Histoire / History Les années 60 sont marquées par un élan économique sans précédent sous l’impulsion du CEP (Centre d’Expérimentation du Pacifique), qui procède à une série d’essais nucléaires jusqu’en 1996. Durant cette époque, le soutien financier de l’Etat français entraîne la mise en place d’une économie moderne basée sur le tourisme et la perle notamment. Un plan d’aide financière permet, dès la fin des essais, de compenser le manque à gagner de la rente nucléaire. Programmée sur 10 ans, cette aide est reconduite depuis 2006 pour aider la Polynésie à assurer son développement. Après 20 années d’une politique autonomiste menée par Gaston Flosse, la Polynésie entre en 2004 dans une phase de «Taui» (changement) avec un gouvernement pluriel mené par l’indépendantiste Oscar Temaru. Depuis, c’est l’instabilité politique chronique et celle-ci a favorisé la crise économique que connaît encore actuellement Tahiti et ses Iles. Les élections de mai 2013 ont vu le retour au pouvoir du parti autonomiste; c’est actuellement Edouard Fritch notre président...
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Polynesia was populated as the result of successive waves of migration, coming from Southeast Asia and starting over 30,000 years ago. The Marquesas were the first islands to be settled by these fearless sailors on their sea canoes. Around 1300, these people settled there permanently. For 300 years they remain cut off from the rest of the world until the arrival of the first Europeans: Wallis who reached the shores of Tahiti in 1767, but Cook, Bligh, and Bougainville were right behind him. Papeete experienced its first growth during the London Missionary Society’s early attempts to evangelize the population. In 1817, Reverend Crook settled in the heart of what became today’s city. Following serious skirmishes with the British, France succeeded in imposing her protectorate in 1842. Wishing to anchor her power within the Pacific, France negotiated with King Pomare V the annexation of his kingdom to the French State in 1880. Following World War II, Polynesia entered a new era of international trade. The “Etablissements Français du Pacifique” became an Overseas Territory represented in Metropolitan France by a new leader Pouvanaa a Opoa who created the first local political party. The 60’s were marked by spectacular economic growth fostered by the CEP (Experimentation Center of the Pacific) created for French nuclear testing. In 1984, French Polynesia acquired the “Internal Autonomy” political status with its own Territorial Assembly, its own Government, and its own President. With the end of nuclear testing in 1996 and the implementation of a financial aid plan from France, Tahiti’s development was mainly due to France’s subsidies.. After 20 years of autonomist government led by Gaston Flosse, since 2004, Tahiti enters in a phase of «Taui» (change) with a plural government led by Oscar Temaru. Since 2004, several years of chronic political instability favored the economic crisis which knows Tahiti and its Islands. The elections of May, 2013 saw the return of the autonomist party. It is atually Edouard Fritch who is president.