Tahaa (see footnote for variant spellings) is an island located among the
Society IslandsThe Society Islands are a group of islands in the south Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
, in
French PolynesiaFrench Polynesia is a French overseas collectivity in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
, an overseas territory of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
in the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
. The islands of Tahaa and neighboring
RaiateaSomewhat smaller than Tahiti, Raiatea is the second largest of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. The proper spelling of the name, rarely used though, in the Tahitian language is Ra’iatea, meaning bright sky; Ulieta is an obsolete transcription commonly used in the 19th century...
are enclosed by the same
coralCorals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals...
reefIn nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
, and may once have been a single island.
Administratively speaking, Tahaa and the surrounding
isletAn islet is a small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....
s emerging from the coral reef form a commune (municipality) part of the administrative subdivision of the
Leeward IslandsThe Leeward Islands are part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific.-Administration:...
.
Tahaa (see footnote for variant spellings) is an island located among the
Society IslandsThe Society Islands are a group of islands in the south Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
, in
French PolynesiaFrench Polynesia is a French overseas collectivity in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
, an overseas territory of
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
in the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
. The islands of Tahaa and neighboring
RaiateaSomewhat smaller than Tahiti, Raiatea is the second largest of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. The proper spelling of the name, rarely used though, in the Tahitian language is Ra’iatea, meaning bright sky; Ulieta is an obsolete transcription commonly used in the 19th century...
are enclosed by the same
coralCorals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals...
reefIn nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
, and may once have been a single island.
Administration
Administratively speaking, Tahaa and the surrounding
isletAn islet is a small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....
s emerging from the coral reef form a commune (municipality) part of the administrative subdivision of the
Leeward IslandsThe Leeward Islands are part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific.-Administration:...
. The administrative centre of the commune of Tahaa is the settlement of Patio.
Vanilla Production
Tahaa produces 70-80% of all French Polynesia's
vanillaVanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla native to Mexico. Etymologically, vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod. Originally cultivated by Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing both the spice and...
. Because of the pervasive aroma of vanilla, Tahaa is known as the "Vanilla Island". Tahaa's
pearlA pearl is a hard, generally spherical object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and...
s are of exceptional quality.
Accessibility
Taha'a and its small islets can be reached by boat and outrigger from Raiatea. The short sail drops visitors on an islet beach with a small lagoon, and in the near distance, a view of Bora Bora. These parts of Tahiti are less modernized.
Tahitian Spelling
The name Tahaa is sometimes spelled
Taha’a in
TahitianTahitian, a Tahitic language, spoken by Tahitians, is one of the two official languages of French Polynesia . It is an Eastern Polynesian language closely related to Rarotongan, New Zealand Māori, and Hawaiian.- Alphabet :...
, using the apostrophe (in fact a variant of it hard to differentiate from the regular apostrophe when using small fonts) to represent the
glottal stopThe glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English the feature is represented for example by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those attempting an authentic pronunciation of...
, as promoted by the
Académie Tahitienne and accepted by the territorial government
http://www.farevanaa.pf/theme_detail.php?id=5. This apostrophe, however, is often omitted. In old travelogues, the
transcriptionTranscription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a spoken-language source, as in the proceedings of a court hearing. It can also mean the conversion of a written source into another medium, as by scanning books and making digital versions...
Oataha is sometimes used.