Over the period of half a century there was much inter-island relations with trade, marriages and Polynesian expansion with the Islands of Hawaii and through to Rapanui.

The original Tahitians cleared land for cultivation on the fertile volcanic soils and built fishing canoes.

[6][failed verification] Ariʼi were relatively few in number while manahune constituted the bulk of population and included some members who played essential roles in the society.

A few months later the French arrived on 2 April 1768 with the ships Boudeuse and Etoile captained by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville.

The Pōmare Dynasty rose to prominence in the early 1790s from a ruling Tahitian family aided by protection from British mercenaries from the mutineers on the Bounty.

[19] Three hundred Tahitian volunteers fought in the European theatre of World War II with the Free French Forces.

[20] In the late 1960s and early 1970s Tahitian poets Henri Hiro, Charles Manutahi, Vaitiare and Turo Raapoto spearheaded the anticolonial writing in Tahiti.

Three women writers - Michou Chaze, Chantal Spitz and Vaitiare explore the problems of Tahitian identification in contemporary French Polynesia.

), for example, a pensive young girl wears the white flower tiare behind her left ear, signifying readiness to take a lover.