Tahiti, an island giving name to a small archipelago, also called Society Islands, in the middle of the Pacific, more than 2000 miles NE. of New Zealand and some 3400 SSW. of San Francisco. The islands consist of Tahiti, which embraces 450 sq. m. out of a total of 640 for the entire archipelago, and a number of smaller ones, the chief being Raiatea and Eimeo (q.v.). The group is divided into two clusters, called respectively the Windward were notorious for their cruelty. The group was discovered by the Spanish navigator De Quiros, but first accurately described in detail by Cook (1769-77). He gave the name of Society Islands in honour of the Royal Society of London on the occasion of his first visit; at that time the population numbered nearly a quarter of a million. The London Missionary Society commenced work in these islands in 1797. But they have had unusual difficulties to contend against, and in 1812 they had to flee for a while to Australia. In 1842 the French forced a protectorate over the eastern (Windward) cluster, subsequently extended to the whole group, and in December 1897 a bill passed the French Chamber declaring them a French colony.
See Cook's Voyages; Desgraz, Îles Taiti (1844); Ellis, Polynesian Researches (1829); Williams, Missionary Enterprise in the South Sea Islands (1839); Pritchard, Polynesian Reminiscences (1866); and Dora Hort, Tahiti: the Garden of the Pacific (1891).