Another lazy day in paradise. This what we see from our balcony each morning. Later in the morning I went for a walk along the northern shore away from the resort. Being that it is Sunday, everything was closed. There were two parks along the route I took, and they were packed with families, there to cool down with a swim in the ocean.
For dinner we went to a nice little seaside restaurant
called Casa Bianica. I had mussels and fries and Marg had seafood risotto.
Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia It is
divided into two parts, Tahiti Nui the larger, northwestern part and Tahiti Iti
the smaller, southeastern part. It had a population of 190,000 in 2017 making
it by far the most populous island in French Polynesia and accounting for 70%
of its total population.
As you would expect, Tahiti is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The capital of French Polynesia, Papeʻete, which is located on the northwest coast of Tahiti and has the only international airport in the region.
Tahiti was originally settled by the Polynesians
and they represent about 70% of the island's population, with the rest made up
of Europeans, Chinese and those of mixed heritage. The island was part of the
Kingdom of Tahiti until its annexation by France in 1880, when it was
proclaimed a colony of France, and the inhabitants became French citizens.
French is the sole official language, although the Tahitian language (Reo
Tahiti) is also widely spoken. We’ve tried to pick up some simple phrases, but it is
an extremely difficult language to get your tongue around.
Tahiti was fought over by the French, English and Spanish
during the 1700s. Later the USA joined the fray. Possible the most famous
visitors during this time was the HMS Bounty, under the command of Captain
William Bligh, It landed in Tahiti, in 1788, with the mission of carrying
Tahitian breadfruit trees to the Caribbean. Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist from
James Cook's first expedition, had concluded that this plant would be ideal to
feed the African slaves working in the Caribbean plantations at very little cost.
The crew remained in Tahiti for about five months, the time needed to
transplant the seedlings of the trees. Three weeks after leaving Tahiti, the
crew mutinied. The mutineers seized the ship and set the captain and most of
those members of the crew who remained loyal to him adrift in a ship's boat. A
group of mutineers then went back to settle in Tahiti.
France eventually became the dominate power, due to its
missionaries and its skillful diplomatic maneuvering with the local chiefs. In a treaty signed by the reigning Tahitian Queen, France recognised the sovereignty
of the Tahitian state. The Queen was responsible for internal affairs, while
France would deal with foreign relations and assure the defence of Tahiti, as
well as maintain order on the island.
Between 1966 and 1996 the French Government conducted 193
nuclear bomb tests above and below the atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa. The
last test was conducted in 1996. On 17 July 1974, the French did a nuclear test
over Mururoa Atoll, but the atomic cloud and fallout didn't take the direction
planned. Forty-two hours later, the cloud reached Tahiti and the surrounding
islands. As many as 111,000 people were affected. Reports showed that some
people on Tahiti were exposed to 500 times the maximum allowed level for
plutonium.
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