It was one of a number of independent Polynesian states in the Society Islands, alongside Tahiti, Huahine and Raiatea in the 19th century, which all shared a similar language and culture and whose rulers were interrelated by marriage.

The Kingdom was finally annexed to France in 1888 and its last queen Teriimaevarua III was replaced by a French vice-resident in 1895.

In the 18th century a great chief, Puni (Teihotu Matarua), succeeded in dominating the island's other clans.

[2] At Puni's death, his nephew Tapoa I, paramount chief of Bora Bora, Raiatea and Tahaa, settled at Raʻiātea, leaving local power to the chiefs Mai and Tefaaora, originally of Nunue and Anau, and members of the marae of Vaiotaha.

In the 1810s, Chief Mai and 262 warriors joined Pomare II in his fight against the Teva clan.

This millennial movement, born on the island of Raiatea, merged old beliefs and new religion and challenges the authority of missionaries.

Tapoa II, leader of the alliance and Grand Chief of Tahaa was however defeated, and his wife, Pomare IV, Queen of Tahiti, separated from him in 1834.

Tapoa II, however, remained on good terms with Pomare IV, his ex-wife, and in 1845 he adopted one of her daughters, Teriimaevarua, whom he designated as heiress.

Indeed, the Jarnac Convention, which guaranteed the independence of the Leeward Islands, only committed its two signatories, France and Great Britain.

Both islands refused, and Teriimaevarua III informed the French government of the German attempt.

For France, this made it urgent to repeal the Jarnac Convention, in order to prevent the installation of a rival power at the gates of its colony, especially since with the expected opening of the Panama Canal, the Society Islands would assume great strategic importance.