The first recorded sighting of Hiva Oa by the Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña on 21 July 1595.

The island is famous as the final home of French painter Paul Gauguin and Belgian singer Jacques Brel, both of whom are buried in Calvary Cemetery, overlooking Atuona.

Similar to all the larger Marquesas, Hiva Oa features steep cliffs abruptly rising from the ocean to a rugged interior spine of volcanic mountains, ridges, and deep, isolated valleys.

Unlike most other Polynesian islands near the equator, no fringing coral reefs protect Hiva Oa from the pounding of the ocean and only a few sheltered anchorages and sandy beaches are scattered around the coast.

Hiva Oa is separated from the nearby island of Tahuata to its south by a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide channel called Ha'ava or the Canal de Bordelais.

Geologically, Hiva Oa belongs to the Marquesas Linear Volcanic Chain, which formed from a hot spot on the Pacific Plate and is moving west-northwest at a rate of 103 to 118 mm.

[12] Anthropochorophytes, such as breadfruit trees and Tahitian chestnut (Inocarpus edulis), already introduced by Polynesian settlers, predominate in the lowland and midland regions.

[12] The fauna of the Marquesas Islands is limited to land and sea birds, insects, reptiles, butterflies and spiders.

Therefore, all the islands have names related to the construction of a house: Hiva Oa means long ridge.

Subsistence agriculture, a combination of fishing, pig and chicken farming, and the cultivation of staple crops such as breadfruit, coconut, yam, taro, sweet potatoes and bananas, remains the basis of the island's economy.

Atuona has a fairly modern infrastructure, with a hospital, a medical and dental office, a post office (with satellite phone), a bank (with ATM), a national Gendarmerie station, a courthouse, schools with preschool (école maternelle et primaire) and a high school (Collège Sainte Anne), as well as a Catholic church and a Protestant church.

In the Puamau valley, about two kilometers from the coast, is Ipona (formerly: Oipona), the largest and most important historical site in the Marquesas.

The Marae Takii, now well restored and consisting of three overlapping terraces, stands at the foot of a steep cliff and includes 8 stone statues and cyclopean heads.

However, the most interesting artwork is the Maki'i Taua Pepe figure, unique in the entire South Seas region, which, according to Karl von den Steinen, physician and ethnologist, depicts a priestess or goddess giving birth.

[23] According to Thor Heyerdahl, who visited Hiva Oa in 1937, the statue does not resemble a woman giving birth, but "more like an animal swimming," and he compared it to two sculptures of the "alligator god" from the St. Augustine culture.

Steinen's interpretation of a woman in labor is contradicted by the fact that the base emerged from the navel region and not from the loins.

Among the dense undergrowth, it is difficult to distinguish most of the house and ceremonial platforms spread over an area of 3 ha, as little has been excavated and hardly anything has been restored.

The Ta'aoa valley belonged to the sphere of influence of the powerful Tiu tribe, which plays a central role in the traditional myths of Hiva Oa.

The Atuona cultural center dedicated to the painter Paul Gauguin displays only copies of his paintings, but documents his life in the South Seas.

In the process a disused well was found where the later inhabitants had disposed of the painter's personal belongings, including a comb and toothbrush, jugs of wine, empty absinthe bottles, a morphine syringe, and tiger balm.