Tubuai or Tupuai is the main island of the Austral Island group, located south of

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 Austra ...

. In addition to Tubuai, the group of islands include

Rimatara Rimatara is the westernmost inhabited island in the Austral Islands of French Polynesia. It is located south of Tahiti and west of Rurutu. The land area of Rimatara is , and that of the Maria islets is .Rurutu Rūrutu is the northernmost island in the Austral archipelago of French Polynesia, and the name of a commune consisting solely of that island. It is situated south of Tahiti. Its land area is .Raivavae, Rapa and the uninhabited

Îles Maria Îles Maria or simply Maria, also known as Hull Island, is a small coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Its original name is Nororotu. The nearest island is Rimatara situated to the ESE. The atoll consists of four islets (''îles''), with a dens ...

. They are part of the

Austral Islands The Austral Islands (french: Îles Australes, officially ''Archipel des Australes;'' ty, Tuha'a Pae) are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic in the South Pacific. Geographically, t ...

in the far southwest of

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = "Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of French ...

in the south

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. Tubuai island sustains a population of 2,217 people on 45 km² of land.Répartition de la population en Polynésie française en 2017
Institut de la statistique de la Polynésie françaiseEnvironnement marin des îles Australes
p. 205 Due to its southerly position, Tubuai has notably cooler weather than Tahiti. The island is ringed by a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...

formed by an encircling

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

. A break in the reef that enables passage for ships is located on the north side of the island. Tubuai has two

lava domes In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of erupti ...

, with its highest point, Mt Taita'a, being 422 meters. Six or seven islets or ''motu''s lie along the reef rim that encircles the island. These were described in the late 1700s as having an abundance of toa trees (''

Casuarina equisetifolia ''Casuarina equisetifolia'', common names ''Coastal She-oak'' or ''Horsetail She-oak'' (sometimes referred to as the Australian pine tree or whistling pine tree outside Australia), is a she-oak species of the genus ''Casuarina''. The native ...

''), which the

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

used in house building and to make war clubs and spears due to the wood's density. The people of Tubuai once spoke the

Austral language Austral (''Reo Tuha'a pae'') is an endangered Polynesian language or a dialect continuum that is spoken by approximately 8,000 people (1987). It is spoken only on the Austral Islands and the Society Islands of French Polynesia. The language is als ...

but it has been replaced by the closely related Tahitian language.

History

Early Polynesia

The island has been inhabited since at least 1215CE. In the ancient past a road was built that encircled the island. There exists on the island today the stone ruins of a “great number of structures, house platforms,

marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

complexes, and cemeteries...” According to David Stanley's ''South Pacific Handbook'': "The Austral islands were one of the great art areas of the Pacific, represented today in many museums. The best-known artifacts are tall sharkskin drums, wooden bowls,

fly-whisk __NOTOC__ A fly-whisk (or fly-swish) is a tool that is used to swat flies. A similar gadget is used as a hand fan in hot tropical climates, sometimes as part of regalia, and is called a ''chowrie'', ''chāmara'', or ''prakirnaka'' in South Asia an ...

s, and

tapa cloth Tapa cloth (or simply ''tapa'') is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea an ...

Arrival of ''Bounty'' mutineers

Tubuai was first viewed by Europeans when it was mapped by

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

in 1777, although his party did not disembark. Cook discovered the island's name, "Toobouai", from the natives who surrounded his ship in their canoes; a Tahitian named

Omai Mai (c.1751-late 1779), known as Omai in Britain, was a young Ra'iatean man who became the second Pacific Islander to visit Europe, after Ahu-toru who was brought to Paris by Bougainville in 1768. Life Ma'i, born c.1751, described himself ...

, who was part of Cook's group, translated. The next Europeans to arrive were the mutineers of HMS ''Bounty'' in 1789. Mutineer

Fletcher Christian Fletcher Christian (25 September 1764 – 20 September 1793) was master's mate on board HMS ''Bounty'' during Lieutenant William Bligh's voyage to Tahiti during 1787–1789 for breadfruit plants. In the mutiny on the ''Bounty'', Christian se ...

, in looking for an island on which to permanently hide, had "scoured"

William Bligh Vice-Admiral William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS ''Bounty'' occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command; after being set adrift i ...

's maps and

nautical chart A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a sea area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land ( topographic map), natural features of the seabed, details of the co ...

s and decided on Tubuai. Upon arrival at Tubuai, a conflict arose while the mutineers were still on their ship and several islanders were killed in their canoes. The site of this event in the lagoon on the north side of the island is called ''Baie Sanglant'' "Bloody Bay". Mutineer James Morrison wrote: "The Island is full of Inhabitants for its size and may Contain 3000 souls." After only ten days on the island, the mutineers sailed for Tahiti to get women and livestock in which they were only nominally successful. When they returned to Tubuai, they built a fort on the northeast part of the island at Ta'ahueia, manned with cannon and

swivel gun The term swivel gun (or simply swivel) usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun wi ...

which they named Fort George. The mutineer leader, Fletcher Christian, knew that settling on Tahiti was sure to mean the mutineers' eventual discovery and arrest, so despite being viewed as intruders, Christian was reluctant to view permanent settlement on Tubuai as unfeasible. Christian favoured using diplomacy over time to eventually obtain wives, but many of the other mutineers insisted on raiding parties to take wives by force. The islanders of Tubuai did not want to allow their women to stay at the mutineer camp or to allow them to become wives. They also were not disposed to trade food. It was not long before armed parties of mutineers started burning houses and desecrating

during skirmishes to obtain women. More battles ensued and more natives were killed. One mutineer, the heavily tattooed Thomas Burkett (who was later tried and hanged in England for mutiny), was speared in the side by one of the islanders during one of the skirmishes. After only two months since their first arrival on Tubuai, the mutineers left for good.

1800s

Increased contact with Europeans also meant more exposure to diseases to which the islanders had no

immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity de ...

. This proved particularly devastating to the population of Tubuai. At some point during the 30 years from when the mutineers left the island on September 17, 1789, and the early 1820s when accounts by

Christian missionaries A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such ...

began to be recorded, the population that was estimated by the mutineer Morrison to be 3000 was now reduced to no more than 300 people. One Protestant minister when visiting a congregation on Tubuai on January 3, 1824, wrote that several islanders were still suffering from a devastating illness. He described the symptoms and noted that several hundred had died within the previous four years.

Geography

Tupua'i is located just north of the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reac ...

. The island is at the centre of the Austral Islands, located 195 km from Ra'ivāvae, 210 km from

Rurutu Rūrutu is the northernmost island in the Austral archipelago of French Polynesia, and the name of a commune consisting solely of that island. It is situated south of Tahiti. Its land area is .Rapa Iti Rapa, also called Rapa Iti, or "Little Rapa", to distinguish it from Easter Island, whose Polynesian name is Rapa Nui, is the largest and only inhabited island of the Bass Islands in French Polynesia. An older name for the island is Oparo. The ...

and 640 km south of Tahiti. It consists of two former sets of volcanic peaks on Mount Taita'a () which are separated by the collar of Huahine (). Its area is , surrounded by a large lagoon, the largest of the Austral Islands. The coral reef that surrounds it in effect creates a lagoon of , an area almost double that of the island. It sometimes reaches wide. Its depth is low, leading to a characteristic colour of turquoise or jade. For a large part, its depth is around . However, it can reach up to in some parts of the south-east. The waters are constantly replenished via a rather strong and fairly constant ocean current, contributing to the preservation of the lagoon habitat and the health of the coral in the reef. The generally cooler waters and until recently very low pollution have also helped sustain this environment. Many small streams run through the island, though they often empty into swamps rather than the sea. These swamps represent a fairly large portion of the island. Only the river Vaiohuru has any real flow. Eight offshore ''motu'' surround the main island (with an additional 0.4 km²): *Motu One (also known as ''îlot de sable'' (Sandly Islet) in the North) *Motu Rautaro *Motu Toena *Motu Roa (also called Motu Tāpapatava'e) *Motu Mitihā (originally Motiha'a) *Motu 'Ōfa'i (also called ''îlot caillou'' (Rock Island)) *'Iri'iriroa *Îlot plat (Flat Island) The islets above are listed in clockwise direction from the north of the island. The last two islands are often submerged and hence not visible. The motu 'Ōfa'i is itself the only island that has not formed through coral because it is composed of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

, hence its name. It is also the only outcrop of volcanic land other than the main island.

Climate

The climate of Tubuai is cooler than Tahiti, with temperatures averaging . The island has hot, muggy summers and warm, humid winters with ample precipitation all year. The lowest temperature measured on the island was on 31 August 1951. The highest was on 25 March 1980. The lagoon waters typically reach in summer but only drop a few degrees in winter. Rainfall is high, averaging about 2000 mm (78 inches) per year with about 1700 mm (67 inches) per year for the years 2006 and 2007. The highest recorded rainfall 2839 mm (112 inches) in 1962 and the lowest was 1186 mm (47 inches) 1952. The record for rainfall in a day is in turn 191 mm (8 inches) on 23 April 1942. Hours of sunlight is about average for the Australs and is around 1970 hours per year, one of the lowest levels in Polynesia. The humidity is lower in contrast to Tahiti in the order of a few percent, mainly due to its higher latitude and its lower altitude (thus retaining fewer clouds). The

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisp ...

coming from southeast are the prevailing winds. Those coming from the North or Northwest are synonymous with a change towards more sunny days. The maximum recorded wind speeds, however, never exceeded 45 m/s. The island has also been the scene of several

cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an an ...

s, though they are not very frequent and are often weakened before reaching landfall (as with Cyclone Meena in 2004). However, much bigger cyclones occasionally hit the island. As such, on 5 February 2010, Tupua'i found itself in the path of Cyclone Oli with winds averaging 160 km/h (gusting nearly 220 km/h). Average weather records on Tupua'i:

Demographics

Since the 1990s, the island's population has stabilised to approximately 2000 inhabitants. Evolution of the population of Tupua'i since its discovery:

Administration

Tubuai is the administrative capital of the

,Décret n° 2005-1611 du 20 décembre 2005 pris pour l'application du statut d'autonomie de la Polynésie française

Légifrance Légifrance is the official website of the French government for the publication of legislation, regulations, and legal information. Access to the site is free. Virtually complete, it presents or refers to all concerned institutions or administrat ...

and the commune consists solely of this one island, including the six or seven motus surrounding it. Tubuai was

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

by France in 1881. The commune itself consists of the following associated communes:Décret n°72-407 du 17 mai 1972 portant création de communes dans le territoire de la Polynésie française

* Mahu *

Mataura Mataura is a town in the Southland region of the South Island of New Zealand. Mataura has a meat processing plant, and until 2000 it was the site of a large pulp and paper mill. Geography Mataura is situated on and the Main South Line rail ...

* Taahuaia

Notes and references

External links

*
Natural and cultural heritage of Tubuai on Tahiti Heritage with Google maps
{{authority control Islands of the Austral Islands Communes of French Polynesia