of France, consisting of 118 islands in the South Pacific. The capital is Papeete, on Tahiti. The territory comprises five main groups: the Society Islands; Marquesas Islands; Austral Islands; Tuamotu Archipelago; and Gambier Islands. The small, uninhabited atoll of Clipperton Island, c.3,400 mi (5,470 km) NE of Tahiti, is administered by France from French Polynesia.
Tropical fruits are grown on plantations, and cultured pearls, coconut oil, mother-of-pearl, vanilla, and shark meat are exported. Tourism is important to the economy. Foodstuffs, fuel, and equipment are the largest imports.

The inhabitants of the territory are mainly indigenous Polynesians or those of mixed Polynesian and European descent (known as Demis); about 55% are Protestant and 30% Roman Catholic. There is a considerable Chinese and a smaller French minority. French and Tahitian are both official languages. French Polynesia is administered by a French-appointed high commissioner and by an elected assembly that elects a territorial president and a council of ministers. The territory elects two deputies to the French national assembly and one member of the senate.

European contact began in the 16th cent., and the area was widely explored by the French during the 18th and 19th cent., when French missionaries also came to the region. The Marquesas and Society groups were annexed by France in 1842, Tahiti in 1844, and by the end of the 19th cent. the other islands had come under French administration. Uniform governance of the area began in 1903, and the islands became an overseas territory in 1946. France began testing nuclear weapons in some parts of French Polynesia in the 1960s, meeting with widespread local opposition; a series of six tests in 1995–96 was declared by France to be the last. Many inhabitants have sought a greater measure of independence from French control, and limited autonomy was awarded in 1984. In 2004 the territory became a French overseas country. France granted the territory greater autonomy in most local affairs and regional relations but retained control of law enforcement, defense, and the money supply.

Elections in May, 2004, brought a coalition of independents and pro-independence legislators to power, and Oscar Temaru, of the pro-independence Union for Democracy, became territorial president. Temaru's coalition lost a no-confidence vote in Oct., 2004, and Gaston Flosse, long-time leader of the government, was returned to power. The change led to political tensions in French Polynesia; at the same time, the French State Council called for rerunning the balloting for nearly two thirds of the seats.