History
The first European to encounter the archipelago was James Cook on 12 April 1769 during the British expedition to observe the transit of Venus. On this first voyage (he subsequently revisited the islands twice), he named the Leeward group of islands Society in honor of the Royal Society. After France declared a protectorate over Tahiti in 1840, the British and French signed the Jarnac Convention, in 1847, declaring that the kingdoms of Raiatea, Huahine and Bora Bora were to remain independent from either powers and that no single chief was to be allowed to reign over the entire archipelago. France eventually broke the agreement, and the islands were annexed and became a colony in 1888 (eight years after the Windward Islands) after many native resistances and conflicts called the Leewards War, lasting until 1897.
Read more about this topic: Leeward Islands (Society Islands)
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