Alexandria Martin
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The timeline below is largely drawn from
David Stanley's Moon Handbooks Tahiti and his "Finding
Tahiti" article at the webpage below:
http://www.southpacific.org/text/finding_tahiti.html
All reproductions, total or in part, of the above timeline should cite the David Stanley references above.
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A.D.
300: Polynesians reach the Marquesas Islands
First settlers arrive in Hawai'i from Polynesia, possibly the
Marquesas, navigating across the Pacific by the stars, sun, clouds,
ocean swells and currents. They sought Havaiti, the ancestral
home in the sun.
800: Polynesians reach the Society Islands.
1521: Magellan sights the Pukapuka Atoll in the Tuamotus.
1595: The explorer Mendaña from Spain visits the Marquesas Islands.
1722: Dutch explorer Roggeveen sights Bora Bora.
1767: English explorer Samuel Wallis lands on Tahiti.
1768: French explorer Bougainville stops at Tahiti.
1769: Captain Cook arrives on Tahiti and observes the transit of Venus.
1774: Priests from Spain spend a year on Tahti.
1778: On his third voyage into the Pacific, British Capt. James Cook
lands his ships Resolution and Discovery at Waimea, Kaua'i; the
first Caucasian to make a documented landing in Hawai'i. He was
welcomed as Lono, the god prophesied to return on a "floating
island." Although he may have been preceded by Spanish galleons
on their voyages between Mexico and the Philippines, Cook was
the first Pacific explorer to leave a record of reaching Hawai'i. He
returned a year later to discover the rest of the main islands,
dropping anchor in Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island. He named
the group of islands the Sandwich Islands in honor of the Earl of
Sandwich.
1788: The HMS BOUNTY arrives on Tahiti.
1797: First Protestant missionaries arrive in Tahiti-Polynesia.
1803: King Pomare II flees Tahiti for Moorea.
1812: Pomare's subjects are converted to Protestantism.
1819: Whaling ships arrive in Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island, starting
the whaling industry in Hawai'i, an industry that flourished for
several decades.
1827: The 50-year reign of Queen Pomare IV begins.
1834: French Catholic missionaries arrive on the island of Mangareva.
1836: French Catholic priests are expelled from Tahiti by the Polynesians.
1838: France sends a gunboat to Tahiti and demands compensation for the expulsion.
1842: France declares Tahiti and the Marquesas as a protectorate.
1842: Herman Melville visits Tahiti-Polynesia.
1843: The capitol city of Papeete is founded.
1844: Mormon missionaries arrive on Tubuai in the Austral Islands.
1844-
1847: Tahitian War of Independence.
1847: Queen Pomare accepts the French protectorate status.
1850: Foreigners permitted to purchase land. Private estates were
established by the foreigners (haole) or the children of haole and
native Hawaiians. The Legislature approves hiring of foreign
laborers to work in island fields, opening the doors to workers
from China, Japan, Portugal and other countries who immigrate to
Hawai'i over the next half century as sugar and pineapple
industries prosper.
1880: France changes the status from protectorate to colony.
1884: A great fire burns most of the city of Papeete.
1887: France annexes the Leeward Islands.
1888: Robert Louis Stevenson visits Tahiti.
1891: Paul Gauguin arrives on Tahiti.
1893: To counter sluggish Hawaiian sugar sales to the U.S., which were
severely restricted by a hefty tariff imposed by Congress, sugar
planters plotted to end the monarchy with a U.S. takeover.
Annexationists overthrow Queen Lili'uokalani. At the time, U.S.
President Grover Cleveland called the coup "not merely wrong,
but a disgrace." Nonetheless, a Provisional Government was
established and was later replaced by the Republic of Hawai'i.
1903: Paul Gauguin dies on the island of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas.
1914: German cruisers shell Papeete during World War I.
1918: An influenza epidemic kills about 20% of the polynesian population.
1942: The U.S. establishes a military base on the island of Bora Bora during WWII.
1945: Tahitians become French citizens.
1958: Tahitian independence leader Pouvanaa a Oopa is arrested by the French.
1958: France changes the status from colony to overseas territory.
1959: Hawaii becomes the 50th state of the United States.
1961: The international airport at Faa'a opens.
1962: France discontinues nuclear testing in Algeria, North Africa.
1963: France moves its nuclear testing facility to the Tuamotus Islands.
1966: The first atmospheric nuclear test explosion occurs.
1970: Tourism begins to overtake the military as Hawai'i's largest
industry. Native Hawaiians and local activism gain recognition
through events such as a protest of the military's bombing practices
on Kaho'olawe, voyage by the canoe Hokule'a from Hawai'i to
Tahiti and the state Constitutional Convention, which made
concessions to Native Hawaiian concerns.
1974: France discontinues atmospheric testing and moves testing underground.
1977: France grants partial internal autonomy to French Polynesia.
1984: Increased internal autonomy is granted.
1987: The Université française du Pacifique is established.
1992: French President Mitterrand suspends nuclear testing.
1995: French President Chirac resumes underground nuclear testing.
1996: France concludes nuclear testing and begins closing the testing facilities in the
Tuamotus.