Early+European

Early European-Influenced History of Tahiti

To travel back in time to recount the history of Tahiti one doesn't really have to travel any further than the 16th century to understand its history relative to its influence by Europeans.

Tahiti's "modern day" history, so to speak, starts in 1525 when Europeans and the natives on the Tahitian islands made contact with each other through the travels of daring, sea-faring European explorers. And while no official landing on the isle of Tahiti is recorded for us, the native Tahitians belonged to a vast group of islands in which they regularly traveled to and fro, thus encountering Europeans which had landed in other parts of the Archipelagos.

Skipping ahead in Tahitian history to June 17, 1767 brings us to the official date given as to when Tahiti itself as an island was discovered by European ocean-going merchants. The English Captain Samuel Wallis anchored his ship, the Dolphin, on the southern tip of Tahiti.

The historical account of his landing on Tahiti was that of an unfriendly encounter between Captain Wallis and the Tahitian natives. Upon landing, his ship was surrounded by hundreds of canoes and thousands of Tahitians.

While the Tahitians had sporadic encounters with Europeans prior to Captain Wallis' arrival, this was the first "official landing" on the isle of Tahiti. Since they had had trade dealings, as well as, hostile encounters with Europeans before, at first they were unsure what they wanted to do with the now-landed Dolphin. However, seemingly without provocation, the natives began throwing rocks and such at the ship. Captain Wallis was obliged to show his superior fire-power and fired his cannons. This held them at bay for the rest of the day.

The next day Captain Wallis moved his ship to the northern tip of Tahiti, no doubt looking for more hospitable islanders with which he could proceed with bartering and the like. Yet again, he found himself surrounded by Tahitians who didn't want any dealings with the ship. Again, Captain Wallis was obliged to repel the native Tahitians by firing his ship's cannons.

The next day Captain Wallis sent armed men onto Tahiti so that he could take official possession, and he called the island "King George III's Island." However the Tahitians weren't giving in so quickly and continued to resist the Captain's advances to claim the island.

This time the Captain made no quips about directly firing his cannons on the Tahitian natives on land and in their canoes. After completely routing the natives of Tahiti, on land and in water, the Tahitians became subservient to the English captain.

A few months later two French ships landed on Tahiti. Under the command of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who would go on to be the first person to circumnavigate the globe during this very trip that now brought him to Tahiti, his ten day stay proved to be quite different than his predecessor. Bougainville had a reputation of being quite a bit more cultured and friendly.

He set up camp on the eastern side of Tahiti for about thirty of his men whom had come down with scurvy that they could use the native plants of Tahiti to help alleviate the pain of the condition.

Although the stay was short, it would go on to prove to be most influential. As did his predecessor before him, Bougainville claimed Tahiti for France. And Tahiti is still called today, one of the main islands, if not the main-island, of the "French" Polynesian Archipelagos.