Tahiti (French Taïtiv), formerly Otaheite, island of French
Polynesia (an overseas territory of France), the largest and most important of
the Society Islands, in the southern Pacific Ocean. Tahiti is one of the
Windward group, or the southeastern part of the Society Islands. It is 53 km (33
mi) long and 26 km (16 mi) wide with a total area of 1,000 sq km (400 sq mi).
The island consists of two unequal and nearly circular portions connected by a
narrow isthmus called Taravao, 2 km (1 mi) wide and 15 m (50 ft) or less above
sea level. The island is of volcanic origin and is mountainous. The climate is
warm and equable, the temperature ranging from 16° to 32° C (60° to 90° F).
Rainfall is abundant, and the island is covered with luxuriant vegetation.
The population of Tahiti (1998) is 115,820, and the indigenous inhabitants are
Polynesians. The chief town on the island is Papeete (population, 1988, 23,555),
which is also the capital of French Polynesia.
Agricultural products are bananas, coconuts, oranges, sugarcane, and vanilla
beans. The principal manufacturing industries are the preparation of copra,
sugar, and rum. Pearls and mother-of-pearl are gathered. The chief exports
include copra, vanilla beans, mother-of-pearl, and phosphates. Tourism is also
important.
French navigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville visited Tahiti in 1768 and
claimed it for France. The next year British lieutenant James Cook explored the
island. British naval officer William Bligh, captain of the Bounty, landed here
in 1788, a year before the famed mutiny on his ship. France declared Tahiti a
protectorate in 1842 and a colony in 1880. French artist Paul Gauguin did many
of his paintings here in the early 1890s. In 1946 the island, as part of French
Polynesia, became a French overseas territory.
