FRENCH POLYNESIA

officially Territory of French Polynesia, French Territoire de la Polynsie Franaise collection of island groups and overseas territory of France situated in the south-central Pacific Ocean about 9,700 miles (15,700 km) from Paris. The territory covers an area (including inland water) of some 1,550 square miles (4,000 square km). The capital is Papeete on the island of Tahiti. The islands are scattered across the Pacific between latitudes 7 and 27 S and longitudes 134 and 155 W; there are 130 islands in all, and they are divided into five archipelagoes: the Society Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Gambier Islands, the Marquesas Islands, and the Tubuai Islands. Tahiti (402 square miles [1,042 square km]) in the Society group is the largest island. The population in 1988 was estimated at 188,000. The land. The islands can be divided into two distinct physiographic groups: the less numerous but larger high volcanic islands (Society, Tubuai, Marquesas, and Gambier) and the more numerous low coral islands (e.g., Tuamotu). The volcanic islands are mountainous with rugged peaks, deep and narrow valleys, fast-flowing rivers, narrow coasts, fertile soil, and dense vegetation. Mount Orohena (7,352 feet above sea level) on Tahiti is the highest point of the territory. The coral islands lack soil cover and permanent streams, raising serious supply problems for agriculture and drinking water. Coconut plantations are virtually the only vegetation on the coral islands. The climate of French Polynesia is tropical. At Papeete the annual average temperature is 79 F (26 C), ranging from 70 F (21 C) in the cool and dry season (MayOctober) to 91 F (33 C) in the warm rainy season (NovemberApril). Precipitation is abundant, varying from 120 inches (3,050 mm) near the coasts to 160 inches (4,060 mm) in the mountains. The relative humidity is always high (80 to 90 percent). Annually between December and February, French Polynesia is subject to typhoons. Most of the plant species on the islands were introduced by the first Polynesians, with others added later by Europeans. Coconuts, cassava, pineapples, watermelons, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, taros, and bananas are the chief crops. The only important minerals are phosphate and cobalt found in the Tuamotu Archipelago. officially Territory of French Polynesia, French Territoire de la Polynsie Franaise, overseas territory of France, a collection of island groups in the south-central Pacific Ocean. Included are some 130 islands, divided among five archipelagoes, scattered across the Pacific between latitudes 7 and 27 S and longitudes 134 and 155 W. The archipelagoes are the Society Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Gambier Islands, the Marquesas Islands, and the Tubuai Islands. The territory's area (including inland water) is some 1,550 square miles (4,000 square kilometres). The capital, Papeete, is on Tahiti, the territory's largest island (402 square miles), in the Society group. Additional reading Bengt Danielsson, Work and Life on Raroia: An Acculturation Study from the Tuamotu Group, French Oceania (1956); and F. Allan Hanson, Rapan Lifeways: Society and History on a Polynesian Island (1970, reprinted 1983), study society and culture. See also Douglas L. Oliver, Ancient Tahitian Society, 3 vol. (1974), a classic treatment. For history, see Robert Langdon, Tahiti, Island of Love, 5th ed. (1979); Colin Newbury, Tahiti Nui: Change and Survival in French Polynesia, 17671945 (1980); and Pierre-Yves Toullelan, Tahiti Colonial (1984). Other studies include William Tagupa, Politics in French Polynesia, 19451975 (1976); Virginia Thompson and Richard Adloff, The French Pacific Islands (1971); and Paul Hode, Tahiti, 18341984: 150 ans de vie chrtienne en eglise (1983). History Archaeological evidence suggests that the Marquesas Islands may have been settled in about 200 BC from western Polynesia. In subsequent dispersions, Polynesians from the Marquesas migrated to the Hawaiian Islands in about AD 300 and reached the Society Islands by about the 9th century AD. Large chieftainships were formed on Tahiti, Bora-Bora, and Raiatea. Teriaroa, north of Tahiti, was a royal retreat, and Taputapuatea, on Raiatea, was the most sacred shrine in the islands. European contact with the islands of French Polynesia was gradual. The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan sighted Pukapuka in the Tuamotu group in 1521. The southern Marquesas Islands were discovered in 1595. The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1722 discovered Makatea, Bora-Bora, and Maupiti. Captain Samuel Wallis in 1767 discovered Tahiti, Moorea, and Maiao Iti. The Society Islands were named after the Royal Society, which had sponsored the expedition under Captain James Cook that observed from Tahiti the 1769 transit of the planet Venus. Tubuai was discovered on Cook's last voyage, in 1777. The history of the Society Island groups is virtually that of Tahiti, which was made a French protectorate in 1842 and a colony in 1880. French missionaries went to the Gambier group in 1834, and in 1844 a French protectorate was proclaimed, followed by annexation in 1881. The Austral Islands were also evangelized from Tahiti, and as late as 1888 Rimatara and Rurutu sought British protection, which was refused. They were placed under the French protectorate in 1889 and annexed in 1900. The Tuamotus were part of the kingdom of the Pomare family of Tahiti, which came originally from Fakarava. These islands were claimed as dependencies of Tahiti within the protectorate by France in 1847 and became part of the colony in 1880. In the Marquesas, Nuku Hiva was annexed to the United States in 1813 by Captain David Porter of the frigate Essex, but the annexation was never ratified. French occupation of the group followed the landing of forces from a French warship, requested by the chief of Tahuata (near Hiva Oa). Soon after there was a quarrel with the French; in 1842 the chiefs ceded sovereignty to France. The islands were administered as the French Colony of Oceania. The colony was ruled by a naval government until 1885, when an organic decree provided for a French governor and Privy Council and for a General Council, representing the islands, that had some control over fiscal policies. The powers of the General Council, however, were cut back in 1899, and in 1903 it was replaced by an advisory council, the function of which was purely administrative. In 1940 the voters on the islands chose to side with the Free French Government of Charles de Gaulle, and many islanders fought alongside Allied armies during World War II. French Polynesia was made an overseas territory of France in 1946. It was provided with a territorial assembly and was allowed to elect one representative to the French National Assembly and one to the French Senate. In 1957 the French government extended the powers of the local Territorial Assembly. In 1958 Pouvanaa a Oopa, vice president of the Council of Government, announced a plan to secede from France and form an independent Tahitian republic. He was subsequently arrested; the movement collapsed, and local powers were again curtailed. France issued new statutes granting more local autonomy in 1977, but the pro-independence and pro-autonomy parties continued to call for popular election of the president and either more autonomy or outright independence. In 1963 the French government began the nuclear testing program on Mururoa atoll. Mururoa and neighbouring Fangataufa were ceded to France by the territorial assembly in 1964. In response to worldwide pressure the tests were moved underground on Fangataufa in 1975. In the mid-1980s political parties and environmental-protection and human rights groups united to protest France's continued nuclear testing. In 1985 world attention focused on the area when the French secret service blew up a yacht owned by the Greenpeace environmental group as it was preparing to lead a protest near Mururoa atoll. Francis James West