In addition to Tubuai, the group of islands include Rimatara, Rurutu, Raivavae, Rapa and the uninhabited Îles Maria.

They are part of the Austral Islands in the far southwest of French Polynesia in the south Pacific Ocean.

These were described in the late 1700s as having an abundance of toa trees (Casuarina equisetifolia), which the indigenous peoples used in house building and to make war clubs and spears due to the wood's density.

[6][7] The islanders speak the Tupuaʻi dialect of the Austral language, which has absorbed significant Tahitian vocabulary.

There exists on the island today the stone ruins of a "great number of structures, house platforms, marae complexes, and cemeteries..."[9] 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-whisks, and tapa cloth.

Mutineer Fletcher Christian, in looking for an island on which to permanently hide, had "scoured" William Bligh's maps and nautical charts and decided on Tubuai.

[10] 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".

"[6] After only ten days on the island, the mutineers sailed for Tahiti to get women and livestock in which they were only nominally successful.

It was not long before armed parties of mutineers started burning houses and desecrating marae during skirmishes to obtain women.

[12] 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.

[15][16][17] One Protestant minister when visiting a congregation on Tubuai on January 3, 1824, wrote that several islanders were still suffering from a devastating illness.

[15] On April 30, 1844, four early missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints arrived in Tubuai.

[19] The island has hot, muggy summers and warm, humid winters with ample precipitation all year.