Editing Tahiti (section)

=== French protectorate and the end of the Pōmare kingdom ===

[[File:Pomare, Queen of Tahiti, the persecuted Christian, by George Baxter, 1845 (frameless, digital restoration).jpg|thumb|right|''Queen Pomare and her family on the verandah of Mr.{{nbsp}}Pritchard's house, during the French Invasion of Tahiti''<ref name=MissionaryRepository1847>{{cite journal |title=Queen Pomare and her Family on the Verandah of Mr. Pritchard's House |journal=The Missionary Repository for Youth, and Sunday School Missionary Magazine |year=1847 |volume=IX |page=Frontispiece |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FkEAAAAQAAJ |access-date=6 November 2015 |publisher=John Snow |location=Paternoster Row, London |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414012739/https://books.google.com/books?id=0FkEAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

In 1836, the Queen's advisor Pritchard had two French Catholic priests expelled, [[François Caret]] and [[Honoré Laval]]. As a result, in 1838 France sent Admiral [[Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars]] to obtain reparations. Once his mission had been completed, Admiral Du Petit-Thouars sailed towards the [[Marquesas]] Islands, which he annexed in 1842. Also in 1842, a European crisis involving Morocco{{citation needed|date=October 2024|reason=Which crisis? Is this related to the Franco-Moroccan War of 1844?}} escalated between France and Great Britain, souring their relations. In August 1842, Admiral Du Petit-Thouars returned and landed in Tahiti. He then made friends with Tahitian chiefs who were hostile to the Pōmare family and favourable to a French protectorate. He had them sign a request for protection in the absence of their Queen, before then approaching her and obliging her to ratify the terms of the treaty of protectorate. The treaty had not even been ratified by France itself when [[Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout]] was named royal commissaire alongside Queen Pōmare.

Within the framework of this treaty, France recognised the sovereignty of the Tahitian state. The Queen was responsible for internal affairs, while France would deal with foreign relations and assure the defence of Tahiti, as well as maintain order on the island. Once the treaty had been signed there began a struggle for influence between the English Protestants and the Catholic representatives of France. During the first years of the Protectorate, the Protestants managed to retain a considerable hold over Tahitian society, thanks to their knowledge of the country and its language. [[George Pritchard (missionary)|George Pritchard]] had been away at the time. He returned however to work towards indoctrinating the locals against the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] French.