Culture of Tahiti - The Mutineers of The Bounty

The Mutineers of The Bounty

On the 26th October 1788, the HMS Bounty, led by Captain William Bligh, landed in Tahiti with the mission of carrying Tahitian breadfruit trees ('Uru) to the Caribbean. Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist from Cook’s first expedition, had come to the conclusion essentially that this plant would be ideal to feed the African slaves working on 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 on the 28th April 1789, the crew mutinied on the initiative of Christian Fletcher. The mutineers seized the ship and set the captain and those members of the crew who remained loyal to him adrift in a launch. A group of mutineers then went back to settle in Tahiti.

Although various explorers had refused to get involved in tribal conflicts, the mutineers from the Bounty offered their services as mercenaries and furnished arms to the family which became the Pōmare Dynasty. The chief Tū knew how to use their presence in the harbors favoured by sailors to his advantage. As a result of his alliance with the mutineers, he succeeded in considerably increasing his supremacy over the island of Tahiti.

In about 1790, the ambitious chief Tū took the title of king and gave himself the name Pōmare. Captain Bligh explains that this name was an homage to his eldest daughter Teriinavahoroa, who had died of tuberculosis, “an illness that made her cough (mare) a lot, especially at night () “. Thus he became Pōmare I, founding the Pōmare Dynasty and his lineage would the first to unify Tahiti from 1788-1791. He and his descendants founded and expanded Tahitian influence to all of the lands that now constitute modern French Polynesia.

In 1791, Captain Bligh landed in Tahiti in the hope of recovering the mutineers. The new king Pōmare I handed the rebels over to him. The departure of Captain Bligh marked the end of the adventure of the mutineers of the Bounty for the island of Tahiti, but their presence there had already made a permanent mark in Tahitian history.

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Famous quotes containing the word bounty:

    My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
    My love as deep. The more I give to thee
    The more I have, for both are infinite.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)