Windward Islands (Society Islands)
The Windward Islands (french: Îles du Vent) are the eastern group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. These islands were also previously named the Georgian Islands in honour of King George III of the United Kingdom. Geography The archipelago comprises an administrative division (french: subdivision administrative) of French Polynesia, and includes the following islands: *Tahiti *Moorea *Mehetia * Tetiaroa *Maiao The capital of the administrative district is Papeete on the island of Tahiti. Tahiti, Moorea, and Mehetia are high islands. Tetiaroa and Maiao are coral atolls. Culture The majority of the population speaks French and Tahitian (co-official with French throughout French Polynesia). Administrative The Windward Islands form the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands (''subdivision administrative des Îles du Vent''), one of French Polynesia's five administrative subdivisions. The ad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mo'orea
Moorea ( or ; Tahitian: ), also spelled Moorea, is a volcanic island in French Polynesia. It is one of the Windward Islands, a group that is part of the Society Islands, northwest of Tahiti. The name comes from the Tahitian word , meaning "yellow lizard": = lizard ; (from ) = yellow. An older name for the island is ', sometimes spelled or (among other spellings that were used by early visitors before Tahitian spelling was standardized). Early Western colonists and voyagers also referred to Moorea as ''York Island'' or ''Santo Domingo''. History Prehistory According to recent archaeological evidence, the Society Islands were probably settled from Samoa and Tonga around 200 CE.Patrick V. Kirch: ''On the Road of the Wind - An Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact'', University of California Press, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London 2000 Nine tribal principalities emerged in the enclosed valleys, which in turn were subdivided into individual cla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death in 1820. He was the longest-lived and longest-reigning king in British history. He was concurrently Duke and Prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg ("Hanover") in the Holy Roman Empire before becoming King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was a monarch of the House of Hanover but, unlike his two predecessors, he was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language and never visited Hanover. George's life and reign were marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places farther afield in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North America ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Politics Of French Polynesia
Politics of French Polynesia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic French overseas collectivity, whereby the President of French Polynesia is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Assembly of French Polynesia. Between 1946 and 2003, French Polynesia had the status of an overseas territory ( French: ''territoire d'outre-mer'', or ''TOM''). In 2003 it became an overseas collectivity ( French: ''collectivité d'outre-mer'', or COM). Its statutory law of 27 February 2004 gives it the particular designation of "overseas country" to underline the large autonomy of the territory. Executive branch , High Commissioner , Dominique Sorain , ''Non-Partisan'' , 10 July 2019 , - , President of French Polynesia , Édouard Fritch , Tapura Huiraatira , 18 mai 2018 , - , President of the Assembly , Gaston Tong Sang , Tapura Huiraatira , 17 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Assembly Of French Polynesia
The Assembly of French Polynesia (french: Assemblée de la Polynésie française, Tahitian: Te apo'ora'a rahi o te fenua Mā'ohi) is the unicameral legislature of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic. It is located at Place Tarahoi in Pape'ete, Tahiti. It was established in its current form in 1996 although a Tahitian Assembly was first created in 1824. It consists of 57 members who are elected by popular vote for five years; the electoral system is based upon proportional representation in six multi-seat constituencies. Every constituency is represented by at least three representatives. Since 2001, the parity bill binds that the number of women matches the number of men elected to the Assembly. The official language of the Assembly is French. The most recent election was held in 2018 and resulted in a victory of the Tapura Huiraatira, which won 38 seats. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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French Language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien) largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is an official language in 29 countries across multiple continents, most of which are members of the ''Organisation internationale de la Francophonie'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Atoll
An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can grow. Most of the approximately 440 atolls in the world are in the Pacific Ocean. Two different, well-cited models, the subsidence and antecedent karst models, have been used to explain the development of atolls.Droxler, A.W. and Jorry, S.J., 2021. ''The Origin of Modern Atolls: Challenging Darwin's Deeply Ingrained Theory.'' ''Annual Review of Marine Science'', 13, pp.537-573. According to Charles Darwin's ''subsidence model'', the formation of an atoll is explained by the subsidence of a volcanic island around which a coral fringing reef has formed. Over geologic time, the volcanic island becomes extinct and eroded as it subsides completely beneath the surface of the ocean. As the volcanic island subsides, the coral fringing reef becomes a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. A coral "group" is a colony of very many genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in height. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening. Each polyp excretes an exoskeleton near the base. Over many generations, the colony thus creates a skeleton characteristic of the species which can measure up to several meters in size. Individual colonies grow by asexual reproduction of polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning: polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously overnight, often around a full moon. Fertilized eggs form planulae, a mobile early form of the coral polyp which, when m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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High Island
Geologically, a high island or volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed on sunken volcanos). Definition and origin There are a number of "high islands" that rise no more than above sea level, often classified as "islets or rocks", while some low islands, such as Banaba, Henderson Island, Makatea, Nauru, and Niue, as uplifted coral islands, rise over above sea level. The two types of islands are often found in proximity to each other, especially among the islands of the South Pacific Ocean, where low islands are found on the fringing reefs that surround most high islands. Volcanic islands normally arise above a hotspot. Habitability High islands above a certain size usually have fresh groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maiao
Maiao, also known as Mai'ao or Maiao in languages other than Tahitian, is an island formation located southwest of Moorea and one of the Windward Islands (French: ''Îles du Vent'') in French Polynesia. Geography The island formation consists of one high island with a peak elevation of 154 meters (505') and a low island (or motu) that winds along the base of the high island. The formation encloses two hypersaline lagoons called Roto Iti and Roto Rahi. The island also has a lagoon at its edge. All lagoons are connected through narrow channels. The island is home to 299 people (as of Aug. 2007 census). Administration The island is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of Moorea-Maiao, itself in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Administrative Divisions Of French Polynesia
In French Polynesia, there are two levels of administrative divisions: five administrative subdivisions (french: subdivisions administratives) and 48 communes.Codification des collectivités d'outre-mer (COM) INSEE, 1 March 2017Loi n° 2004-193 du 27 février 2004 complétant le statut d'autonomie de la Polynésie française (1) [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archipelago, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Lakshadweep Islands, the Galápagos Islands, the Japanese archipelago, the Philippine Archipelago, the Maldives, the Balearic Islands, The Bahamas, the Aegean Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, the Canary Islands, Malta, the Azores, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the British Isles, the islands of the Archipelago Sea, and Shetland. They are sometimes defined by political boundaries. For example, the Gulf archipelago off the northeastern Pacific coast forms part of a larger archipelago that geographically includes Washington state's San Juan Islands; while the Gulf archipelago and San Juan Islands are geographically related, they are not technically included in the same archipelago due to manmad ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |