French Polynesia: Its Islands, People and Geography | Sea Life, Islands and Oceania

Home | Category: History and Religion / Nature, Environment, Animals

FRENCH POLYNESIA DEFINED

French Polynesia is a group of 118 islands in the eastern South Pacific, including five archipelagos:1) the Austral Islands, 2) the Gambier Islands, 3) the Marquesas Islands, 4) the Tuamotu Islands, and 5) the Society Islands. Tahiti, Mooréa, Tetiaroa, Raiatea, Tahoa, Huahine, Bora-Bora, and Maupiti are in the Society Islands. The islands of French Polynesia have a total land area of 4,167 square kilometers (1,609 square miles), slightly less than one-third the size of Connecticut. Tahiti is best known and largest island. The French Polynesia capital of Papeete on Tahiti

French Polynesia is an overseas country of France. It was an overseas territory of France from 1946 to 2003 and has been an overseas collectivity of France since 2003, though it is often referred to as an overseas country due to its degree of autonomy. [Source: CIA World Factbook 2023]

French Polynesians are citizens of France with certain voting rights and privileges. Under certain acts of France, French Polynesia has acquired autonomy in all areas except those relating to police, monetary policy, tertiary education, immigration, and defense and foreign affairs; the duties of its president are fashioned after those of the French prime minister

People of Polynesian descent make up the largest ethnic group in French Polynesia, accounting for 78 percent of the total population. The Chinese, who were originally brought to the islands in the 19th century to work in the cotton industry, accounted for 12 percent of the population in 2007 and Europeans (primarily French) accounted for about 10 percent. [Source: K. Ellicott, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life”, 2009, Encyclopedia.com]

Names and Identity for French Polynesia

Official Name: Overseas Lands of French Polynesia; conventional short form: French Polynesia; local long form: Pays d'outre-mer de la Polynesie Francaise; local short form: Polynesie Francaise; Former name: Establishments in Oceania, French Establishments in Oceania. The term "Polynesia" is an 18th-century construct composed of two Greek words, "poly" (many) and "nesoi" (islands), and refers to the more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. [Source: CIA World Factbook 2023]

Name of the People and Culture: noun: French Polynesian(s); adjective: French Polynesian.

Each of the five island groups of French Polynesia displays a variant of the Polynesian cultural tradition but all are united by over a century of French administration. Residents maintain cultural identities specific to the home archipelago and home island. These identities blend somewhat into a general national identity as a result of modern transportation, education, and communication networks. [Source: Jeanette Dickerson-Putman and Laura Jones, “Countries and Their Cultures”, 2003]

Geography of French Polynesia

French Polynesia is located in Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean about halfway between South America and Australia. Its geographic coordinates are 15 00 S, 140 00 W. The total area of 4,167 square kilometers (118 islands and atolls; 67 are inhabited) is made up of 3,827 square kilometers of land and 340 square kilometers of water. Its ranking compared to other countries in the world is 174. [Source: CIA World Factbook 2023]

French Polynesia includes five archipelagoes: four volcanic (Austral Islands, Gambier Islands, Marquesas Islands, and the Society Islands) and one coral (Tuamotu Islands). The Tuamotu Archipelago forms the largest group of atolls in the world: 78 in total, 48 inhabited; Makatea in the Tuamotu Archipelago is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean: the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Nauru

The French Polynesian islands are scattered across more than five million square kilometers (1,930,500 square miles) of ocean in the southern Pacific Ocean, between Australia and South America. The island groups were formed by undersea volcanoes and include steep volcanic peaks, high islands with fringing coral reefs and large lagoons, and coral atolls surrounding submerged volcanoes. Tahiti was the first islands to experience extensive European contacts.

The larger islands of French Polynesia are volcanic with fertile soil and dense vegetation. The more numerous coral islands are low lying. The climate is tropical. The five archipelagos were joined into a state national entity through a gradual process of French occupation and annexation, beginning with Tahiti in 1843 and ending with the annexation of the Austral group in 1900. French administration and the centralization of authority, jobs, transportation, and services in Papeete contributed to the development of a national identity. [Source: “Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450"]

The five archipelagos of French Polynesia have 2,525 kilometers (1,569 miles) of coastline. Only 65 of the islands are inhabited and most people live along the coastlines. The most inhabited island by far, with about 70 percent of the total population, is Tahiti, which also accounts for a quarter of the islands' total land area. Half of Tahiti's population lives in its major urban center, Papeete. [Source: Alexander Schubert,“Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, 2003]

The islands have a wide variety of topographies, ranging from the dramatic waterfalls and extinct volcanoes of Tahiti and Moorea to the low-lying, white-sand lagoon coral-reef atolls of the Tuamotu and Gambier groups. One of French Polynesia's most serious long-term problems is rising of sea levels associated with global warming. If sea levels rise by more than 25 inches, which they are expected to do by 2100, entire archipelagoes such as Tuamotus could disappear. Meanwhile, pressure from the ocean is eroding the available cultivatable land and contaminating the groundwater.

Land Boundaries: total: 0 kilometers; Coastline: 2,525 kilometers; Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nautical miles; exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles. Topography: mixture of rugged high islands and low islands with reefs. Elevation: highest point: Mont Orohena 2,241 meters; lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 meters. Climate: tropical, but moderate.Natural Hazards: occasional cyclonic storms in January

Land Use: agricultural land: 12.5 percent (2018 estimate). Arable Land: 0.7 percent (2018 estimate); permanent crops: 6.3 percent (2018 estimate); permanent pasture: 5.5 percent (2018 estimate); forest: 43.7 percent (2018 estimate); other: 43.8 percent (2018 estimate). Irrigated Land: 10 square kilometers (2012). [Source: CIA World Factbook 2023]

Islands

Ocean islands are basically divided into three types: 1) "low" coral and sand islands; 2) "high" islands (usually exposed peaks and ridge-tops of submerged mountains and volcanos); and 3) parts of the continental shelf. Some continental islands were mountains and hills along the coast during last Ice Age when ocean levels were lower.

Low islands or cays were formed on coral shoals from reef sediments. Atoll islands are low islands (See Below). Seabird dropping fertilize the soils of some of these islands, which allow scrubby forest to take root. Others are battered regularly by storms and are little more than shifting piles of sand. Some patches of sand are so low they disappear during low tide and lose their status as islands.

High islands generally have better soil and a better supply of water than low islands. Low islands support only a few species of plant because there little topsoil and this soil has a high salt content. Although they often have no visible water sources they often are positioned over water lenses that trap rain water and can provide fresh water through wells.

Society Islands

The Society Islands are South Pacific archipelago, which are part of French Polynesia and includes Tahiti, Mooréa, Tetiaroa, Raiatea, Tahoa, Huahine, Bora-Bora, and Maupiti. The archipelago is divided into two groups: 1) mountainous, volcanic “high” islands and “low” coral islands. Tahiti is a "high" island of volcanic origin. Only eight are inhabited. Tourism is the most important industry. The economy is primarily agricultural, and the major crop is copra, with coconut trees dominating the coastal plains.

The Society Islands are divided into two geographical and administrative clusters of islands: the windward group and the leeward group. Tahiti is part of the windward group. The larger Windward group includes the islands of Tahiti, Moorea, Maio, and the smaller Mehetia, and Tetiaroa. The Leeward group includes Raiatéa (the largest and site of the chief town, Uturoa), Tahaa, Huahine, Bora-Bora, and Maupiti. Collectively the islands cover 1446 square kilometers (558 square miles).

The mountainous islands are younger than developed atolls. The Low islands are mostly atolls with a ring of sand and coral enclosing a lagoon. They are 95 percent water and 5 percent land. Without the fringing reefs, the land would disappear. They may become covered with water if ice caps melt much more as a result of global warming.

The Society Islands were first sighted by Europeans in 1607. The French claimed the islands in 1768. In 1769, the islands were visited by James Cook, who named them after the Royal Society. In 1843, they were made a French Protectorate, and in 1880 became a French colony. In 1946, they became a French overseas territory. The principal language is Tahitian.

The climate is mild and tropical with an average temperature of about 25°c (77°f). The temperature rarely drops below 18°c (65°f). The rainy season lasts from November to April and the city of Papeete has an average yearly rainfall of 178 cm (70 in).

Tahiti

Tahiti is an island in the Windward group of the Society Islands. Volcanic in origin, it is the largest island in French Polynesia, accounting for more than half its population. Tahiti is mountainousbut also fertile, thanks to volcanic soil, producing tropical fruits, copra, sugar cane, and vanilla. Charted in 1767 by the British navigator Samuel Wallis and explored by Captain Cook, Tahiti was colonized by France in 1880. Paul Gauguin lived and painted here. Tourism is an important industry. Pearl-farming and phosphate mining are also sources of income. Tahiti comprises an area of 1041 square kilometers (402 square miles) and has a population or around 300,000 people, double what it had in the 1990s. The capital is Papeete.

According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “The name "Tahiti"—or, as Bougainville first wrote it in 1768, "Taiti," and Cook in 1769, Otaheite"—was the name the natives gave their island and which Europeans came to apply to the indigenes. If the Tahitians had a name specifically identifying themselves, it is not known. What is known is that all of those living in the Society Archipelago, including Tahiti, referred to themselves as "Maohi." [Source: Edwin N. Ferdon, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1996 |~|]

Tahiti is the largest of the Society Islands and is located at 149°30 W and 17°30 S. It is mountainous, with four prominent peaks, the highest of which is Mt. Orohena, rising to 2322 meters (7618 feet). The peninsula of Taiarapu, which forms eastern Tahiti, is joined to the western part of the island by the Isthmus of Taravao.

Tahiti It is a high island of volcanic origin with several peaks rising above 1,500 meters and a number of waterfalls. The mountainous interior is covered with Forest and ferns while the lower slopes, especially on the leeward side, are brush and reed covered. In the inhabited valleys and coastal plains open stands of indigenous trees and tall grasses were scattered between the cultivated fields of the Tahitians.

Tahitians

Tahitians (pronounced tuh-HEE-shuns) are a Polynesian group inhabiting Tahiti. The inhabitants of Tahiti are mostly Polynesian, but there is a large Chinese minority. Native languages of the island include Tahitian, French, English and Maori. The primary religion is Christianity with elements of native religion

Many Tahitian are a mix of blood from a half dozen nation. It is believed that less than 20 percent of the population of Tahiti has pure Polynesian blood. It is not uncommon to find families with children that look nothing like one another. The writer Peter Benchley described his guide, a 265 pound bear of man whose parents were English, Polynesian and German, His wife was Chinese and "their four children look as if each came from a different continent." Benchley met one model who was part English, part Swiss, part German, Swedish and Danish, and part Tahitian. Because of their mixed ancestry, Tahitians and many other French Polynesians, it is said, are almost totally free of racism. They make fun of people from other island but their stereotypes are never based on color and ancestry.

Tahiti was home to about 262,000 people in of 2007, with about 80,000 of them in Papeete.

According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Estimates of Tahiti's population in the later years of the eighteenth century varied from as few as 16,050 to approximately 30,000 persons, and thus these estimates are of little factual value. A nineteenth-century decline in population due to wars and diseases is known to have occurred. However, by 1907, after which it was no longer possible to segregate indigenous totals from those of foreigners and immigrant Polynesians from other islands, the number of Tahitians was said to number 11,691.

Marquesas Islands

The Marquesas Islands is volcanic group of island in the South Pacific that are part of French Polynesia. Located just south of the Equator, they include Fatu Hiva, Hiva Oa, and Nuku Hiva. Their the capital of Taiohae is on Nuku Hiva. The islands are mountainous, with fertile valleys and several good harbours. The main exports are tobacco, vanilla and copra. The islands collectively cover an area of 1049 square kilometers (405 square miles) and are home to around 9,000 people. The group is situated around 8-11° S and 140° W. The closest inhabited islands were atolls in the Tuamotu Archipelago, about 450 kilometers to the south and southeast.

The discovery of Marquesas (pronounced mar kee zez) by Europeans was by the Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendaña de Neira, who visited the northern group of islands in 1595. The French took possession in 1842. During the 19th century, European diseases killed many of the native Polynesians. The author of Moby Dick, Herman Melville, lived in the Marquesas Islands for a while after he jumped ship, from a whaling ship. The French painter Paul Gauguin lived in Atuona on Hiva Oa and his paintings depicted people and landscapes he saw there.

There are 12 islands in the Marquesas group, which lies about 1,190 kilometers (740 miles) northeast of Tahiti. The largest island is Nuku Hiva. The second largest, Hiva Oa, is the site of Atuona, the former capital. The Marquesas, famous for their rugged beauty and fertile land. They are mountainous, with the highest point being 1,190 meters (3.904 feet) on Hiva Oa. The rugged islands are divided by deep valleys, which are often well watered and which sustain rich vegetation, in contrast to the arid, eroded, and frequently excessively steep slopes. There are breadfruit, pandanus, and coconut trees. Taiohae Bay, on Nuka Hiva, and the Bay of Traitors, on Hiva Oa, are the major harbors. [Source: Columbia Encyclopedia, Columbia University Press]

The Marquesas Islands are divided into two groups. The southern cluster (sometimes called the Mendaña Islands) includes Fatu Huku, Hiva Oa, Tahuata, Mohotani, and Fatu Hiva. The northern group (sometimes called the Washington Islands) includes Hatutu, Eiao, Motu Iti, Nuku Hiva, Ua Huku, Ua Pou, and Motu One. These island were first visited in 1791 by the American navigator Captain Joseph Ingraham. In 1813, Commodore David Porter claimed Nuku Hiva for the United States, naming it Madison Island, but the U.S. Congress never ratified the claim. |~|

The people of the Marquesas Islands are also known as 'Enata, Marquesans and Te'enana According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: ““'Enana; and the cognate 'enata simply mean "people," and this word was contrasted with hao'e, which came to mean "white foreigners." "Marquesans" derives from the Portuguese name of the island group, "Las Marquesas de Mendoca." The Marquesans inhabited the six larger islands of the Marquesan Group: Nukuhiva, 'Ua Pou, 'Ua Huka, Fatuiva, Tahuata, and Hova Oa; smaller islands such as Eiao were perhaps intermittently occupied. Many Marquesans now live in Tahiti. [Source: Nicholas Thomas,“Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1996]

Austral Islands and Rapa

The Austral Islands, sometimes referred to as the Tubuai Archipelago, are form part of French Polynesia. Straddling the Tropic of Capricorn in the South Pacific. They lie to the south of the Society Islands and east of the Cook Islands. The five islands in the group are Rapa, Rimatara, Rurutu, Tubuai, and Ra'ivavae. [Source: F. Allan Hanson, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1996]

According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “ Rapa is the southernmost island in the Austral Archipelago. Its name is often given as "Rapa-Iti" ("Little Rapa") to distinguish it from the distant Easter Island, which is commonly known as "Rapa-Nui" ("Big Rapa"). On Rapa itself, however, "Rapa-Iti" refers to a small islet off the east coast of the main island. Early European visitors frequently identified the island as "Oparo," but the source of that name is not clear. |~|

With coordinates of 27°37 S, 144°20 W, Rapa is located some 420 kilometers south-southwest of Tahiti and 180 kilometers southeast of Ra'ivavae, its nearest inhabited neighbor. Rapa is a small Island of some 39 square kilometers. It is a high island, the cone of a long-extinct volcano. The highest of the peaks exceeds 600 meters. The east side of the cone has been breached by the sea so that the island has the form of a large bay (the volcanic crater) encircled by a ring of mountains. The coast is indented by several bays, each watered by one or more streams. High mountain ridges between the bays, often meeting the sea in precipitous cliffs, make inland travel difficult.

When first sighted by Europeans in 1791, Rapa reportedly had 1,500-2,000 inhabitants, but largely Because of introduced diseases the population declined to a low point of only 120 in 1867. In 1964 Rapans numbered only 360, and recent estimates indicate only 400 speakers of the Rapa language. |~|

Gambier Islands and Tuamotu Archipelago

The Gambier Islands, also known as Mangareva, consists of four small volcanic islands located southeast of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia at 22° S and 128° W. The islands have a land area of about 29 square kilometers.

The people of the Gambier Islands are known as Mangarevans, According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “In 1987, 1,600 speakers of Mangarevan were reported living on the islands. Estimates of the population in the past range from a high of 8,000 at the time of first contact to a low of 1,275 in 1824. In recent years, as on many smaller Polynesian islands, there has been a notable out-migration to larger islands such as Tahiti and urban centers. Mangarevan is an Austronesian language closely related to the languages spoken on the Marquesas Islands. In the past and today, Mangarevans subsist on a combination of fishing and horticulture, with breadfruit, coconuts, taro, bananas, and sugarcane the most important crops. [Source: “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1996 |~|]

The Tuamotu Archipelago, or the Tuamotu Islands are a French Polynesian chain of islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extending (from northwest to southeast) over an area roughly the size of Western Europe. Their combined land area is 850 square kilometres (328 square miles). This archipelago's major islands are Anaa, Fakarava, Hao and Makemo. The Tuamotus have approximately 16,000 inhabitants. The islands have the shape of a dolphin and were initially settled by Polynesians, and modern Tuamotuans have inherited from them a shared culture and the Tuamotuan language. [Source: Wikipedia]

The western atolls of the Tuamotu Archipelago were settled by people migrating east from Tahiti, the other atolls by people from the Marquesas and Mangareva. Since the time of first settlement there has been regular contact with Tahiti. The population of the Tuamotus was 6,588 in 1863 and it subsequently decreased by nearly a third until it began increasing in the 1920s. In 1987, the number of people claiming Tuamotu identity was estimated at 14,400, with about 7,000 in the Tuamotus and a sizable population in Tahiti.

The Tuamotu archipelago consists of 78 atolls located between 135° and 149° W and 14° and 23° S. Raroia is an atoll in the archipelago, also known as Dangerous Islands, Paumotu and Poumot. Raroia, located at about 142° W and 16° S. As are all the atolls except Makatea, Raroia is a low atoll with a land area of 21 square kilometers and a lagoon of 240 square kilometers. The land is mostly sand and gravel. In 1897, Raroians numbered 260, by 1926 the population had decreased to 60, and then it slowly increased to 120 by 1950.

Image Sources:

Text Sources: CIA World Factbook, 2023; “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1991, Wikipedia, Encyclopedia.com, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated September 2023