Papeete, seldomly but more correctly written as Papeʻete (pronounced Papay-ettay), is the capital of French Polynesia, and is located on the island of Tahiti, which is part of the Society Islands, in French Polynesia.
The total population of the commune of Papeʻete proper is 26,181 inhabitants (as of 2002 census), while the whole urban area has a total population of 127,635 inhabitants (2002 census).
The area that now constitutes Papeʻete was first settled by the British missionary William Crook in 1818. Queen Pōmare IV moved her court to Papeʻete and made it her capital in the late 1820s, and the town grew into a major regional shipping and transportation center. Papeʻete was retained as Tahiti's capital after France took control of the Tahitian Islands and made them a protectorate in 1842. Half of Papeʻete was destroyed by a major fire in 1884. A major cyclone caused extensive damage to the city in 1906.
Herman Melville was imprisoned in Papeʻete in 1842; his experiences there became the basis for the novel Omoo. Paul Gauguin journeyed to Papeʻete in 1891 and, except for a two-year period in 1893-1895, never returned to France. Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry Adams also spent time in Papeʻete in 1891.
Papeete's international airport, Faa'a International Airport, was completed and opened in 1962.
In September 1995, after the government of Jacques Chirac went ahead with plans to test a nuclear device off the shores of Moruroa Atoll, there was heavy rioting for three days in Papeʻete. The international airport was nearly destroyed by rioters, and 40 people were injured in the general chaos. (Similar rioting occurred after another French nuclear test in the same area in 1987).
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