Europeans in Tahiti and French Polynesia: Explorers, French Rule and Semi-Independence | Sea Life, Islands and Oceania

FIRST EUROPEANS IN FRENCH POLYNESIA

Ferdinand Magellan was the first European to see the islands of French Polynesia. He sighted Pukapuka in the Tuamotus in 1520. During Magellan's journey across the Pacific during his round the world trip these were the only land they encountered until they reached Guam. On Pukapuka, one of his crew members, Antonio Pigafetta, wrote, they were "two small uninhabited islands where we found only birds and trees. Wherefore we called them the Isles of Misfortune...We found no anchorage, [but] near them, saw many sharks. And if our Lord and his blessed Mother had not aided us by giving good weather we would all have died of hunger in that exceeding vast sea.”

Over the next two centuries successive European voyagers traveled through what is now French Polynesia. In 1595, Spanish explorer 1595 by the Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, Mendaña landed on the Marquesas Islands. He named them for his patron, the Marqués de Mendoza, viceroy of Peru.

In 1767, British navigator Captain Samuel Wallis discovered Tahiti. He named the island "King George the Third's Island" after the King George III, who ruled Britain at that time. He said his frigate was surrounded by hundreds of canoes filled with strong, laughing men and young “vahine” women who performed a “a great many droll wanton tricks.”

Captain James Cook visited Fatu Huku in 1774. In 1791 the American sea captain Joseph Ingraham sighted the northwestern group and named them Washington Islands. Other early European sailors to reach this part of the world were Portuguese captain Pedro Fernandez de Quirós, who reached Tuamotu in 1605; and Jean-François de La Pérouse in 1786 for France. Tahiti and other islands in Polynesia were the site of bitter Anglo-French colonial rivalries.

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville

Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville (1729–1811) was a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of the British explorer James Cook, he is arguably France’s most famous explorer. His expeditions included a circumnavigation of the globe in a scientific expedition in 1763, the first recorded settlement on the Falkland Islands, and voyages into the Pacific Ocean. Bougainville Island of Papua New Guinea as well as the Bougainvillea flower are named after him. [Source: Wikipedia]

The son of a notary, Bougainville was born in Paris. He studied law, but abandoned the profession and entered the French Army as a musketeer in 1753. He took part in the Seven Years' War in North America and the American Revolutionary War against Britain.

In 1766 Bougainville received from Louis XV permission to circumnavigate the globe. He became the 14th navigator, and the first Frenchman to do so). Completion of his mission bolstered the prestige of France following its defeats during the Seven Years' War. This was the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe with professional naturalists and geographers aboard.

Bougainville’s Round-the-World Voyage

Bougainville left Nantes in November 1766 with two ships: the Boudeuse and the Étoile. This was a large expedition, with a crew of 214 aboard Boudeuse and 116 aboard Étoile. Included in the party was the botanist Philibert Commerçon (who named the flower Bougainvillea) and his valet. Commerson's valet was later revealed to be a woman Jeanne Barret (also Baré or Baret); she would become the first woman known to circumnavigate the globe. One of his missions was to find Terra Australis — the mythical Southern Continent,

After expedition left Tahiti (See Below), he sailed westward to southern Samoa and the New Hebrides, then on sighting Espiritu Santo turned west still looking for the Terra Australis. In June he almost ran into heavy breakers and had to change course to the north and east almost found the Great Barrier Reef. He sailed through the present-day Solomon Islands but, because of hostile reception avoided landing there. He named Bougainville Island in what is now Papua New Guinea for himself. After the expedition was attacked in New Ireland to the Dutch East Indies. In Batavia (Jakarta) he received news that Wallis had beat him to Tahiti.

Bougainville completed his circumnavigation and made it back to France in March 1769. The expedition had lost only seven of its 340 crew, an extremely low level of casualties — the result it is said, of the enlightened management of the expedition by Bougainville.

In 1771, Bougainville published his travel log from the expedition “Voyage autour du monde and A Voyage Around the World)”. The book describes the geography, biology and anthropology of Argentina (then a Spanish colony), Patagonia, Tahiti and Indonesia (then a Dutch colony). The book was a sensation, especially the description of Tahitian society.

Bougainville in Tahiti

In 1768,Bougainville visited Tahiti and claimed it for France. He showed up less than a year after Wallis and year before Captain James Cook. Bougainville saw islands of the Tuamotu group in March 1768. A week or so later he saw the peak of Mehetia and visited the island of Otaheite (Tahiti). Wallis also visited this island but Bougainville claimed the island for France and named it New Cythera. During this part of his expedition, Jeanne Barret confessed to being a woman.

Bougainville brought to France a Tahitian named Ahutoru who volunteered to come with him. In France, Bougainville introduced Ahutoru to the high society, including introducing him to the King and Queen at Versailles. Bougainville also underwrote part of the costs for Ahutoru's return to Tahiti after a two-year absence. The voyage took place under Marion Dufresne, but Ahutoru died en route of smallpox in 1771.

In his travel book Bougainville described Tahiti as an earthly paradise where men and women lived in blissful innocence, far from the corruption of civilisation. Denis Diderot's book Supplément au voyage de Bougainville retells the story of Bougainville's landing on Tahiti, narrated by an anonymous reader to one of his friends.

Captain Cook in Tahiti

Captain James Cook visited Tahiti and other islands in what is now French Polynesia on all three of his voyages (1768–1771, 1772–1775 and 1776–1779). One of the reason's for Captain Cook's first expedition was to make Venus calculations from Tahiti. He was commissioned to observe the transit of Venus before the sun, with Tahiti identified as the best location for the necessary astronomical measurements, and to find Terra Australis. He returned with detailed charts and new information regarding Tahiti as well as New Zealand and other islands, but no news of a southern continent.

Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn at the bottom of South America and continued westward across the Pacific, arriving at Tahiti, where the observations of the transit were made. However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Point Venus contains a small stone memorial that marks Captain Cooks observation of the planet in Hune, 1769. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders, which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of Terra Australis. [Source: Wikipedia] Cook's effort to bring a Polynesian to England ended when Tupaia, a Tahitian prince, died on route. Cook later introduced a handsome Tahitian named Omai to polite society. In addition to collecting and describing plants new to the West, Joseph Banks, the gentleman-scientist on Cook’s also introduced plants to Tahiti. "I employed myself in planting a large quantity of the seeds of Watermelons, Oranges, Lemons, limes...which I brought from Rio de Janeiro." see Cook.

Descriptions by Captain Cook and His Crew in Tahiti

In August 1769, during Cook’s first voyage, Sydney Parkinson and Joseph Banks went to see the entertainment called a Heivo: Parkinson wrote: “A large mat was laid upon the ground, and they began to dance upon it, putting their bodies into strange motions, writhing their mouths, and shaking their tails, which made the numerous plaits that hung about them flutter like a peacock’s train. Sometimes they stood in a row one behind the other, and then they fell down with their faces to the ground, leaning on their arms, and shaking only their tails, the drums beating all the while, with which they kept exact time.” [Source: Parkinson 1773, 74]

Describing Cook’s arrival in Tahiti at the Harbor of Annamooka during his third voage, David Samwell wrote: “Capt Cook went on shore in the Bay & fixed upon a House which he hired of the Indians for our Use during our Stay….& a Market was established before the House…where those who had any thing for market exposed them to sale.” [Source: Journals III, 2, 1013]

Captain James Cook visited Fatu Huku in 1774. Walking in Tahiti in September 1777, during the third voyage, members of the crew came across, Cook wrote: “a kind of private Heeva or amusement, which consisted of about a hundred of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood who wer(e) sitting in a house and in the midst of them two women with an old man behind, each beating very gently upon a drum, and the women at intervals singing in a softer manner than I ever heard at their other diversions. The assembly listened with great attention and were seemingly almost absorbed in the pleasure the music gave them, as few took any notice of us and the performers never once stop’d.” [Source: Cook, Journals III, 2, 985)

Mutiny on the Bounty and Tahiti

Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinguish themselves elsewhere. William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of HMS Bounty in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and exploit breadfruit. Bligh became known for the mutiny of his crew, which took place in the South Pacific.

On April 28, 1789, the famous mutiny on the British ship, Bounty, took place in the waters between the Ha apai and Nomuka island groups in Tonga. . After the mutiny, Captain Blight and 18 loyal crew members were set adrift and landed on the Tongan island of Tofua, where they were attacked by islanders. The Bounty's quartermaster John Norton was clubbed to death but Bligh and others escaped and set sail in an open boat and eventually arrived in Timor in the Dutch East Indies after a 5,822-kilometer (3,618-mile) journey.

The Bounty was only 27.7 meters (91 feet) long and 7.3 meters (24 feet) wide. The crew slept in cubicles below that were only five feet high. On the Bounty, one out of seven seamen died, More than that jumped ship, The rest subsisted on wheat-and-pear flour biscuits dyed white with alum, rock-hard salted pork and beef, a gallon of beer a day, and generous potions of other spirits.

Captain Bligh had been sent to what is now French Polynesia to collect seedlings of the wondrous "Uru" or breadfruit tree, to introduce them to the West Indies as food for slaves there.. After five months at sea Fletcher Christian, his first mate, lead the a mutiny on Bligh's ship, the Bounty. The mutiny was reportedly inspired by an argument over coconuts. Before the voyage, Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian were friends. There are rumors they may have even been lovers. The fight may have been because Fletcher owed Bligh money.

The Bounty crew of eight seamen, six Polynesian men, and a dozen women landed on Pitcairn Island after a four month, 12,875-kilometer (8,000-mile) journey. No one discovered them for two decades. When a whaling ship arrived on Pitcairn in 1898 only one European man and four Polynesian women remained, the rest were teenagers and children that had been born after the mutiny. Captain Edward Edwards, the man in charge of bringing back Christian himself suffered a mutiny.

Tahiti and the Noble Savage

When Bougainville arrived in Tahiti in 1761 he thought he entered a garden of Eden. What he described there contributed to idea of the "noble savage" put forth by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Denis Diderot's book Supplément au voyage de Bougainville included a description of the Tahitians as noble savages, to criticise Western ways of living and thinking.

Early accounts of Tahiti describe naked girls swimming towards European ships and Tahitian men freely offering the foreigners their wives. Stories were told about naked women in canoes dragging foreign men into the bushes to have sex. Some captains, it is said had to offer their sailors money not to desert. Some had to brought aboard on poles liked hunted animals, so it is said. In reality sex was often in exchange for nails or metal, which the islanders didn’t possess.

Rousseau has been called both a "messenger of enlightened new ideas" and a "man who cast off prejudices without acquiring virtues." The Tahitians cast as the avatars of Rousseau’s Noble Savage in reality engaged in frequent warfare and some of their battles were quite vicious.

Missionaries in French Polynesia

The first Christian missions began with Spanish priests who stayed in Tahiti for a year. Protestants from the London Missionary Society settled permanently in Polynesia in 1797.

King Pomare I united Tahiti and surrounding islands into the Kingdom of Tahiti in 1788. Protestant missionaries arrived in 1797 and Pomare I’s successor, King Pōmare II, converted to Christianity along with most Tahitians. King Pomare II had been forced to flee to Moorea in 1803. He and his subjects were converted to Protestantism in 1812.

According to the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “Tahiti was one of the first island groups to receive European missionaries specifically for the purpose of converting the native inhabitants to Christianity. After European missionaries landed in Tahiti in 1797, additional missionaries continued on to Tongatapu in Tonga. Two Tahitians who had converted to Christianity in their native islands arrived on Tongatapu while en route to Fiji and began their Christian work among the Tongan natives. [Source: Charles F. Urbanowicz,“Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1996]

French Catholic missionaries arrived on Tahiti in 1834. Queen Pomare IV refused to allow French Catholic missionaries to operate. Their expulsion in 1836 caused France to send a gunboat in 1838.In 1842, Tahiti and Tahuata were declared a French protectorate, to allow Catholic missionaries to work undisturbed.

France Battles Britain and Takes Control of French Polynesia

When Queen Pomare IV refused to allow French Catholic missionaries to operate, France responded by declare a protectorate over Tahiti. The French-Tahitian War of the 1840s ensued as an attempt to annex the islands. Pomare IV requested British assistance to fight France, and while Britain did not provide material support, it did diplomatically pressure France to simply maintain its protectorate status. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2023]

According to the “Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism”: Initially, Britain held the advantage, as English Protestant missionary groups gained favor with the Pomaré dynasty (1762–1880), which reigned over Tahiti and the surrounding islands of Mooréa, Tuamotu, Mehetia, Tubai, and Raivave. However, the London Missionary Society was never able to induce London to establish a British protectorate in the region. [Source: “Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450"]

In contrast, France's search for ports and prestige led to annexation of the Marquesas and the establishment of a protectorate in 1842. The same occurred in Tahiti at the request of the Queen Pomaré IV (1813–1877). A protectorate agreement by the French recognized the sovereignty of the Marquesas and Tahiti states and the authority of the local chiefs.

Although the British instigated local rebellions, French influence prevailed over the next six decades, leaving a lasting impact in the region. After the abdication of King Pomaré V (1839–1891) on June 29, 1880, France seized the opportunity to annex Tahiti, and then the Gambier Islands the following year, the "Islands-Under-the-Wind" (Raiatea, Tahoa, Huahine, Bora-Bora, and Maupiti) between 1888 and 1897, and the Austral Islands in 1902. These different archipelagos then took the name of "French Settlement of Oceania" until 1957, when they became French Polynesia.

French Rule in French Polynesia

The French snatched Tahiti and its surrounding islands from the British in 1842 and unilaterally declared them a French protectorate. The capital of Papeetē was founded in 1843. After a three year war of independence, Queen Pomare IV reluctantly accepted the protectorate.

In 1880, the queen's son and heir, King Pomare V ceded Tahiti and its possessions to France. It is said he "sold" the islands for a pension of 5,000 francs a month and spent much of the money on Benedictine, his favorite drink. After this the status of what is now French Polynesia changed from a protectorate into a colony.

France then claimed the Gambier Islands and Tuamotu Archipelago and by 1901 had incorporated all five island groups into its establishments in Oceania. In 1903, the islands organized into a single colony.

French rule could be very harsh. Up until 1970, children were punished for speaking Tahitian in school and the act of discussing independence was considered illegal. One of Tahiti's great heroes Pouvanaa a Oopa, an activist that opposed French rule in the 1950s, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

French Polynesia and Semi-Independence in the 20th and 21st Centuries

As with many French colonies, inhabitants of French Polynesia have expressed a desire for autonomy since World War II. A Tahitian nationalist movement formed in 1940, leading France to grant French citizenship to the islanders in 1946 and change it to an overseas territory.

In 1957, the islands’ name was changed to French Polynesia and the following year, 64 percent of voters chose to stay part of France when they approved a new constitution. In recent decades, there have been demands for autonomy in Tahiti – the largest and most populous island.

France granted French Polynesia partial internal autonomy in 1977 and expanded autonomy in 1984. French Polynesia was converted into an overseas collectivity in 2003 and renamed an overseas country inside the Republic in 2004. Proindependence politicians won a surprise majority in local elections that same year but in subsequent elections have been relegated to a vocal minority. In 2013, French Polynesia was relisted on the UN List of Non-Self Governing Territories. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2023]

Nuclear Tests in French Polynesia

Uninhabited Mururoa Atoll was established as a French nuclear test site in 1962 and tests were conducted there between 1966 and 1992, with underground testing beginning in 1975. France also conducted tests at Fangataufa Atoll, including its last nuclear test in 1996. Mururoa and Fangaaufa atolls are roughly 750 miles southeast of Tahiti. Mururoa has a seawall which protects the atoll from tidal waves produced by the nuclear blasts.

In 1962, the French established the nuclear test program Centre d'Expérimentations du Pacifique (CEP). 1966, France begin nuclear testing on Mururoa. In 1975, worldwide opposition to the tests forced French to move nuclear testing underground on Fangataufa. In 1995, French president Jacques Chirac resumes nuclear tests after their suspension by President François Mitterand in 1992.

French nuclear testing in the 1960s leading to worldwide protests and were particularly intense in French Polynesia itself. People rioted in Papeete, where the international airport was destroyed; stores were looted and building set on fire in a 36-hour tumult that was finally brought under control by French paramilitary troops and Foreign legionnaires. When the riot ended 40 people were injured and damages was estimated in the millions of dollars.

Independence Issues in French Polynesia

French Polynesians are free to establish a referendum and vote for independence anytime they choose. Before the nuclear tests independence was not a big issue. After the tests it was a topic nearly everyone discussed.

Cashing in on anti-French sentiments over the nuclear tests at Muuroa Atoll, the Polynesian independence party, Tvani Huiraatira (Serving the People) made big gains in the election in 1996. The leader of the party, Oscar Temaru told National Geographic, "Chirac dreams of France becoming a superpower. We dream of freedom, freedom, freedom."

France has been able to hold on to power in French Polynesia by pumping huge sums of money into the economy and providing well-paying jobs for much of the country's work force.

Robert Wan, one of Tahiti's most successful businessmen, told National Geographic, "Independence for Tahiti, it would be a disaster. How would we survive? Who would pay to educate our children, care for our sick, pave our roads?"

If the French go, Tahiti would have to rely more heavily on tourism to generate revenues, increasing the number of visitors from around 170,000 that come annually in the 1990s to about 500,000 a year.

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