Tubuai
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Tubuai |
|
 |
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| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Overseas collectivity | French Polynesia |
| Administrative subdivision | Austral Islands |
| Mayor | Fernand Tahiata |
| Statistics | |
| Land area1 | 45 km2 (17 sq mi) |
| Population2 | 2,171 (2002) |
| - Density | 48 /km2 (120 /sq mi) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 98753/ 98754 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Coordinates: 23°23′S 149°27′W / 23.38°S 149.45°W
Tubuai (Polynesian: Tupua'i) is the name of a group of islands and also the name of its main island, being part of the Austral Islands, French Polynesia, in the Pacific Ocean. Tupua'i, the main island of the Tupua'i Island group, is located at 23°23′00″S 149°27′00″W / 23.3833333°S 149.45°W. It is 640 km (400 mi) south of Tahiti. It sustains a population of 2,049 people on 45 km2 (17 sq mi) of land. Due to its southerly position, Tupua'i has notably cooler weather than Tahiti.[1]
The island is ringed by a lagoon formed by an encircling coral reef. A break in the reef that enables passage for ships is located on the North side of the island.[1] Tubuai has two volcanic domes, with its highest point, Mt Taita'a, being 422 meters (1380 feet).[2] A number of small islets or keys called motus in Polynesian, lie along the reef that enclose the island. These were described in the late 1700s as having an abundance of Toa trees, which the native islanders used in housebuilding and in making war clubs and spears due to the wood's density.[3][4]
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[edit] Early Polynesia
The island has been inhabited for more than 2000 years.[5] Anciently a road was built that encircled the island. There exists on the island today the stone ruins of a “great number of structures, house platforms, marae complexes, and cemeteries...”[6] According to David Stanley's South Pacific Handbook:
"The Austral islands were one of the great art areas of the Pacific, represented today in many museums. The best-known artifacts are tall sharkskin drums, wooden bowls, fly whisks, and tapa cloth."[1]
[edit] Arrival of Bounty mutineers
Tubuai was first viewed by Europeans when it was mapped by Captain James Cook in 1777, however he did not disembark. Cook discovered the island's name as "Toobouai" by means of a Tahitian named Omai who was part of Cook's group. From the ship Omai asked one of the natives in canoe.[7]
The next European to arrive were the mutineers of the HMS Bounty in 1789. Mutineer Fletcher Christian in looking for an island on which to permanently hide had "scoured" Bligh's maps and nautical charts and decided on Tupua'i.[7]
Upon arrival at Tupua'i, a conflict arose while the mutineers were still on their ship and several islanders were killed in their canoes. The site of this event in the lagoon on the North side of the island is called Baie Sanglant (Bloody Bay).[2]
Mutineer James Morrison[8]wrote: "The Island is full of Inhabitants for its size and may Contain 3000 souls."[3] After only ten days on the island, the mutineers sailed for Tahiti to get women and livestock in which they were only nominally successful.[7] When they returned to Tubuai they built a fort on the Northeast part of the island at Ta'ahueia, manned with cannon and swivel gun which they named Fort George. The mutineer leader, Fletcher Christian, knew that settling on Tahiti was sure to mean the mutineer's eventual discovery and arrest, so despite being viewed as intruders, Christian was reluctant to view permanent settlement on Tupua'i as unfeasible.[4] Christian favored using diplomacy over time to eventually obtain wives, but many of the other mutineers insisted on raiding parties to take wives by force.[4] The islanders of Tupua'i did not want to allow their women to stay at the mutineer camp, nor to allow them to become wives.[4] They also were not disposed to trade food. It was not long before armed parties of mutineers started burning houses and desecrating marae during skirmishes to obtain women. More battles ensued and more natives were killed.[9] One mutineer, heavily-tattooed Thomas Burkett (who was later tried and hanged in England for mutiny) was speared in the side by one of islanders during one of the skirmishes.[10][11] After only two months since their first arrival on Tubuai the mutineers left for good.[1]
[edit] 1800s
Increased contact with Europeans also meant more exposure to diseases that the islanders had no immunity to. This proved particularly devastating to the population of Tupua'i. At some point during the 30 years from when the mutineers left the island on September 17, 1789, and the early 1820s when accounts by Christian missionaries began to be recorded, the population that was estimated by the mutineer Morrison to be 3000 was now reduced to no more than 300 people.[12][13][14] One Protestant minister when visiting a congregation on Tubuai on January 3, 1824 wrote that several Islanders were still suffering from a devastating illness. He described the symptoms and noted that several hundred had died within the previous four years.[12]
[edit] Administration
Tupua'i is the administrative capital of the Austral Islands,[15] and the commune consists solely of the one island. Tupua'i was annexed by France in 1881.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b c d David Stanley (1985). South Pacific Handbook. David Stanley. pp. 116–. ISBN 978-0-918373-05-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=xgIVgyBc1UIC&pg=PA116. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
- ^ a b Celeste Brash (1 May 2009). Tahiti and French Polynesia. Lonely Planet. pp. 233–. ISBN 978-1-74104-316-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=t8Uj6i5oDcgC&pg=PA233. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ a b "Detailed description of Toobouai by James Morrison". http://www.fatefulvoyage.com/morrison/morrisonGTubuai.html. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
- ^ a b c d "Account by James Morrison: Narrative of events on Toobouai". http://www.fatefulvoyage.com/morrison/morrisonFMutineers.html. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
- ^ "Island brief". http://www.fodors.com/world/australia-and-the-pacific/french-polynesia/the-other-islands/tubuai/. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
- ^ "Tubuai archaeology". http://www.implementology.org.pf/marae/maraepage3.html. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
- ^ a b c Greg Dening (1 March 1994). Mr Bligh's Bad Language: Passion, Power and Theatre on the Bounty. Cambridge University Press. pp. 88-92. ISBN 978-0-521-46718-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=qjRuCRGdOEYC&pg=PA89. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ "Description of James Morrison". http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/crew4.shtml. Retrieved 2012-1-2.
- ^ Caroline Alexander (1 May 2004). The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. Penguin. pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-0-14-200469-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=wugW5IRyBD4C&pg=PA13. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
- ^ Dening pg. 36
- ^ "Description of Burkett". http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn/bounty/crew.shtml. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
- ^ a b Daniel Tyerman; George Bennet; London Missionary Society (1831). Journal of voyages and travels by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, esq: Deputed from the London Missionary Society, to visit their various stations in the South sea islands, China, India, &c., between the years 1821 and 1829. Frederick Westley and A. H. Davis. pp. 75–. http://books.google.com/books?id=WsBIAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA75. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
- ^ Fragile Paradise: The Discovery of Fletcher Christian, Bounty Mutineer. 2005. p. 222. ISBN 978-1590482506.
- ^ Hinz, Earl R., Howard, Jim (2006). Landfalls of Paradise: Cruising Guide to the Pacific Islands. University of Hawaii Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0824830373.
- ^ (French) INSEE: Polynésie française
[edit] External links
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