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French Polynesia

French Polynesia (/ˌpɒlɪˈnʒə/ POL-in-EE-zhə; French: Polynésie française [pɔlinezi fʁɑ̃sɛːz]; Tahitian: Pōrīnetia Farāni) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls[5] stretching over more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) in the South Pacific Ocean. The total land area of French Polynesia is 3,521 square kilometres (1,359 sq mi),[2] with a population of 278,786 (Aug. 2022 census)[3] of which at least 205,000 live in the Society Islands and the remaining population lives in the rest of the archipelago.

French Polynesia
Polynésie française (French)
Pōrīnetia Farāni (Tahitian)

9 September 1842

27 October 1946

28 March 2003

27 February 2004

French

66.5% unmixed Polynesians
7.1% mixed Polynesians[a]
9.3% Demis[b]
11.9% Europeans[c]
4.7% East Asians[d]

French Polynesian

2 senators (of 348)

3 seats (of 577)

4,167 km2 (1,609 sq mi)

3,521.2[2] km2 (1,359.5 sq mi)

12

278,786[3] (175th)

79/km2 (204.6/sq mi) (130th)

2019 estimate

US$6.01 billion[4]

US$21,615[4]

CFP franc (₣) (XPF)

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French Polynesia is divided into five groups of islands:


Among its 121 islands and atolls, 75 were inhabited at the 2017 census.[5] Tahiti, which is in the Society Islands group, is the most populous island, being home to nearly 69% of the population of French Polynesia as of 2017. Papeete, located on Tahiti, is the capital of French Polynesia. Although not an integral part of its territory, Clipperton Island was administered from French Polynesia until 2007.


Hundreds of years after the Great Polynesian Migration, European explorers began traveling through the region, visiting the islands of French Polynesia on several occasions. Traders and whaling ships also visited. In 1842, the French took over the islands and established a French protectorate that they called Établissements français d'Océanie (EFO) (French Establishments/Settlements of Oceania).


In 1946, the EFO became an overseas territory under the constitution of the French Fourth Republic, and Polynesians were granted the right to vote through citizenship. In 1957, the EFO were renamed French Polynesia. In 1983 French Polynesia became a member of the Pacific Community, a regional development organization. Since 28 March 2003, French Polynesia has been an overseas collectivity of the French Republic under the constitutional revision of article 74, and later gained, with law 2004-192 of 27 February 2004, an administrative autonomy, two symbolic manifestations of which are the title of the President of French Polynesia and its additional designation as an overseas country.[6]

(French: les îles Marquises or officially la subdivision administrative des îles Marquises)

Marquesas Islands

(French: les îles Sous-le-Vent or officially la subdivision administrative des îles Sous-le-Vent) (the two subdivisions administratives Windward Islands and Leeward Islands are part of the Society Islands)

Leeward Islands

(French: les îles du Vent or officially la subdivision administrative des îles du Vent) (the two subdivisions administratives Windward Islands and Leeward Islands are part of the Society Islands)

Windward Islands

(French: les Îles Tuamotu-Gambier or officially la subdivision administrative des îles Tuamotu-Gambier) (the Tuamotus and the Gambier Islands)

Tuāmotu-Gambier

(French: les îles Australes or officially la subdivision administrative des îles Australes) (including the Bass Islands)

Austral Islands

French Polynesia is divided in five administrative subdivisions (subdivisions administratives):


The five administrative subdivisions are not local councils; they are solely deconcentrated subdivisions of the French central State. At the head of each administrative subdivision is an administrateur d'État ("State administrator"), generally simply known as administrateur, also sometimes called chef de la subdivision administrative ("head of the administrative subdivision"). The administrateur is a civil servant under the authority of the High Commissioner of the French Republic in French Polynesia in Papeete.


Four administrative subdivisions (Marquesas Islands, Leeward Islands, Tuamotu-Gambier, and Austral Islands) each also form a deconcentrated subdivision of the government of French Polynesia. These are called circonscriptions ("districts"). The head of a circonscription is the tavana hau, known as administrateur territorial in French ("territorial administrator"), but the Tahitian title tavana hau is most often used. The tavana hau is the direct representative of the president of French Polynesia's government who appoints him or her. The Windward Islands, due to their proximity to Papeete, do not form a deconcentrated subdivision of the government of French Polynesia.


The 5 administrative subdivisions are themselves divided in 48 communes. Like all other communes in the French Republic, these are municipalities in which local residents with either a French or another EU citizenship elect a municipal council and a mayor in charge of managing local affairs within the commune. Municipal elections occur every six years on the same date as in the rest of the French Republic (the last municipal elections took place in 2020).


30 communes are further subdivided in 98 associated communes which have each a delegate mayor and a registry office. These 30 communes were subdivided in associated communes either because they have a large land territory (particularly in the larger islands such as Tahiti or Nuku Hiva) or because they are made up of atolls distant from each other (particularly in the Tuamotu archipelago), which led to the creation of associated communes for each inhabited atoll.


17 communes (out of French Polynesia's 48 communes) have banded together in three separate communities of communes. These indirectly elected intercommunal councils are still relatively new in French Polynesia, and unlike in metropolitan France and its overseas regions it is not mandatory for the communes in French Polynesia to join an intercommunal council. The three intercommunal councils in existence as of 2022, all formed on a voluntary basis, were:


These communities of communes, as elsewhere in the French Republic, are not full-fledged territorial collectivities, but only federations of communes. From a legal standpoint, the only territorial collectivities in French Polynesia are the overseas collectivity of French Polynesia and the 48 communes.

(born 1988), World Champion skier representing France.

Taïna Barioz

Olympic sailor representing France

Billy Besson

(born 1985), professional surfer.

Michel Bourez

(1970–1995), model, daughter of Marlon Brando and Tarita Teriipaia.

Cheyenne Brando

(1929–1978), Belgian musician who lived in French Polynesia near the end of his life.

Jacques Brel

(born 1944), singer, represented France in the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest.

Jean Gabilou

(born 1956), politician and women's rights activist.

Chantal Galenon

(1848–1903), French post-impressionist painter who spent the last years of his life in French Polynesia.

Paul Gauguin

(1926–2003), American cinematographer.

Conrad Hall

(born 1964), actress.

Vaitiare Hirson-Asars

(born 1979), singer, actress and model.

Ella Koon

(born 1969), French-American model and actress.

Karina Lombard

(1895–1977), politician and Tahitian nationalist.

Pouvāna'a 'Ō'opa

(born 1972), professional tennis player.

Fabrice Santoro

(born 1941), actress, third wife of Marlon Brando.

Tarita Teriipaia

(born 1980), footballer, cousin of Pascal Vahirua.

Marama Vahirua

(born 1966), French former international footballer.

Pascal Vahirua

(born 1966), writer.

Célestine Hitiura Vaite

Outline of French Polynesia

Index of French Polynesia-related articles

List of colonial and departmental heads of French Polynesia

French colonial empire

List of French possessions and colonies

Lists of islands

(1990). The French Presence in the South Pacific, 1842–1940. Sydney.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Aldrich, Robert

(1993). France and the South Pacific since 1940. Sydney.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Aldrich, Robert

Charpentier, Jean-Michel; (2015). Atlas Linguistique de Polynésie Française — Linguistic Atlas of French Polynesia (in French and English). Mouton de Gruyter & Université de la Polynésie Française. ISBN 978-3-11-026035-9.

François, Alexandre

(1965). Work and Life on Raroia: An Acculturation Study from the Tuamotu Group, French Oceania. London: G. Allen & Unwin.

Danielsson, Bengt

Danielsson, Bengt; Marie-Thérèse Danielsson (1986). . New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-008130-5.

Poisoned Reign: French Nuclear Colonialism in the Pacific

(1995). Captain James Cook. W W Norton. ISBN 0-393-03680-4.

Hough, Richard

Pollock, Nancy J.; , eds. (1988). French Polynesia: A Book of Selected Readings. Suva, Fiji: Institute of Pacific Studies of the University of the South Pacific. ISBN 982-02-0032-6.

Ron Crocombe

James Rogers and Luis Simón. Brussels: European Parliament, 2009. 25 pp.

The Status and Location of the Military Installations of the Member States of the European Union and Their Potential Role for the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).

Jean-Marc Régnault, Le pouvoir confisqué en Polynésie française. L'affrontement Temaru-Flosse. Les Indes savantes, 2005.

Thompson, Virginia; Richard Adloff (1971). The French Pacific Islands: French Polynesia and New Caledonia. Berkeley: University of California Press.

High Commission of the Republic in French Polynesia

Presidency of French Polynesia

Assembly of French Polynesia

Legal publication service in French Polynesia

Administrative Subdivisions of French Polynesia