Pōmare I (c. 1753 – September 3, 1803) (fully in old orthography: Tu-nui-ea-i-te-atua-i-Tarahoi Vaira'atoa Taina Pōmare I; also known as Tu or Tinah or Outu, or more formally as Tu-nui-e-a'a-i-te-atua) was the unifier and first
king of Tahiti and founder of the
Pōmare dynasty
The Pōmare dynasty was the reigning family of the Kingdom of Tahiti between the unification of the islands by Pōmare I in 1788 and Pōmare V's cession of the kingdom to France in 1880. Their influence once spanned most of the Society Islands, ...
and the
Kingdom of Tahiti
The Kingdom of Tahiti was a monarchy founded by paramount chief Pōmare I, who, with the aid of British missionaries and traders, and European weaponry, unified the islands of Tahiti, Moʻorea, Teti‘aroa, and Mehetia. The kingdom eventually ...
between 1788 and 1791. He abdicated in 1791 but remained in power as the guardian regent during the minority of his successor
Pōmare II from 1791 until 1803. He is best known in the western world for being the ruler of Tahiti during the
mutiny on the ''Bounty'' in 1789.
Name
''Outu'' is the phonetic English rendering of ''O Tū'', Tū being the name, o the nominal predicate meaning ''that is''. Older literature writes his family name as Tunuieaiteatua, which leaves incertainties about the proper pronunciation as
Tahitian usually did (and does) not write
macrons and
glottals. Barring this incertainty, in the current proper orthography would be Tū-nui-ēa-i-te-atua meaning Great-Tū,-road-to-the-god. Tū (standing straight up) was a major Tahitian god.
Ariitaimai claims that this Tū is a contraction of ''atua'' (god), but that is unlikely. The name Pōmare was adopted later. Pō-mare means "night cougher", a nickname he took, as was common in that time, in honor of his daughter Princess Teri’inavahoroa who died from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
in 1792.
Biography
Tu was the son of Teu, chief of Pare-'Arue, and his wife, Tetupaia-i-Hauiri (Tetupaia). Tetupaia was the granddaughter of Tamatoa II of
Raiatea
Raiatea or Ra'iatea ( Tahitian: ''Ra‘iātea'') is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia. The island is widely regarded as the "centre" of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that the ...
. Tu's great uncle was Tutaha, who acted as his regent.
Born at Pare, ca. 1753, he initially reigned under the regency of his father and succeeded on the death of his father as Arii-rahi of
Porionuu on November 23, 1802. Pōmare further succeeded in uniting the different chiefdoms of
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...
into a single kingdom, composed of the islands of Tahiti itself,
Moorea,
Mehetia
Meheti'a or Me'eti'a is a volcanic island in the Windward Islands, in the east of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. This island is a very young active stratovolcano east of the Taiarapu Peninsula of Tahiti. It belongs to the Teahiti'a ...
, and the
Tetiaroa group. He thus became the first king of unified Tahiti in 1788.
One year into his reign as Tahiti's king, Pōmare hosted the crew of
HMS ''Bounty'' who had visited Tahiti to collect
breadfruit plants for transportation to the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
. The subsequent
mutiny on the ''Bounty'' caused the mutineers to return briefly to Tahiti, where they were under Pōmare's protection, until leaving the island and eventually relocating to
Pitcairn
The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four is ...
. A small number of mutineers stayed behind and were later located by
HMS ''Pandora'', to which Pōmare accepted British authority and allowed the mutineers to be arrested and taken back to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
for trial.
Pōmare's service as the first king of unified Tahiti ended when he abdicated in 1791. He was succeeded by Tū Tūnuiʻēʻaiteatua
Pōmare II, who reigned from 1791 until 1821: however, though no longer monarch, Pomare remained regent of Tahiti during the minority of Pomare II, from 1791 until 1803. In 1792,
HMS ''Providence'' visited Tahiti and Pōmare was reunited with
William Bligh
Vice-Admiral William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS ''Bounty'' occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command; after being set adrift i ...
, the victim of mutiny four years earlier. Bligh interviewed Pōmare regarding the mutineers and subsequently wrote an account of where he suspected the mutineers may have escaped to following their departure from Tahiti.
[Tobin, George, "Captain Bligh's Second Chance: An Eyewitness Account of His Return to the South Seas", Naval Institute Press (April 2, 2007)]
Pōmare married 4 times and had three sons and three daughters. He died from
thrombosis
Thrombosis (from Ancient Greek "clotting") is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel (a vein or an artery) is injured, the body uses platelets (t ...
.
Dramatic portrayals
Due to Pōmare's role as King of Tahiti during the Mutiny on the Bounty, the character has subsequently been portrayed in every dramatic film about the incident since 1935. In both the
original film
Original Film is an American film and television production company founded by Neal H. Moritz. Notable films the company has produced include the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise.
History
Original Film was started out in the early 1990s by Neal ...
, as well as
the remake from 1962, he is known as "Chief Hitihiti" and played respectively by Bill Bambridge and
Matahiariʻi Tama. In the 1984 film ''
The Bounty'' he is known as "King Tynah" and is portrayed by New Zealand actor
Wi Kuki Kaa
Wi Kuki Kaa (16 December 1938 – 19 February 2006) was a New Zealand actor in film, theatre and television. He was from the Māori iwi of Ngati Porou and Ngati Kahungunu.
Family
Kaa was born in Rangitukia on New Zealand's East Cape. His fath ...
. Historically, Tynah may have been a different individual from Pōmare, as he is mentioned in the Bounty log as a "Paramount Chief", a title separate from monarch.
Ancestry
References
*
Teuira Henry
Teuira Henry (24/27 January 1847 – 23 January 1915) was a British Tahitian scholar, ethnologist, folklorist, linguist, historian and educator. She worked to reconstruct a lost manuscript on the history of Tahiti written by her grandfather, Engl ...
; Ancient Tahiti / Tahiti aux temps anciens
*
Henry Adams
Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents.
As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fr ...
; Memoirs of Arii Taimai / Mémoires d'Arii Taimai
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomare 1
Pōmare dynasty
Tahitian monarchs
1753 births
1803 deaths
18th-century monarchs in Oceania