Tuamotus - History

History

The early history of the Tuamotu islands is generally shrouded in mystery. Archaeological findings lead to the conclusion that the western Tuamotus were settled from the Society Islands by c. 700. On the islands of Rangiroa, Manihi and Mataiva, there are flat ceremonial platforms (called marae) made of coral blocks, although their exact age is unknown.

Tupac Inca Yupanqui from the Inca Empire is credited with leading a circa 10 month-long voyage of exploration into the Pacific around 1480.

European encounters with the Tuamotus began with that of Ferdinand Magellan, during his circumglobal voyage in 1521. His visit was followed by:

• Portuguese sailor Pedro Fernandes de Queirós in 1606;
• Dutch mariners Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire in 1616;
• Jakob Roggeveen (who also first sighted Easter Island) in 1722;
• John Byron in 1765;
• Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768;
• James Cook during his first voyage in 1769;
• Domingo de Bonechea in 1774 and
• German navigator Otto von Kotzebue, sailing in the service of the Russian tsars, in 1815.

None of these visits was of political consequence, as the islands were in the sphere of influence of the Pomare dynasty of Tahiti.

It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that the first Christian missionaries arrived. Traders took the islands' pearls to the European markets by the late 19th century, making them coveted possessions. France forced the abdication of King Pomare V of Tahiti and claimed the islands without ever having formally annexed them.

Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson travelled among the Paumotus on the Yacht Casco in 1888; an account of their journey was published as In the South Seas. Jack London wrote a story, "The Seed of McCoy," based on an incident in 1900 when a burning ship, the Pyrenees, was safely beached on Mangareva. In the story, London has the ship sail past Mangareva and all through the Tuamotus before beaching on Fakarava.

The Tuamotus made headlines around the world in 1947, when archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl, sailing from South America, reached Raroia on his raft Kon-Tiki. More recently the islands have been the subject of headlines as the site of French nuclear weapons testing on the atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa.