Pōmare III (1820–1827), born Teriʻitariʻa, was the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

between 1821 and 1827. He was the second son of King

Pōmare II Pōmare II (c. 1782 – December 7, 1821) (fully Tu Tunuieaiteatua Pōmare II or in modern orthography Tū Tū-nui-ʻēʻa-i-te-atua Pōmare II; historically misspelled as Tu Tunuiea'aite-a-tua), was the second king of Tahiti between 1782 and 182 ...

and his second wife, Queen Teriʻitoʻoterai Tere-moe-moe. Sources differ on his relation to his sister with missionary sources citing them as half-siblings while later sources cited Tere-moe-moe as their mother.

Biography

He was born at Papofai, on 25 June 1820, as Teriʻitariʻa, and was baptised 10 September 1820. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his father 7 December 1821. He was crowned at Papaʻoa, ʻArue, 21 April 1824. The British missionaries decided that Pomare should have a coronation, although Tahitian tradition required investment with a sacred girdle and did not involve the use of a crown. The coronation was arranged by the British missionary

Henry Nott Henry Nott (1774–1844) was a British Protestant Christian missionary who lived and worked in Tahiti, in the Society Islands in Polynesia. Life Nott was one of the first missionaries sent out by the London Missionary Society, arriving in Tahiti a ...

and involved a procession of Tahitian judges and other dignitaries as well as British missionaries, accompanying the infant king, seated in a covered chair, to a specially-constructed stone platform. Here he sat behind a table carrying a crown, a bible and a book of Tahitian law. Mr. Davies, a senior missionary, spoke on his behalf, confirming that he agreed to reign with justice and mercy, according to the law and the word of God. Not then placed the crown on his head. While Pomare was king the missionaries advanced their own agenda in his name, for example by having him write to

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

to request British protection and the British flag. He ruled under the regency of his mother Queen Teriʻitoʻoterai Tere-moe-moe, his aunt and stepmother Teriʻitariʻa Ariʻipaeavahine, and the five principal chiefs of Tahiti due to his minority. Pōmare III's education took place at the South Sea Academy,

Papetoai Papetōai is an associated commune on the island of Moorea, in French Polynesia. It is part of the commune Moorea-Maiao. According to the 2017 census, it had grown to a population 2,329 people. Geography Climate Papetōai has a tropical rainfor ...

, Moʻorea. He died of

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

in January 1827 and was succeeded by his full sister, ʻAimata

Pōmare IV Pōmare IV (28 February 1813 – 17 September 1877), more properly ʻAimata Pōmare IV Vahine-o-Punuateraʻitua (otherwise known as ʻAimata – "eye-eater", after an old custom of the ruler to eat the eye of the defeated foe), was the Queen of ...

Vahine-o-Punuateraʻitua, who reigned 1827–1877.

Ancestry

References

Pōmare dynasty Tahitian monarchs Modern child rulers Rulers who died as children Protestant monarchs Converts to Protestantism Pomare III Pomare III Deaths from dysentery French Polynesian Protestants {{Royal-stub