110-717: Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia . It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north. Mangareva has a permanent population of 1,239 (2012) and the largest village on the island, Rikitea , is the chief town of the Gambier Islands. The island is approximately eight kilometres (5 mi) long and, at 15.4 km ( 5 + 15 ⁄ 16 sq mi), it comprises about 56% of
220-473: A hot spot under the Pacific Plate , which is moving northwestward at a rate of 12.5 cm per year. They are part of an atoll that formed between 5.6 and 5.7 million years ago. The central island has already partially subsided, so that ancient parts of the crater rim still protrude from the water as islands of igneous rocks. The long-sunken caldera can still be noted by the position of the islands in
330-658: A British show of force, Oberea laid down peace offerings leading to cordial relations. On 2 April 1768, the expedition of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville , aboard Boudeuse and Etoile on the first French circumnavigation, sighted Tahiti. On 5 April, they anchored off Hitiaʻa O Te Ra and were welcomed by its chief Reti. Bougainville was also visited by Tutaha. Bougainville stayed about ten days. By 12 April 1769 Captain James Cook had arrived in Tahiti's Matavai Bay, commanding HMS Endeavour . He had been sent on
440-597: A ban on nudity (obliging them to wear clothes covering their whole body), banned dances and chants (described as immodest), tattoos, and costumes made of flowers. In the 1820s, the entire population of Tahiti converted to Protestantism. Duperrey , who berthed in Tahiti in May 1823, attests to the change in Tahitian society in a letter dated 15 May 1823: "The missionaries of the Royal Society of London have totally changed
550-449: A cargo service operated by two schooners, which rotate every three weeks. The inhabitants are self-sufficient. They grow yams, taro and breadfruit , as well as all kinds of tropical fruits and, to a lesser extent, coffee for export. Politically, the Gambier Islands belong to French Polynesia. They form one of 17 municipalities ( Commune des Gambier ) administered by a subdivision ( Subdivision administrative des Tuamotu-Gambier ) of
660-713: A meter high and only remotely human, represents the god Rao, supposedly the "god of inequity" according to Father Caret's description, the third most important deity in the Mangareva pantheon. A four-armed stand, like the one described in the text fragment above, is on display at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris. Another naturalistic statue, approximately one meter high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York ,
770-595: A missionary and teacher, and starting in 1817, the Gospels were translated into Tahitian ( Reo Maohi ) and taught in the religious schools. In 1818, the minister William Pascoe Crook founded the city of Papeʻete , which became the capital of the island. In 1819, Pōmare II, encouraged by the missionaries, introduced the first Tahitian legal code, known under the name of the Pōmare Legal Code, which consists of nineteen laws. The missionaries and Pōmare II thus imposed
880-543: A population density of 43 p.e./km . The official language is French. The currency is (still) the CFP franc , which is pegged to the euro. The administrative budget of the Gambier Islands is largely subsidized with funds from France and the European Union. The main island is Mangareva , on which, however, only the seat of the local administration is located. The Gambier Islands had a population of 1,431 inhabitants at
990-400: A scientific mission with astronomy, botany, and artistic details. 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
1100-712: Is a 60% lexical similarity, and usually with French, as well. It is a member of the Marquesic subgroup, and as such is closely related to Hawaiian and Marquesan . According to the Endangered Languages Project , Mangarevan is considered endangered with fewer than 900 speakers out of an ethnic population of 1,491. The larger portion of the population in the Gambier Islands speak French. Tahiti Tahiti ( English: / t ə ˈ h iː t i / ; Tahitian [taˈhiti] ; French pronunciation: [ta.iˈti] )
1210-410: Is believed to represent the god Rogo, the sixth son of Tagaroa and Haumea, the mythical founders of Mangareva. Rogo was the ancient deity of peace and hospitality and was revealed as a rainbow . His cult was associated with the cultivation of turmeric. At the 2017 census, only 24.8% of the population age 15 and older in the Gambier Islands still reported that Mangarevan was the language they spoke
SECTION 10
#17327727555641320-450: Is dry grassland. The fringing reef coral islands are species-poor due to poor soil fertility. Here mainly coconut trees ( Cocos nucifera ) thrive, which are used economically for a small copra production. The fauna of the coral islands, poor in species, is limited to birds, insects and lizards. In contrast, the underwater fauna is species-rich. All kinds of coral fish make the lagoon a paradise for divers. The Gambier Islands formed from
1430-424: Is located 4,400 kilometres (2,376 nautical miles) south of Hawaiʻi, 7,900 km (4,266 nmi) from Chile , 5,700 km (3,078 nmi) from Australia. The island is 45 km (28 mi) across at its widest point and covers an area of 1,045 km (403 sq mi). The highest peak is Mont Orohena (Mouʻa ʻOrohena) (2,241 m (7,352 ft)). Mount Roonui , or Mount Ronui (Mouʻa Rōnui), in
1540-537: Is located 45 km (28 mi) south-east of the Mangareva Islands. In the Mangareva Islands, besides Mangareva proper (the main island), the other notable high islands of the group are Akamaru , Angakauitai , Aukena , Kamaka , Kouaku , Makapu , Makaroa , Manui , Mekiro and Taravai . These are primarily of volcanic origin . A number of others are actually coral islands , hence of secondary volcanic origin, including Papuri , Puaumu , Totengengie and
1650-542: Is relatively constant throughout the year. Temperatures are similar to those of the Austral Islands, with a warm season from November to April and a cool season from May to October. The minimum and maximum temperatures recorded at Gambier (Rikitea meteorological station; station météorologique de Rikitea) are 13.2 °C (27 August 1992) and 31.2 °C (23 January 1989). The volcanic islands are covered with lush tropical vegetation. The windward side of Mount Duff
1760-1096: Is the inferred current location of the hotspot as evidenced by recent seismic activity. Maupiti, the oldest island in the chain, is a highly eroded shield volcano with at least 12 thin lava flows, which accumulated fairly rapidly between 4.79 and 4.05 Ma. Bora Bora is another highly eroded shield volcano consisting of basaltic lavas accumulated between 3.83 and 3.1 Ma. The lavas are intersected by post-shield dikes . Tahaʻa consists of shield-stage basalt with an age of 3.39 Ma, followed by additional eruptions 1.2 Ma later. Raiatea consists of shield-stage basalt followed by post-shield trachytic lava flows , all occurring from 2.75 to 2.29 Ma. Huahine consists of two coalesced basalt shield volcanoes, Huahine Nui and Huahine Iti, with several flows followed by post-shield trachyphonolitic lava domes from 3.08 to 2.06 Ma. Moʻorea consists of at least 16 flows of shield-stage basalt and post-shield lavas from 2.15 to 1.36 Ma. Tahiti consists of two basalt shield volcanoes, Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti, with an age range of 1.67 to 0.25 Ma. November to April
1870-614: Is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia . It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Australia . Divided into two parts, Tahiti Nui (bigger, northwestern part) and Tahiti Iti (smaller, southeastern part), the island was formed from volcanic activity; it is high and mountainous with surrounding coral reefs . Its population
1980-488: Is the wet season, the wettest month of which is January with 340 millimetres (13 in) of rain in Papeʻete. August is the driest with 48 millimetres (1.9 in). The average temperature ranges between 21 and 31 °C (70 and 88 °F), with little seasonal variation. The lowest and highest temperatures recorded in Papeʻete are 16 and 34 °C (61 and 93 °F), respectively. About 1.4 million to 870,000 years ago,
2090-468: The Catholic missionaries , provoking a diplomatic conflict. France sent Admiral Dupetit-Thouars to try to remedy the matter. The admiral ended up establishing a protectorate, and later the annexation of Tahiti. Meanwhile, the Gambier Islands suffered a strong earthquake and tsunami in 1837. Laval and Caret returned to the archipelago and established a theocratic regime. But, most notably, they taught
2200-526: The French military dragged a chain through some of the coral reef beds to cut a wider and deeper channel for deep draft vessels. Higher rate of infections by ciguatera were subsequently recorded. The Gambier Islands include the Mangareva Islands (the Gambier Islands proper), which have an enclosing coral reef which is broken by only three passages to the open sea , and Temoe atoll, which
2310-524: The Gambier Islands were ruled by a line of kings – and, later, regents – until the French formally annexed the islands. King Maputeoa requested a French protectorate on 16 February 1844, but the French government never ratified it. On 4 February 1870, the Mangarevan government and its prince regent, Arone Teikatoara , formally withdrew the protectorate request and asked the French not to intervene in
SECTION 20
#17327727555642420-524: The Marquesas Islands, which he annexed in 1842. Also in 1842, a European crisis involving Morocco escalated between France and Great Britain, souring their relations. In August 1842, Admiral Du Petit-Thouars returned and landed in Tahiti. He then made friends with Tahitian chiefs who were hostile to the Pōmare family and favourable to a French protectorate. He had them sign a request for protection in
2530-584: The Papenoʻo on the north side and the Fautaua Falls near Papeʻete . The Society archipelago is a hotspot volcanic chain consisting of ten islands and atolls. The chain is oriented along the N. 65° W. direction, parallel to the movement of the Pacific Plate . Due to the plate movement over the Society hotspot , the age of the islands decreases from 5 Ma at Maupiti to 0 Ma at Mehetia , where Mehetia
2640-583: The Polynesian triangle . For instance, traditionally, in Mangareva, the most important god was named Tu, whereas in New Zealand and Hawai'i , the god of war was similarly named Kū . Other commonalities amongst the islands of the Polynesian triangle include the goddess Haumea , who is said to have been responsible for the creation of the world, and the demi-god Māui , who is said to have fished up
2750-576: The President of France on 30 January 1882. In the 20th century, in July 1966, the Mangareviens were exposed to radioactive fallout due to the French military's nuclear tests at Moruroa and Fangataufa . Military officials were aware of the doses received by the island and their effects, but kept them secret. The information was made public in 1998 by journalist Vincent Jauvert, and acknowledged by
2860-570: The Tokorua group. The Mangareva Islands have a land area of 25.71 km , with a population of 1,431 people at the 2017 census. The primary town is Rikitea , located on Mangareva , as is the highest point in the Gambiers, Mt. Duff , rising to 441 metres (1,447 ft) along that island's south coast. The islands of Gambier comprise: The Gambier Islands have a typical maritime climate, tropical in character but relatively cool. Rainfall
2970-487: The 1890s and painted many Tahitian subjects. Papeari has a small Gauguin museum. In 1891 Matthew Turner , an American shipbuilder from San Francisco who had been seeking a fast passage between the city and Tahiti, built Papeete , a two-masted schooner that made the trip in seventeen days. In 1903, the Établissements Français d'Océanie (French Establishments in Oceania) were created, which collected together Tahiti,
3080-693: The 2017 census, all living in the Mangareva Islands. Ethnologist Kenneth P. Emory of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu assumed that the Gambier Islands, like the other islands of East Polynesia, were colonized from the Marquesas. However, it is now more likely that settlement originated in the Society Islands around 1000 A.D. There is archaeological evidence that the islands of Mangareva , Taravai, Agakauitai, Akamaru, Aukena and Kamaka were colonized by Polynesians in protohistoric times. The social form
3190-503: The 2017 census. The population was spread over the following islands: The majority of the islands' population follows Christianity, mostly the Catholic Church and various Protestant groups , a legacy of the missionary activity that began with the arrival of Europeans to the region. According to 1991 data, between 5 and 6% of the population belonged to a Protestant Christian group. Recently restored after years of closure,
3300-629: The Church of Saint Raphael in Aukena ( Église de Saint-Raphaël ), the Church of Saint Joseph of Taku in Mangareva ( Église de Saint-Joseph-de-Taku ), the Church of Saint Joseph in Marutea ( Église de Saint-Joseph ), and the aforementioned Ancient Cathedral of Saint Michael in Rikitea ( Ancienne cathédrale Saint-Michel ) (Eastern Oceania cathedral between 1833 and 1848) Little is known about
3410-476: The European invention of binary by as many as 300 to 600 years. In 2020, Mangarevan binary counting was shown to be an extension of a traditional Polynesian method of counting. Polynesian societies are known to count specific types of objects differently, and they count objects both singly (one by one) and collectively (by twos, fours, or eights). In each case, counting remains decimal (one, two, three...), though
Mangareva - Misplaced Pages Continue
3520-663: 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 British presence on the remains of the Spanish mission. On 29 September 1777 Cook sailed for Papetoʻai Bay on Moʻorea. On 26 October 1788, HMS Bounty , under the command of Captain William Bligh , landed in Tahiti with
3630-596: The French government in 2006. Mangareva has a tropical rainforest climate ( Köppen climate classification Af ). The average annual temperature in Mangareva is 23.5 °C (74.3 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,913.5 mm (75.33 in) with November the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in March, at around 26.0 °C (78.8 °F), and lowest in August, at around 21.3 °C (70.3 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Mangareva
3740-624: The High Commissariat of French Polynesia ( Haut-commissariat de la République en Polynésie française ) in Papeete , Tahiti. In addition to the Gambier Islands in the geographical sense (i.e. including the atolls of Gambier and Temoe), the following atolls in the southeast of the Tuamotu archipelago belong to the municipality of Gambier: The municipality of Gambier had a total population of 1,421 inhabitants according to 2012 data, with
3850-760: The Huguenot James Gambier , who had financially supported the expedition. In 1825, the British Frederick William Beechey reached the Gambier Islands with his ship HMS Blossom during a long voyage of exploration to the Pacific and Arctic of North America. In 1834 the missionaries of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts Honoré Laval and François Caret arrived in the islands to found
3960-480: The Mangareva Islands are of volcanic origin with central high islands. Administratively, the Gambier Islands are inside the commune of Gambier , which also includes several atolls in the Tuamotu Archipelago. The town hall ( mairie ) of the commune of Gambier is located on Mangareva , which is the largest island in the Gambier Islands group. The population of the Gambier Islands was 1,431 people at
4070-409: The Mangarevan system (VTPK, where V ( varu ) means 80, T ( tataua ) is 40, P ( paua ) is 20, and K ( takau ) is 10). As binary counting is unknown in other Polynesian societies, it most likely developed after Mangareva was settled (which was sometime between 1060 and 1360 AD). Since Gottfried Leibniz would not invent the modern binary number system until 1689, the Mangarevan binary steps prefigured
4180-713: The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary of Picpus. The Catholic missionaries quickly converted almost the entire population . They constructed many religious buildings and had the marae, the places of worship of the ancient local gods , destroyed. Today the Catholic Church administers 6 buildings in the region the Church of Saint Gabriel in Agonoko, Taravai ( Église de Saint-Gabriel ), the Church of Our Lady of Peace in Akamaru ( Église de Notre-Dame-de-Paix ),
4290-501: The Tahitian population, which shrank rapidly, ravaged by diseases and other cultural factors. During the first decade of the 19th century, the Tahitian population dropped from 16,000 to 8,000–9,000; the French census in 1854 counted a population just under 6,000. On 5 March 1797, representatives of the London Missionary Society landed at Matavai Bay ( Mahina ) on board Duff , with the intention of converting
4400-466: The absence of their Queen, before then approaching her and obliging her to ratify the terms of the treaty of protectorate. The treaty had not even been ratified by France itself when Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout was named royal commissaire alongside Queen Pōmare. Within the framework of this treaty, France recognised the sovereignty of the Tahitian state. The Queen was responsible for internal affairs, while France would deal with foreign relations and assure
4510-508: The acquiescence and then with the active support of the ruler, the Picpusians deployed an extensive development program for the islands . Encouraged by their success, after baptizing the entire population of the Gambier Islands, they moved to Tahiti in 1836. On this island, since Wilson's expedition, there was a Protestant mission led by Pritchard, who was also British consul and advisor to Queen Pomare Vahine. Pritchard succeeded in expelling
Mangareva - Misplaced Pages Continue
4620-644: 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) whose combined territory extended from the peninsula in the south of Tahiti Nui. Clan leadership consisted of a chief ( ariʻi rahi ), nobles ( ariʻi ), and under-chiefs ( ʻĪatoʻai ). The ariʻi were also
4730-426: The art and culture of the Gambier Islands before European influence. Ethnological studies on a scientific basis could not be carried out because the works of art were almost eliminated by the colonizers in a very short time. Father Laval claimed to have burned 40 wooden idols in a single day. The scant information that has survived on the religion and worship of the Gambier Islands comes mainly from letters written by
4840-404: The author. In 1962, the adventure-fiction writer Garland Roark acknowledged Eskridge's work in a foreword to his novel, The Witch of Manga Reva . Eskridge also wrote and illustrated a children's book about his visit to Mangareva: South Sea Playmates (Bobbs Merrill; 1933). Sailor and author W. I. B. (Bill) Crealock describes in his book Cloud of Islands a visit to Mangareva, which he considered
4950-406: The capital, Papeʻete. The interior of Tahiti Nui is almost entirely uninhabited. Tahiti Iti has remained isolated, as its southeastern half ( Te Pari ) is accessible only to those travelling 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
5060-523: The chief of the new colony. He threw Pritchard into prison, and later sent him back to Britain. The annexation caused the Queen to be exiled to the Leeward Islands, and after a period of troubles, a real Franco-Tahitian war began in March 1844. News of Tahiti reached Europe in early 1844. The French statesman François Guizot , supported by King Louis-Philippe of France , had denounced annexation of
5170-457: 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 . Although various explorers had refused to get involved in tribal conflicts,
5280-672: The defence of Tahiti, as well as maintain order on the island. Once the treaty had been signed there began a struggle for influence between the English Protestants and the Catholic representatives of France. During the first years of the Protectorate, the Protestants managed to retain a considerable hold over Tahitian society, thanks to their knowledge of the country and its language. George Pritchard had been away at
5390-482: The deity. On each side of the idol were carved three-armed stands on which were presented various objects, such as decorated coconut shells and pieces of bamboo, possibly intended to represent musical instruments. Only eight artifacts from the pre-European period from the Gambier Islands remain in the world, including a carved deity of the type described by Beechey in the above text in the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie in Paris. The wooden figure, about
5500-438: The eyes themselves, were molded and, from the way the figure was carved, one could deduce that no consideration had been given to human anatomy. The idol was placed in an upright position with its limbs attached to the wall of the hut. The head and loins were tied with a piece of white cloth and the feet were placed in a gourd filled with water. Next to the idol were various oars, mats, coils of rope and garments, obviously gifts for
5610-598: The first Catholic mission in Polynesia, after the failed attempt of the Spaniards in Tahiti in 1775. The two priests ended up being protagonists of the French union of Tahiti. At first, King Maputeoa , the last king of Mangareva, resisted, but after attributing the recovery from a serious illness to the new god, he increasingly submitted to the influence of the Christian missionaries and was baptized in 1836. First with
SECTION 50
#17327727555645720-642: The first European visit to Tahiti, was under the command of Captain Samuel Wallis . While circumnavigating the globe in HMS ; Dolphin , they sighted the island on 18 June 1767 and then harbored in Matavai Bay between the chiefdom Pare - Arue (governed by Tu (Tu-nui-e-aʻa-i-te-Atua) and his regent Tutaha) and the chiefdom Haʻapape , governed by Amo and his wife "Oberea" ( Purea ). The first contacts were difficult, but to avert all-out war after
5830-531: The former cathedral of St. Michael of Mangareva , in the Gambier archipelago, bears witness to the time when the first Catholic missionaries settled there in the 19th century. It is a building protected as a historical monument of France. The structure is considered one of the centers of Catholicism in Polynesia. The activity of the Catholic Church was boosted by the Missionary work of the Congregation of
5940-497: The ideal island, on the yacht Arthur Rogers , in the company of Diana and Tom Hepworth, whose lives were later recounted in the book Faraway by Lucy Irvine. The Mangarevan people developed a binary number system centuries ahead of Europeans. In 2013, the islanders were discovered to have developed a novel binary system that allowed them to reduce the number of digits involved in binary counting: for example, representing 150 requires eight digits in binary (10010110) but only four in
6050-568: The inhabitants of the islands to read and write, and protected them from European traders and whalers. According to a phrase of Father Laval, "civilization leads to contentment". On the other hand, religious zeal led them to systematically replace all the idols and temples, and in their place they ordered the construction of more than a hundred stone buildings: churches, chapels , convents, seminaries , cemeteries, vicarages, triumphal arches. The cathedral of St. Michael in Mangareva alone could accommodate more than 2,000 people. The population , which
6160-720: 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
6270-550: 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
6380-475: The island of Tahiti was formed as a volcanic shield . The first Tahitians arrived from Western Polynesia sometime before 500 BC. 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. Before
6490-661: The island was visited by the United States Exploring Expedition . One of its members, Alfred Thomas Agate , produced a number of sketches of Tahitian life, some of which were later published in the United States. In 1836, the Queen's advisor Pritchard had two French Catholic priests expelled, François Caret and Honoré Laval . As a result, in 1838 France sent Admiral Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars to obtain reparations. Once his mission had been completed, Admiral Du Petit-Thouars sailed towards
6600-472: The island. The war ended in December 1846 in favour of the French. The Queen returned from exile in 1847 and agreed to sign a new covenant, considerably reducing her powers, while increasing those of the commissaire. Thus, the French reigned over the Kingdom of Tahiti. In 1863, they put an end to the British influence and replaced the British Protestant Missions with the Société des missions évangéliques de Paris (Society of Evangelical Missions of Paris). During
6710-464: The islanders between the 10th and 15th centuries resulted in deforestation of the island, with disastrous results for both its environment and its economy (see Gambier Islands for more details). The first European to visit Mangareva was a British captain, James Wilson , who arrived in 1797 on the ship Duff . Wilson named the island group in honour of Admiral James Gambier , who had helped him to equip his vessel. Mangareva and its dependencies in
SECTION 60
#17327727555646820-427: The islands from the bottom of the sea. Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands (French: Îles Gambier or Archipel des Gambier ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia , located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of 27.8 km or 10.7 sq mi, and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera along with islets on
6930-410: The items being counted (in New Zealand, this method was misunderstood by Europeans as undecimal or base-11 counting). In the traditional method, the pile of set-asides would then be counted the same way, with every tenth item marking a hundred (second round), thousand (third round), ten thousand items (fourth round), and so on. In Mangarevan binary, in the first round items were counted as before, but in
7040-408: The king of Tahiti. It was the first time that Tahiti had been united under the control of a single family. This marked the end of Tahitian feudalism and the military aristocracy, which were replaced by an absolute monarchy. At the same time, Protestantism quickly spread, thanks to the support of Pōmare II, and replaced the traditional beliefs. In 1816 the London Missionary Society sent John Williams as
7150-411: The kingdom's affairs. However, after Father Honoré Laval was removed to Tahiti, the native government changed its stance: On 30 November 1871, Prince Regent Arone and the French colonial authority in Tahiti signed an agreement reaffirming the islands’ protectorate status. The Gambier Islands were finally annexed on 21 February 1881 under Prince Regent Bernardo Putairi , and the annexation was approved by
7260-435: The kingdom, and when in 1880 the governor Henri Isidore Chessé, supported by the Tahitian chiefs, pushed him to abdicate in favour of France, he accepted. On 29 June 1880, he ceded Tahiti to France along with the islands that were its dependencies. He was given the titular position of Officer of the Orders of the Legion of Honour and Agricultural Merit of France . Having become a colony, Tahiti thus lost all sovereignty. Tahiti
7370-428: The lagoon. The entire group sits on an underwater rise that sinks relatively rapidly in the south and east, so that the 65 km long fringing reef only rises above the water surface on three sides. From there, numerous low motus, composed of coral sand and rubble, rise just above the sea surface . Today, pearl farming is practiced in the numerous pearl farms in the Gambier lagoons, whose relatively cold waters allow
7480-465: The land area of the whole Gambier group. Mangareva has a high central ridge which runs the length of the island. The highest point in the Gambiers is Mount Duff , on Mangareva, rising to 441 metres (1,447 ft) along the island's south coast. The island has a large lagoon 24 kilometres (15 mi) in diameter containing reefs whose fish and shellfish helped ancient islanders survive much more successfully than on nearby islands with no reefs. Mangareva
7590-402: The lands that now constitute modern French Polynesia. In 1791, HMS Pandora under Captain Edward Edwards called at Tahiti and took custody of fourteen of the mutineers. Four were drowned in the sinking of Pandora on her homeward voyage, three were hanged, four were acquitted, and three were pardoned. In the 1790s, whalers began landing at Tahiti during their hunting expeditions in
7700-454: The mission of carrying Tahitian breadfruit trees ( Tahitian : ʻuru ) 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 African slaves working in the Caribbean plantations at very little cost. The crew remained in Tahiti for about five months, the time needed to transplant the seedlings of the trees. Three weeks after leaving Tahiti, on 28 April 1789,
7810-420: The missionaries to their religious superiors. A thatched hut twenty feet long, ten feet wide, and seven feet high contained the idols. In front of the structure was a space twenty feet square paved with hewn coral blocks and bordered with curbs. Inside the hut was a boundary one meter high along its entire length, in the center of which stood a finely carved and polished one meter high idol. The eyebrows, but not
7920-422: The morals and customs of the inhabitants. Idolatry no longer exists among them, and they generally profess the Christian religion. The women no longer come aboard the vessel, and even when we meet them on land they are extremely reserved. (...) The bloody wars that these people used to carry out and human sacrifices have no longer taken place since 1816." When, on 7 December 1821, Pōmare II died, his son Pōmare III
8030-401: The most at home (down from 38.6% at the 2007 census), while 62.6% reported French as the main language spoken at home (up from 52.3% at the 2007 census), 4.9% reported Tahitian (down from 6.4% in 2007), and 4.6% reported some Chinese dialects (predominantly Hakka ) (up from 3.5% in 2007). In the Gambier Islands, the number of people age 15 and older who reported that the language they spoke
8140-536: The most at home was Mangarevan declined from 300 at the 2007 census to 270 at the 2017 census. In the entire French Polynesia, the number of people age 15 and older who reported that the language they spoke the most at home was Mangarevan declined from 424 at the 2007 census to 332 at the 2017 census. Most of the people who spoke Mangarevan at home outside of the Gambier Islands at the 2017 census lived in Tahiti . Speakers have some bilingualism in Tahitian, in which there
8250-519: The mutineers from the Bounty offered their services as mercenaries and furnished arms to the family which became the Pōmare Dynasty . The chief Tū knew how to use their presence in the harbours favoured by sailors to his advantage. As a result of his alliance with the mutineers, he succeeded in considerably increasing his supremacy over the island of Tahiti. In about 1790, the ambitious chief Tū took
8360-495: The northwest coast of Tahiti. The only international airport in the region, Faʻaʻā International Airport , is on Tahiti near Papeʻete. Tahiti was originally settled by Polynesians between 300 and 800 AD. They represent about 70% of the island's population, with the rest made up of Europeans , Chinese and those of mixed heritage. The island was part of the Kingdom of Tahiti until its annexation by France in 1880, when it
8470-787: The other Society Islands , the Austral Islands , the Marquesas Islands and the Tuamotu Archipelago . During the First World War , the Papeʻete region of the island was attacked by two German warships . A French gunboat as well as a captured German freighter were sunk in the harbour and the two German armoured cruisers bombarded the colony. Between 1966 and 1996 the French Government conducted 193 nuclear bomb tests above and below
8580-443: The pagan native populations to Christianity. The arrival of these missionaries marked a new turning point for the island of Tahiti, having a lasting impact on the local culture. The first years proved hard work for the missionaries, despite their association with the Pōmare, the importance of whom they were aware of thanks to the reports of earlier sailors. In 1803, upon the death of Pōmare I , his son Vairaʻatoa succeeded him and took
8690-501: The point when Protestantism truly took off on the island. In about 1810, Pōmare II married Teremoʻemoʻe daughter of the chief of Raiatea , to ally himself with the chiefdoms of the Leeward Islands . On 12 November 1815, thanks to these alliances, Pōmare II won a decisive battle at Feʻi Pī (Punaʻauia), notably against Opuhara, the chief of the powerful clan of Teva. This victory allowed Pōmare II to be styled Ariʻi Rahi , or
8800-401: The powers of the traditional hereditary chiefs. In the context of the republican assimilation, these councils tried their best to protect the traditional way of life of the local people, which was threatened by European influence. In 1877, Queen Pōmare died after ruling for fifty years. Her son, Pōmare V, then succeeded her on the throne. The new king seemed little concerned with the affairs of
8910-544: The price of airfare to get there are largely responsible for this, but the islands have potential because of their climate , environment and unique historical past. A few sailboats call at Rikitea Bay and tourists wishing to visit the British Pitcairn Islands pass through Mangareva as a base. Local production in the Gambier Islands is limited to a few productive sectors, such as subsistence farming and fishing, and most consumer goods are transported by
9020-478: The production of quality pearls. There are 129 farms, including fourteen companies. In recent years, although far from the large population centers of French Polynesia, the archipelago has seen its population increase thanks to pearl farming and the exploitation of mother-of-pearl. In terms of tourism, the Gambier archipelago is one of the least visited in French Polynesia. The remoteness of Tahiti and
9130-511: The proper name of the island. 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. This estimate was reduced to 35,000 by Cook's contemporary, anthropologist and Tahiti expert Douglas L. Oliver. The Viceroy of Peru , Manuel de Amat y Juniet , under order of the Spanish Crown, organized an expedition to colonize
9240-590: The protection of England. In November 1835 Charles Darwin visited Tahiti aboard HMS Beagle on her circumnavigation, captained by Robert FitzRoy . He was impressed by what he perceived to be the positive influence the missionaries had had on the sobriety and moral character of the population. Darwin praised the scenery, but was not flattering towards Tahiti's Queen Pōmare IV. Captain Fitzroy negotiated payment of compensation for an attack on an English ship by Tahitians, which had taken place in 1833. In Sept. 1839,
9350-399: 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 ariʻi and the ʻĪatoʻai had to be called, especially in case of war. The chief's spiritual power was also limited; each clan's practice
9460-431: The same period about a thousand Chinese, mainly Cantonese , were recruited at the request of a plantation owner in Tahiti, William Stewart, to work on the great cotton plantation at Atimaono. When the enterprise resulted in bankruptcy in 1873, some Chinese workers returned to their country, but a large number stayed in Tahiti and mixed with the population. In 1866 the district councils were formed, elected, which were given
9570-513: The second half of the 19th century, the archipelago remained in the sphere of influence of the Pomaré royal dynasty of Tahiti. The Gambier Islands were discovered for Europe in 1797 by James Wilson, captain of the ship Duff of the London Missionary Society , which had left Great Britain to carry out missionary work in Tahiti, Tonga and the Marquesas . He named the islands after his role model,
9680-433: The second round and thereafter they were grouped into eights ( varu ) and then fours ( tataua ), twos ( paua ), and singles ( takau ). Once counting had shifted to binary units in the second and subsequent rounds, the method was no longer decimal, suggesting an explanation for the upper limit of 800 (for items counted singly) observed for the counting system. Mangarevan mythology includes deities and gods commonly found across
9790-581: The situation to change the way in which powers were arranged, and to make the Tahitian monarchy closer to the English model of a constitutional monarchy. They therefore created the Tahitian Legislative Assembly, which first sat on 23 February 1824. In 1827, the young Pōmare III suddenly died, and it was his half-sister, ʻAimata, aged thirteen, who took the title of Pōmare IV . The Birmingham -born missionary George Pritchard , who
9900-420: The southeast rises to 1,332 m (4,370 ft). 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 Taiʻarapū . Tahiti Nui is heavily populated along the coast, especially around
10010-495: The southern hemisphere. The arrival of these whalers, who were subsequently joined by merchants coming from the penal colonies in Australia, marked the first major overturning of traditional Tahitian society. The crews introduced alcohol , arms and infectious diseases to the island, and encouraged prostitution , which brought with it venereal disease . These commercial interactions with westerners had catastrophic consequences for
10120-476: The spread of previously unknown infectious diseases led to destitution and a drastic decline in population. On the other hand, the missionaries suppressed constant tribal warfare, as well as human sacrifice and combated cannibalism. The French governor of Tahiti stood by and watched the actions on the islands for many years. Only when complaints from businessmen and merchant ships became more frequent did he intervene. Father Laval had to leave Mangareva in 1871 at
10230-532: The surrounding fringing reef , and the uninhabited Temoe atoll , which is located 45 km (28 mi) south-east of the Mangareva Islands. The Gambiers are generally considered a separate island group from Tuamotu both because their culture and language ( Mangarevan ) are much more closely related to those of the Marquesas Islands , and because, while the Tuamotus comprise several chains of coral atolls,
10340-543: The time. He returned however to work towards indoctrinating the locals against the Roman Catholic French. In 1843, the Queen's Protestant advisor, Pritchard, persuaded her to display the Tahitian flag in place of the flag of the Protectorate. By way of reprisal, Admiral Dupetit-Thouars announced the annexation of the Kingdom of Pōmare on 6 November 1843 and set up the governor Armand Joseph Bruat there as
10450-408: The title of Pōmare II. He allied himself more and more with the missionaries, and from 1803 they taught him reading and the Gospels. Furthermore, the missionaries encouraged his wish to conquer his opponents, so that they would only have to deal with a single political contact, enabling them to develop Christianity in a unified country. The conversion of Pōmare II to Protestantism in 1812 marks moreover
10560-560: The title of king and gave himself the name Pōmare . Captain Bligh explains that this name was a homage to his eldest daughter Teriʻinavahoroa, who had died of tuberculosis , "an illness that made her cough ( mare ) a lot, especially at night ( pō )". Thus he became Pōmare I , founding the Pōmare Dynasty and his lineage would be the first to unify Tahiti from 1788 to 1791. He and his descendants founded and expanded Tahitian influence to all of
10670-416: The traveler to the island. Some reach Pitcairn by commercial shipping traffic, but that is uncommon, because shipping lanes do not typically pass close to Pitcairn. Painter and author Robert Lee Eskridge 's book Manga Reva: The Forgotten Islands (Bobbs Merrill; 1931) offers first-hand observations of the environment, peoples, and traditions of Mangareva. It includes original illustrations and photographs by
10780-481: The unit counted varies (one, two, four, or eight). In Mangareva, counting collective items decimally produced productive terms for ten ( takau or ten singles), twenty ( paua or ten pairs), forty ( tataua or ten groups of four), and eighty ( varu or ten groups of eight). Given the availability of these terms and their associated numerical values, binary counting was then a simple adaptation of traditional Polynesian counting, which set aside every tenth item to mark ten of
10890-608: The urging of the Bishop of Tahiti, Florentin Etienne "Tepano" Jaussen. He died on 1 November 1880, and was buried in Tahiti. The Gambier Islands were finally annexed on 21 February 1881 under Prince Regent Bernardo Putairi and approved by the President of France on 30 January 1882. The Gambiers served as a logistical staging base for French nuclear testing activity in Mururoa , approximately 400 kilometers away. During this time,
11000-463: Was 189,517 in 2017, making it by far the most populous island in French Polynesia and accounting for 68.7% of its total population; the 2022 Census recorded a population of 191,779. Tahiti is the economic, cultural, and political centre of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity and an overseas country of the French Republic . The capital of French Polynesia, Papeʻete , is located on
11110-420: Was 31.4 °C (88.5 °F) on 6 March 2016; the coldest temperature ever recorded was 13.2 °C (55.8 °F) on 27 August 1992. Mangareva is reached by boat from the nearby airport across the lagoon. Mangareva is an important travel link to Pitcairn Island . Practically the only way a traveler can reach Pitcairn Island is to fly to Tahiti , then to Mangareva. From there, a 32-hour boat ride will take
11220-427: Was a strictly stratified tribal society, with constant inter-clan warfare and intermittent food shortages; cannibalism was not unknown. There is evidence that, shortly before European influence, unrest was taking place that led to turmoil and civil war between the social classes. This social upheaval may have greatly facilitated the conquest of the archipelago by King Pomaré II of Tahiti in the early 19th century. Until
11330-474: 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
11440-477: Was first settled by Polynesians in the first millennium CE. While carbon dating has so far only dated settlements to 1160–1220, there is evidence from the Pitcairn Islands of trade with Mangareva from 1000 CE, and it is likely settlement dates to around 800 CE. The island was once heavily forested and supported a large population that traded with other islands via canoes. However, excessive logging by
11550-546: Was nevertheless a special colony, since all the subjects of the Kingdom of Pōmare would be given French citizenship. On 14 July 1881, among cries of "Vive la République!" the crowds celebrated the fact that Polynesia now belonged to France; this was the first celebration of the Tiurai (national and popular festival). In 1890, Papeʻete became a commune of the Republic of France. The French painter Paul Gauguin lived on Tahiti in
11660-420: Was only eighteen months old. His uncle and the religious people therefore supported the regency, until 2 May 1824, the date on which the missionaries conducted his coronation, a ceremony unprecedented in Tahiti. Taking advantage of the weakness of the Pōmare, local chiefs won back some of their power and took the hereditary title of Tavana (from the English word "governor"). The missionaries also took advantage of
11770-539: Was organized around their marae (stone temple) and its priests. The first European to arrive at Tahiti may have been Spanish explorer Juan Fernández in his expedition of 1576–1577. 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. However, it has been suggested that he actually saw
11880-405: Was over 2,000 when Laval and Caret left, dropped to 500 at the end of the 19th century due to disease and emigration. Many laborers were sent from Mangareva to Tahiti to build the cathedral of Papeete in 1856. The recruitment of labor for the large-scale projects depopulated the smaller Gambier Islands and led according to some sources to famine , as daily food procurement was neglected. This and
11990-516: 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. Tahiti was called Otaheite in earlier European documents: this is a rendering of Tah. ʻo Tahiti , which is typically pronounced [ʔotaˈhɛiti] . Tahiti is the highest and largest island in French Polynesia lying close to Moʻorea island. It
12100-502: Was the acting British consul, became her main adviser and tried to interest her in the affairs of the kingdom but the authority of the Queen, who was certainly less charismatic than her father, was challenged by the chiefs, who had won back an important part of their prerogatives since the death of Pōmare II. The power of the Pōmare had become more symbolic than real; time and time again Queen Pōmare, Protestant and anglophile, sought in vain
#563436