Papeete (translated into English means "water from a basket") is the capital of French Polynesia located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands. It is the primary center of Tahitian and French Polynesian public and private governmental, commercial, industrial and financial services, the hub of French Polynesian tourism and a commonly used port of call for tourism. The area that now constitutes Papeete was first settled by the British missionary William Crook of the London Missionary Society in 1818. Queen PÅmare IV moved her court to Papeete and made it her capital in the late 1820s, and the town grew into a major regional shipping and transportation center. Papeete was retained as Tahiti's capital after France took control of the Tahitian Islands and made them a protectorate in 1842. Herman Melville was imprisoned in Papeete in 1842; his experiences there became the basis for the novel Omoo. Paul Gauguin journeyed to and toured Papeete in 1891 and, except for a two-year period in 1893-1895, never returned to France. Half of Papeete was destroyed by a major fire in 1884, which then prohibited the use of native building materials. A major cyclone caused extensive damage to the city in 1906, and a French naval vessel was sunk in the harbor by two German men-of war, which bombarded Papeete.
Labels: 2008, January 20
posted by Hills @ 10:26 AM
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