Page 163 - Pacifia Paradises - 2020

Nuku Hiva Ua Huka
Ua Pou Hiva Oa

MARQUESAS ISLANDS Fatu Hiva

Manihi
Rangiroa TUAMOTU ARCHIPELAGO
Tikehau
Tupai
Maupiti Bora Bora
Fakarava
Taha’a Huahine Tetiaroa WINDWARD
LEEWARD ISLANDS Raiatea Moorea Papeete ISLANDS
Tahiti
SOCIETY ISLANDS

ACTAEON ISLANDS

Maria
Rimatara Rurutu

AUSTRAL ISLANDS Tubua’i Raivavae GAMBIER ISLANDS

Rapa

Officially known as French Polynesia, Tahiti is made up of hospitality, friendliness and easy-going nature. French and Tahitian
118 islands spread over four million square kilometres are the two official languages on the islands, however English is
of ocean in the eastern South Pacific. The islands are widely spoken in hotels and shops.
further grouped into five archipelagos: the Society History
Islands, Austral Islands, Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu Hundreds of years after the ancient Polynesians made the Tahitian
Islands and Gambier Islands. islands their home, explorers like Mendana, Quiros, Le Maire,
Schouten, Roggeveen and Byron made brief and unplanned visits
Capital and major centres
Papeete is the capital of Tahiti, the largest island within French to the Tuamotu Islands and the Marquesas islands in the 16th,
Polynesia, dubbed ‘the island of love’. The country’s only international 17th and 18th centuries. Later in the 18th century explorers such
airport, Tahiti-Faa’a, is located on the island, making it the first stop as Bougainville, Wallis, Vancouver and Cook ‘discovered’ Tahiti and
in every itinerary. Moorea is Tahiti’s closest neighbouring island, called it ‘La Nouvelle Cythère’.
some 17 kilometres north-west of Papeete. Heart-shaped Moorea is Captain Cook returned three times to study the transition of Venus,
home to soaring volcanic peaks and magnificent views overlooking Captain Bligh came to collect seedlings from the wondrous ‘Uru’ or
the tranquil waters of Cooks Bay and Opunohu Bay. breadfruit tree, and the insubordinate Fletcher Christian returned to
the islands following the infamous mutiny on the Bounty.
The Society Islands also include legendary Bora Bora, 240 kilometres
northwest of Tahiti, as well as Huahine, comprised of two islands Before the arrival of the Europeans, the islands were divided into
joined by a narrow isthmus and enclosed by a protective necklace of districts, each governed by a chief. When Pomare V abdicated in 1880,
coral. Tahiti and her islands, previously a protectorate of France, became
a French colony, and in 1957 French Polynesia became a French
Rangiroa and Tikehau are the best known islands in the Tuamotu
archipelago. Rangiroa is the largest atoll in the Tuamotus, encircling Overseas Territory.
a 67–kilometre turquoise lagoon famed for its rich diversity of marine Nature
life. Lush vegetation grows high above the lagoons and bays and floral
scents permeate the tropical air.
Tikehau has an almost perfectly circular shape, with its many atolls
surrounding a lagoon that extends 26 kilometres across. A myriad of tropical flowers grow throughout the Tahitian islands. The
national flower is the tiare, a heavily scented gardenia which forms
The people
Tahiti’s population is a multicultural mix of Polynesians of Maohi the basis of the traditional lei necklaces.
(Maori) extraction, Europeans and Asians. They are noted for their

www.paradises.com Islands of Tahiti 159