South Pacific Islands

TAHITI

This picture was from
Microsoft Encarta.
It is Tahiti seen from Moorea.

Tahiti is one of the largest islands of French Polynesia. It was originally called Otaneite - the island of Polynesia. The chief town in Tahiti is called Papeete and is also the capital of French Polynesia.

It is the largest and the most important of the Society Islands in the South Pacific. Tahiti is in the Windward group in the South Eastern part. Tahiti is 53 kilometers long and 26 kilometers wide.

It is about 1036 square kilometers all up. Tahiti is made up of 2 almost circular pieces of land connected by a narrow strip called Taravo which is 1.6 kilometers long and about 15m above sea level.

The temperature ranges from 16 degrees to 32 degrees. The rainfall is immense and luscious vegetation covers the island. The agricultural products that they grow are bananas, coconuts, oranges, vanilla beans and copra. The manufacturing products are copra, sugar, rum, pearls and mother-of-pearl. The main exports include copra, vanilla beans, mother-of-pearl and phosphate. Tourism is also a very important in Tahiti, for the money.

Louis de Bougainville visited Tahiti in 1768 - he had the right to claim it for France and he did. In 1880 a colony was formed. In 1964 French Polynesia then became French Overseas Territory.

to see more about Tahiti.

Bibliography :

Encarta 96 Encyclopedia
CD ROM by Microsoft Pty Ltd

The World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia
World Book, Inc

Research by CORIE 6H

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Elanora Heights Primary School Computer Co-ordinator : Judith Bennett

This page was last modified on 22nd November, 1998