Tahiti, French Polynesia

Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean. It includes Papeete, the capital, and its main towns (68.6% of the total population). It is part of the Windward Islands in the archipelago of the Company.

There are 5,000 years (3000 BC.), Inhabitants of the coast of South China, farmers of millet and rice, are beginning to cross the Strait to settle in Taiwan. 2 to 000 BC, migration takes place in Taiwan to the Philippines.

New migrations begin soon in the Philippines to Sulawesi and Timor, and from there the other islands of the Indonesian archipelago. 1 to 500 BC. J.-C., another movement leads the Philippines to New Guinea and beyond, the Pacific Islands. The Austronesian are probably the early navigators of the history of mankind.

Settlement of Oceania

Seen by Quirós in 1606, the island was actually visited by Samuel Wallis who landed on 19 June 1767, and named “King George Island.” Bougainville, who aborda few months later, gave her first name “New Cythera”. Admiral Abel Aubert Du Petit-Thouars oblige Queen Pomare IV to sign a protectorate treaty with France in 1842.

Tahiti In Pre-European Days

In the ancient Polynesian civilization, no government could survive without marae, or open-air temple, whose priests had, in addition to the service of divine worship, the burden of confirming the status and rights of every ruler and every head of the family important.

Every Marae was considered the symbol of a genealogical link and should be built around a stone from a marae oldest known stone foundation. The enclosure as well as everything that was part of the marae were tapu, ie sacred, only those entitled to register.

The name of the marae that accompanied each name exactly official indicated the rank of prince who wore it and served as a title. Marae was the most ancient and important, the more entitled were high on the high aristocracy.

For example Firiamate-o-i Vavau Vaiotaha meant Firiamata king and owner of the land Vavau (Bora-Bora). Farepu’a, the first royal marae Hitinui (Tahiti) was built at the advent of Tetuana’e hurt.

The magnificence of the ceremonies of the consecration of this marae entirely decorated with red feathers, followed by the induction official Tetuana’e hurt, as was the tradition has preserved some fragments of this event and some excerpts from speeches in the language arii of flowers. These extracts give an idea of the wealth of symbols and allegories used by the former Tahitian literature, its poetic inspiration and sacred.

Length is 45 km at its farthest points, it covers about 1,045 km², of which only 150 are inhabited and exploited. Its highest peak, Mount Orohena, peaks at 2,241 m. It is located roughly 17 degrees south and 150 degrees west. The capital, Papeete, is located on the northwest coast.

The island consists of two parts focusing on extinct volcanoes and connected by a short arm of land, the Isthmus of Taravao. The largest of these parties is called Tahiti Nui (Great Tahiti) and the other Tahiti Iti (Little Tahiti). Only the coastal strip is home to a depth that rarely exceeds two kilometers. Tahiti is the most heavily populated island of French Polynesia, with 70% of the total population. The population of French Polynesia was 260,338 inhabitants in 2007. The urban area of the capital, Papeete, alone attracts more than 128,000 inhabitants. The official language is french.

At 15 km west of Tahiti lies the sister island Moorea, which can be seen perfectly from most common to the west of Tahiti Nui. Many workers live in Moorea and work in Tahiti. To go to Tahiti, they have to take the ferry every morning.

Tahiti and the Society Islands are experiencing serious problems of loss of biodiversity due to urbanization, pollution, lack of clean water, overexploitation of fisheries resources, but also to the introduction of  invasive species.

For example, the little fire ant imported from New Caledonia, which has begun to colonize the island, possibly around 1990 – 1995, to be officially reported until July 2004 (made public in October 2004). The Rural Development Service (SDR) from French Polynesia during the dry season in 2005, blocked the explosion for one year, but the known colonies resumed their expansion.

The Environment Directorate of French Polynesia, helped by private companies and Fenua Animalia constrain the expansion since December 2006. Five colonies were treated in the public domain, with tests for evaluating different practices, because even with the army, the treatments are not 100% effective. In June 2007, at least 27 colonies were identified in 6 municipalities, in Papeete, Faa’a, Punaauia, Mahina and Papenoo. Tahiti is surrounded by a coral reef.

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(Derived from a Wiki article)

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