Language/Tahitian/Culture/French-Polynesia-Timeline

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Historical Timeline for French Polynesia - A chronology of key events

French Polynesia Timeline[edit | edit source]

Date	Event
Around 300	the first men land in the Marquesas: they come from Samoa and Tonga, where they had been settled for around 1,500 years.
Towards 400	the Polynesians discover and populate the Hawaiian Islands.
Around 500	conquest of Easter Island.
Around 600	conquest of the Society archipelago.
Around 850	conquest of New Zealand.
Around 1000	conquest of the Tuamotu-Gambier.
1520	during his crossing of the Pacific Ocean, Magellan discovers the extreme northeast of the Tuamotus.
1595	during his journey in search of the southern lands, the Spaniard Alvaro de Mendaña discovers the .
1605	Queirós discovers several islands of the Tuamotu and Tahiti.
1767	Wallis discovers and visits Tahiti, which he baptizes King George's Island.
1768	Bougainville arrives in Tahiti and believes he is the first to discover it. He names it "New Kythera" and reinforces the myth of the "good savage" developed by Rousseau.
1769	at the request of the Royal Society of London, Cook's first trip to Tahiti, in order to observe the passage of Venus in front of the Sun.
1773	Cook's second trip to Tahiti.
1777	Cook's third trip to Tahiti.
1788	Bounty mutiny.
1793	start of the Pomaré dynasty in Tahiti. Seizure of power by Pomaré I, helped by the mutineers of the Bounty.
1797	arrival in Tahiti of the first Protestant missionaries of the London Missionary Society.
1803	death of Pomaré I. His son Pomaré II succeeded him. Christianization of the Tahitian people by teaching the Bible in schools and violent repression against traditional Polynesian believers.
1818	creation of the city of Papeete by Cook.
1821	death of Pomaré II, succeeded by his very young son Pomaré III.
1827	death of Pomaré III, whose throne goes to his sister Pomaré IV.
1836	expulsion of French Catholic missionaries at the request of English Protestants.
1841	seizure of power by the French admiral Dupetit-Thouars, who lands in Papeete.
1842	coerced and forced, Queen Pomaré IV signs a treaty formalizing the French protectorate over Tahiti and Moorea.
1852	departure of the English missionaries.
1877	death of Queen Pomaré IV replaced by her son Pomaré V.
1880	Pomaré V cedes its rights over Tahiti to France.
1888	French annexation of the Leeward Islands. Creation of French establishments in Oceania (EFO).
1891	death of Pomaré V.
1900	annexation of the Austral Islands by France.
1914	bombardment of Papeete by two German cruisers.
1941	rallying of Tahiti to Free France.
1942	installation of an American military base in Bora Bora.
1945	obtaining of French nationality and the right to vote by the inhabitants of French Polynesia.
1957	French establishments in Oceania become French Polynesia.
1958	after referendum, French Polynesia opts for the status of overseas territory.
1960	October 15, Faaa International Airport is inaugurated.
1963	installation of the Pacific Nuclear Experimentation Center (CEP).
1980	Tahitian becomes official language.
1984	internal autonomy statute.
1992	April 8, nuclear tests are suspended.
1995	on June 13, President Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests; seven shots are planned. In September, after the first shot in Mururoa, violent demonstrations took place in Papeete and at Faa'a airport.
1996	in May, as planned, France announces the final end of the tests.
1997	El Niño causes numerous cyclones which devastate several islands.
1998	the international airline Air Tahiti Nui is created, serving France, the USA, New Zealand and Japan.
2004	Oscar Temaru becomes President of the Territory: it is Taui, the change so long awaited by some; in October, Flosse regains power ... until March 2005, when Temaru regains the presidential seat! In the same year 2004, the Territory was granted the status of French Overseas Country.
December 2006	Gaston Tong Sang, official candidate of Flosse, becomes president of the territory following a motion of censure.
September 2007	the president, disowned by Gaston Flosse, is sidelined by the latter: Temaru recovers the reins of power.
January 2008 - April 2011	political crisis resulting in multiple changes of alliances, motions of censure and an alternation for the presidency between Gaston Tong Sang, Gaston Flosse and Oscar Temaru (13 governments in 7 years).
November 10, 2009 - 2012	Gaston Flosse is arrested and remanded in custody. Then begins a long series of convictions, but Flosse manages to have his ineligibility sentences annulled and to keep his mandate as senator.
June 2012	during the legislative elections, Flosse and Tahoeraa won the 3 Polynesian constituencies.
April 21, 2013	territorial elections. Tahoeraa leads with 40.16% of the votes cast against 24.09% for Temaru's UPLD. t 19.92% for A Tia Porinetia by Teva Rohfritsch.
May 5, 2013	2nd round. Triangular seeing the victory of Tahoeraa and Flosse with 45.11% of the votes, against 29.26% for the UPLD and 25.63% for A Tia Porinetia. A 2011 law establishing a majority bonus for the top-ranked list (in order to ensure a certain political stability) allows Flosse to obtain 38 of the 57 seats.
May 17, 2013	Flosse is elected president of French Polynesia. On the same day, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, proposed by Temaru, placing French Polynesia on the list of territories to be decolonized.
September 5, 2014	the President of the French Republic François Hollande having refused to pardon him in a case of fictitious jobs for which he had in particular been sentenced to a three-year ineligibility sentence, Gaston Flosse loses all of his mandates local.
September 14, 2014	Edouard Fritch becomes President of French Polynesia.
September 8, 2015	the elected representatives of the Territorial Assembly vote by a large majority for the disappearance of the High Council of French Polynesia, an administrative authority responsible for legal expertise. This role will henceforth be that of the General Secretariat of the Government.
February 2016	the President of the French Republic François Hollande visits French Polynesia: the last visit of the French President dated back to 2003 (Jacques Chirac). Beyond preparing the ground for the 2017 presidential elections, the Head of State announces financial assistance and new legal measures to compensate Polynesians victims of the fallout from nuclear tests in Mururoa.
March 17, 2017	François Hollande and Edouard Fritch sign in Paris "the Elysée agreement", a prologue to the "Papeete agreement".
November 6, 2017	Emmanuel Macron receives the President of French Polynesia Edouard Fritch at the Elysee Palace. He ensures to keep the commitments of his predecessor on the Elysée and Papeete agreements.