Editing Tahiti (section)

=== First European visits ===
[[File:Captain Wallis, on his arrival at O'Taheite, in conversation with Oberea the Queen.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The meeting between [[Samuel Wallis|Wallis]] and Oberea]]

The first European to arrive at Tahiti may have been Spanish explorer [[Juan Fernández (explorer)|Juan Fernández]] in his expedition of 1576–1577.<ref>José Toribio Medina, ''El Piloto Juan Fernandez, descubridor de las islas que llevan su nombre, y Juan Jufré, armador de la espedición que hizo en busca de otras en los Mares del Sur'' Santiago de Chile, 1918, reprinted by Gabriela Mistral, 1974, pp.&nbsp;169</ref> Alternatively, Portuguese navigator [[Pedro Fernandes de Queirós]], serving the [[Monarchy of Spain|Spanish Crown]] in an expedition to ''[[Terra Australis]]'', was perhaps the first European to see Tahiti. He sighted an inhabited island on 10 February 1606.<ref>James Burney (1803) ''A Chronological History of the Voyages or Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean'', Vol. 5, London, p. 222</ref> However, it has been suggested that he actually saw the island of [[Rekareka]] to the southeast of Tahiti.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Geo. Collingridge |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_12_1903/Volume_12,_No.3,_September_1903/Who_discovered_Tahiti%3F_by_Geo._Collingridge,_p184-186 |journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society |title=Who Discovered Tahiti? |pages=184–186 |volume=12 |year=1903 |issue=3 |access-date=4 July 2010 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010191712/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_12_1903/Volume_12,_No.3,_September_1903/Who_discovered_Tahiti%3F_by_Geo._Collingridge,_p184-186 |url-status=live}}</ref> Hence, although the Spanish and Portuguese made contact with nearby islands, they may not have arrived at Tahiti.

The next stage of European visits to the region came during the period of intense [[France–United Kingdom relations|Anglo-French rivalry]] that filled the twelve years between the [[Seven Years' War]] and the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cameron-Ash |first1=M. |title=Lying for the Admiralty: Captain Cook's Endeavour Voyage |date=2018 |publisher=Rosenberg |isbn=9780648043966 |pages=44–53}}</ref> The first of these visits, and perhaps the first European visit to Tahiti, was under the command of Captain [[Samuel Wallis]]. While circumnavigating the globe in {{HMS|Dolphin|1751|6}},<ref name=Oliver>{{cite book |author=Douglas Oliver |title=Ancient Tahitian Society |publisher=University Press of Hawaii |year=1974 |page=3 |isbn=0-8248-0267-5}}</ref> they sighted the island on 18 June 1767<ref>[[#Laneyrie-Dagen|Laneyrie-Dagen]], p. 181</ref> and then harbored in [[Matavai Bay]] between the chiefdom [[Pirae|Pare]]-[[Arue, French Polynesia|Arue]] (governed by [[Pōmare I|Tu (Tu-nui-e-a{{okina}}a-i-te-Atua)]] and his regent Tutaha) and the chiefdom [[Mahina, French Polynesia|Ha{{okina}}apape]], governed by Amo and his wife "Oberea" ([[Purea]]). The initially friendly encounter turned tense as islanders grew suspicious and sought control of the Dolphin, leading to a week of skirmishes that culminated in violence,<ref name="Gilfoyle 2020">{{cite web |last=Gilfoyle |first=Daniel |title=The voyage of HMS Dolphin: The first Europeans on Tahiti |publisher=The National Archives |date=21 July 2020 |url=https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/the-voyage-of-hms-dolphin-the-first-europeans-on-tahiti/ |access-date=26 January 2025}}</ref><ref name="Voyage 2006, p.44-45">[[#Salvat|Salvat]], pp. 44–45</ref> but to avert all-out war after a British show of force, Oberea laid down peace offerings<ref name="Voyage 2006, p.44-45" /> leading to cordial relations.<ref name=Anne/>{{rp|45–84,104,135}}

[[File:Hodges, Resolution and Adventure in Matavai Bay.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|[[Matavai Bay]], Tahiti, painted by [[William Hodges]], member of an expedition led by [[James Cook|Captain Cook]]]]

On 2 April 1768,<ref>Louis-Antoine de Bougainville" Voyage autour du monde par la frégate la Boudeuse et la flûte l'Étoile ", ch VIII Read on Wikisource</ref> the expedition of [[Louis-Antoine de Bougainville]], aboard {{ship|French frigate|Boudeuse|1766|2}} and {{ship|French fluyt|Etoile|1767|2}} on the first French circumnavigation, sighted Tahiti. On 5 April, they anchored off [[Hitiaa O Te Ra|Hitia{{okina}}a O Te Ra]] and were welcomed by its chief Reti. Bougainville was also visited by Tutaha. Bougainville stayed about ten days.

By 12 April 1769 Captain [[James Cook]] had arrived in Tahiti's Matavai Bay on a [[First voyage of James Cook|scientific mission]] with astronomy, botany, and artistic details.<ref>[[#Laneyrie-Dagen|Laneyrie-Dagen]], p. 185</ref><ref name="Anne" />{{rp|141}} On 14 April Cook met Tutaha and Tepau<ref name=Anne/>{{rp|144}} and the next day he picked the site for a fortified camp at [[Point Venus]] for [[Charles Green (astronomer)|Charles Green]]'s observatory.<ref name=Anne/>{{rp|147}} Botanist [[Joseph Banks]] and artist [[Sydney Parkinson]], along with Cook, gathered valuable information on fauna and flora as well as on native society, language and customs, including the proper name of the island.<ref>"Otahiti" The 'O' was an error of translation -- when asked the name of the island, natives replied "O Tahiti", meaning "It is Tahiti".</ref> Cook also met many island chiefs.<ref name=Anne/>{{rp|154–155,175,183–185}} Cook and ''Endeavour'' left Tahiti on 13 July 1769.<ref name=Anne/>{{rp|149,186–202,205}} Cook estimated the population to be 200,000 including all the nearby islands in the chain.<ref>Robert W. Kirk (2008) ''Pitcairn Island, the Bounty Mutineers and Their Descendants'', p. 78, {{ISBN|0-7864-3471-6}}</ref><ref name=Anne/>{{rp|308}} This estimate was reduced to 35,000 by Cook's contemporary, anthropologist and Tahiti expert Douglas L. Oliver.<ref>[[O. A. Bushnell|Oswald A. Bushnell]] (1993). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pKBhBxgKxs8C The gifts of civilization: germs and genocide in Hawaiʻi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424210748/https://books.google.com/books?id=pKBhBxgKxs8C |date=24 April 2016}}''. University of Hawaii Press, p. 240, {{ISBN|0-8248-1457-6}}</ref>

The [[Viceroyalty of Peru|Viceroy of Peru]], [[Manuel de Amat y Juniet]], under order of the Spanish Crown, organized an expedition to colonize the island in 1772. He would ultimately send three expeditions aboard the ship ''Aguila'', the first two under the command of navigator [[Domingo de Bonechea]]. Four Tahitians, Pautu, Tipitipia, Heiao, and Tetuanui, accompanied Bonechea back to Peru in early 1773 after the first ''Aguila'' expedition.<ref name=Anne/>{{rp|236–256,325}}

[[Second voyage of James Cook|Cook returned to Tahiti]] between 15 August and 1 September 1773. Greeted by the chiefs, Cook anchored in [[Tautira Bay|Vaitepiha Bay]] before returning to Point Venus. Cook left Tahiti on 14 May 1774.<ref name=Anne/>{{rp|263–279,284,290,301–312}}

Pautu and Tetuanui returned to Tahiti with Bonechea aboard ''Aguila'' on 14 November 1774; Tipitipia and Heiao had died. Bonechea died on 26 January 1775 in Tahiti and was buried near the mission he had established at [[Tautira Bay]]. Lt Tomas Gayangos took over command and set sail for Peru on 27 January, leaving the Fathers Geronimo Clota and Narciso Gonzalez and the sailors Maximo Rodriguez and Francisco Perez in charge of the mission. On the third ''Aguila'' expedition, under Don Cayetano de Langara, the mission on Tahiti was abandoned on 12 November 1775, when the Fathers successfully begged to be taken back to Lima.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Jorge Ortiz Sotelo |url=http://derroteros.perucultural.org.pe/textos/derroteros13/i.pdf |title=Expediciones peruanas a Tahití, siglo XVIII |journal=Derroteros de la Mar del Sur |volume=13 |year=2005 |pages=95–103 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609092803/http://derroteros.perucultural.org.pe/textos/derroteros13/i.pdf |archive-date=9 June 2007}}</ref><ref name=getamap.net>{{cite web |url=http://www.getamap.net/maps/french_polynesia/french_polynesia_(general)/_amat_islade/ |title=Get a Map database and website |access-date=4 May 2013 |archive-date=13 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213223409/http://www.getamap.net/maps/french_polynesia/french_polynesia_(general)/_amat_islade/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Anne/>{{rp|321,323,340,351–357,361,381–383}}

During his [[Third voyage of James Cook|final visit]] in 1777 Cook first moored in Vaitepiha Bay. From there he reunited with many Tahitian clans and established British presence on the remains of the Spanish mission. On 29 September 1777 Cook sailed for Papeto{{okina}}ai Bay on Mo{{okina}}orea.<ref name=Anne/>{{rp|440–444,447}}