 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Kingdom of Tahiti | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1788/91–1880 | |||||||||
  Top: 1788–1843
Bottom: 1843–1880 | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| Status | Independent Kingdom (1788/91–1842) French Protectorate (1842–1880) | ||||||||
| Capital | Papeete (from 1847) | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion | Tahitian, Christianity | ||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||
• 1788/91–1803 | Pōmare I (first) | ||||||||
• 1877–1880 | Pōmare V (last) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Founded by Pōmare I | 1788/91 | ||||||||
• Consolidated power after Battle of Te Feipī | 12 November 1815 | ||||||||
• Establishment of the French protectorate | 9 September 1842 | ||||||||
| 1843–1847 | |||||||||
• French protectorate | 1 January 1847 | ||||||||
• Annexation by France and dissolution | 29 June 1880 | ||||||||
| Currency | French franc Pound sterling | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | French Polynesia | ||||||||
The Kingdom of Tahiti or the Tahitian Kingdom was a Polynesian monarchy founded by paramount chief Pōmare I, who, with the aid of British missionaries and traders, and European weaponry, unified the islands of Tahiti, Moʻorea, Teti‘aroa, and Mehetiʻa. The kingdom eventually annexed the Tuamotus, and the Austral Islands (Rapa Iti, Rurutu, Rimatara, Tubuai, Raivavae).
Its leaders were Christian following the baptism of Pomare II. Its progressive rise and recognition by Europeans allowed Tahiti to remain free from a planned Spanish colonization as well as other European claims to the islands.
The kingdom was one of a number of independent Polynesian states in Oceania, alongside Ra'iātea, Huahine, Bora Bora, Hawai‘i, Samoa, Tonga, Rarotonga and Niue in the 19th century. The kingdom is known for bringing a period of peace and cultural and economic prosperity to the islands over the reign of the five Tahitian monarchs. Tahiti and its dependencies transformed into French protectorates in 1842 and largely annexed as a colony of France in 1880 after Pomare V was convinced to give Tahiti and its dependencies to France. The monarchy was therefore abolished shortly after the annexation, though there are still pretenders.