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The total land area of French Polynesia is 3,521 square kilometres (1,359 sq mi), [2] with a population of 278,786 (Aug. 2022 census) [3] of which at least 205,000 live in the Society Islands and the remaining population lives in the rest of the archipelago. French Polynesia is divided into five groups of islands:
The Ma'ohi people first arrived to what is known today as French Polynesia over 2,300 years ago. The Ma'ohi include not only Tahiti but 17 surrounding islands in French Polynesia. It wasn't until the 18th century that external influence was introduced to the Ma'ohi people. In 1880 France seized control of Tahiti and its surrounding islands. [2]
On 9 September 1842 there was a protectorate treaty signed between Tahitians and the French. The agreement was for the "protection of indigenous property and the maintenance of a traditional judicial system". [17] In 1958 the islands in the area including Tahiti were "reconstituted as a French Overseas Territory and renamed French Polynesia". [18]
The term Polynésie was first used in 1756 by the French writer Charles de Brosses, who originally applied it to all the islands of the Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed a narrower definition during a lecture at the Société de Géographie of Paris.
They cover a land area of 1,590 square kilometres (610 sq mi). The Society Islands are a tropical South Sea archipelago of volcanic origin. They represent the most economically important of the five archipelagos of French Polynesia. The highest point is Mount Orohena, which reaches 2,241 meters, located on the island of Tahiti.
The Windward Islands (French: Îles du Vent [il dy vɑ̃]) are the eastern group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. These islands were also previously named the Georgian Islands in honour of King George III of the United Kingdom. [2] [3]
There are an estimated 2 million ethnic Polynesians and many of partial Polynesian descent worldwide, the majority of whom live in Polynesia, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. [40] The Polynesian peoples are listed below in their distinctive ethnic and cultural groupings, with estimates of the larger groups provided: Polynesia:
The umbrella terms Pacific Islands and Pacific Islanders may also take on several other meanings. [4] At times, the term Pacific Islands only refers to islands within the cultural regions of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia, [5] [6] and to tropical islands with oceanic geology in general, such as Clipperton Island. [7]