Facts about Tahiti
Dancing was a vital part of Tahitian life, and dance was used to celebrate, pray, and mark nearly all occasions in life.
Tahitian is one of the two official languages of French Polynesia (along with French).
In 1842, a European crisis involving Morocco escalated between France and Great Britain when Admiral Dupetit-Thouars, acting independently of the French government, was able to convince Tahiti's Queen Pomare IV to accept a French protectorate.
Bougainville made Tahiti famous in Europe when he published the account of his travel in Voyage autour du Monde.
In 1946, Tahiti and the whole of French Polynesia became a French overseas territory.
The best-known of these ships was HMS Bounty, whose crew mutinied shortly after leaving Tahiti in 1789.
The island remained a French protectorate until June 29, 1880, when King Pomare V (1842–1891) was forced to cede the sovereignty of Tahiti and its dependencies to France.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the music of Tahiti was dominated by festivals called "heiva."
A small French university, the University of French Polynesia, is located on Tahiti, and has around 2,000 students and about 60 researchers.
Introduced diseases, including typhus and smallpox, killed so many Tahitians that by 1797, the island's population was only about 16,000.
Tahitians are French citizens with full civil and political rights.
The northwestern part is known as Tahiti Nui ("big Tahiti"), and the southeastern part, much smaller, is known as Tahiti Iti ("small Tahiti").
The western word “tattoo” is taken from the Tahiti word "tatau" meaning open wound.
Tahitian woman would traditionally tattoo their loins and buttocks deep blue.
Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sighted Tahiti on June 18, 1767, and is considered the first European visitor to the island.
Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean.