Tahitians

The Tahitians (Māohi; Tahitiens) are the indigenous Polynesian people of Tahiti and thirteen other Society Islands in French Polynesia. The numbers may also include the modern population in these islands of mixed Polynesian and French ancestry (demis). Indigenous Tahitians are one of the largest Polynesian ethnic groups, behind the Māori, Samoans and Hawaiians. Kingdom of Tahiti and Kingdom of Bora Bora The first Polynesian settlers arrived in Tahiti around 400 AD by way of Samoan navigators and settlers via the Cook Islands. Over the period of half a century there was much inter-island relations with trade, marriages and Polynesian expansion with the Islands of Hawaii and through to Rapanui. The original Tahitians cleared land for cultivation on the fertile volcanic soils and built fishing canoes. The tools of the Tahitians when first discovered were made of stone, bone, shell or wood. The Tahitians were divided into three major classes (or castes): ari, raatira and manahune. Arii were relatively few in number while manahune constituted the bulk of population and included some members who played essential roles in the society. It is estimated that by the first contact with Europeans in 1767 the population of Tahiti was no more than 40,000 while other Society Islands held probably 15,000-20,000 people. Tahitians divided the day into the periods of daylight (ao) and darkness (pō). There was also a concept of irrational fear called mehameha, translated as uncanny feelings. The healers, familiar with herbal remedies, were called taata rāau or taata rapaau. In the 19th century Tahitians added the European medicine to their practice. The most famous Tahitian healer Tiurai, of arii, died at age 83 during the influenza outbreak on Tahiti in 1918. The colonization of Tahiti occurred in a time of rivalry for resources of the Pacific by colonizing European nations including the French and the British. It was also a time of rivalry and fighting between the people of Tahiti and neighbouring islands.