Page 249 - French Polynesia
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he Marquesas Islands are thought to have formed by a center of up- over 78,000 inhabitants, to about 20,000 by the middle of the nineteenth
century, and to just over 4,000 by the beginning of the 1900s. During the
T welling magma called the Marquesas hotspot that underlies the Pacific
Plate. The Marquesas Islands lie above a submarine volcanic plateau of the course of the twentieth century, the population increased to 9,264 inhabit-
same name. The plateau, like the islands, is generally believed to be less ants at the August 2012 census. The sparsely populated Marquesas Islands,
than 5 million years old located 1,371 km (852 mi) from Tahiti often feels neglected by politicians
I n contrast to the tendency to associate Polynesia with lush tropical veg- in Tahiti, and some favor a direct link with Paris instead of depending on
etation, the Marquesas are remarkably dry islands. Though the islands lie Papeete. Several prominent Marquesan political leaders have repeatedly
declared themselves in favor of separating from French Polynesia and
within the tropics, they are the first major break in the prevailing easterly remaining within the French Republic in case French Polynesian political
winds that spawn from the extraordinarily dry Humboldt Current. This has leaders in Tahiti proclaim independence from France.
led to historical fluctuations in water supply, which have played a crucial N uku Hiva - From her said Herman Melville, one of the sea’s biggest
role in the sustainability of human populations in certain sections of the novelists: “There wouldn’t be description able to sketch her beauty”.
various islands throughout the archipelago.
S ome of these islands are still virtually virgin, all of which preserves Nuku Hiva is an abrupt island, pierced into by bays that penetrate it and
miraculously the marquesan traditions and cultures, supreme pride by deep canyons that go deep into its jungle. Here we can find the Hakui
waterfall, the third highest on Earth, whose waters evaporate mainly in the
of their people. In the Marquesas only a few paved roads exist, and it is fall before reaching the ground below.
often more comfortable to travel by boat or helicopter from one place to H iva Oa - Often referred to as the “Garden of the Marquesas”, its virgin
the other than by land. Only in two of these islands will you find services beauty has been barely touched by the ways of the 20th century. In
competent enough to fit the international tourist’s needs. There are four
airports in the Marquesas, one each on the islands of Nuku Hiva, Ua Pu, Ua her we will find Polynesia ‘s biggest tikis , those statues that the antique
Huka, and Hiva Oa. dwellers used to worship their gods with, which now silently watch over
O f all major island groups in the Pacific, the Marquesas suffered the the jungles. It’s in Hiva Oa where artists the size of poet Jacques Brel and
greatest population decline from diseases brought by Western ex- painter Paul Gauguin chose to spend their last days in, surrounded by
natural paradise in its purest state.
plorers. Imported diseases reduced the eighteenth century population of