Joseph Gregorio II (; born 26 April 1847 – 21 November 1868) was the last

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

or ''

ʻAkariki An ariki (New Zealand, Cook Islands), ꞌariki (Easter Island), aliki (Tokelau, Tuvalu), ali‘i (Samoa, Hawai‘i), ari'i (Society Islands, Tahiti), Rotuma) aiki or hakaiki (Marquesas Islands), akariki (Gambier Islands) or ‘eiki (Tonga) is or w ...

'' (paramount chief) of the island of

Mangareva Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north. Mangareva has a permanent p ...

, and other

Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...

including Akamaru,

Aukena Aukena is the 5th largest of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. Aukena is located about halfway between Mangareva Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islan ...

Taravai Taravai is the second largest island in the Gambier Islands archipelago of French Polynesia, at 5.7 km2. Taravai is about 1.5 km southwest of Mangareva, the largest island of the whole Gambier group, and about 300 m north of the island ...

and

Temoe Temoe, or Te Moe, is a small atoll of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the far southeast of the Tuamotu group archipelago. It lies about 37 km southeast from the Gambier Islands and more than southeast from Mataiva, ...

. His short reign lasted from 1857 until his death in 1868. His childless death left the royal succession of Mangareva in doubt.

Biography

Born 26 April 1847, he was the eldest surviving son of King Gregorio I Maputeoa and Queen Maria Eutokia Toaputeitou, one of his two wives. Joseph had four siblings: one brother named Jean Népomucène and three sisters, two of whom became nuns in the Rouru Convent on

Mount Duff Mount Duff, also called Auorotini in the Mangarevan language, is the highest peak on the island of Mangareva in the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia. It has an elevation of 441 m. The peak was named by James Wilson after the ship '' Duff' ...

. Prior to his birth, his father and his great uncle Matua played pivotal roles in the conversion of the Gambier Islands to Christianity by French Picpus priests,

Honoré Laval Honoré Laval, SS.CC., (born ''Louis-Jacques Laval''; 5/6 February 1808 – 1 November 1880) was a French people, French Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (also known as the Picpus Fathers), a religious ins ...

and

François Caret François d'Assise Caret, SS.CC., (born François Toussaint Caret; 4 July 1802 – 26 October 1844) was a French Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a religious institute of the Roman Catholic Church. Life ...

. At the age of ten, Joseph became king upon Maputeoa's death. His mother Queen Maria Eutokia Toaputeitou assumed the regency, although the French missionary Father Honoré Laval had extensive control over the royal mother and son and was considered the true power behind the throne. During most of his reign, the young king was educated by the French missionaries at the Re'e Seminary College on

, one of the earliest institution of higher learning in the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. He visited Mangareva only during short intervals and exercised little to no sovereign power while he was on the throne. Because of his poor health, it was deemed necessary for the king to marry and sire an heir to the throne. Three candidates were considered qualified royal brides: Eritapeta, the daughter of Aarona Temateireikura who was too young; Dominika, the daughter of

Bernardo Putairi Bernardo Putairi (died 1 January or 7 January 1889) was the Prince Regent of the island of Mangareva, and other Gambier Islands including Akamaru, Aukena, Taravai and Temoe from 1873 to 1881. He served as regent and de facto monarch during th ...

, of a former ruling dynasty and Agapa, the daughter of

Akakio Tematereikura Akakio Tematereikura (died 1869) was the Prince Regent of the French Polynesia, Polynesian island of Mangareva and other territories of the Gambier Islands, including Akamaru Island, Akamaru, Aukena, Taravai and Temoe, in 1869. He served as regen ...

. Queen Regent Maria Eutokia's preferred Agapa and in the end, he married Agapa. Agapa's grandfather was Maputeoa's uncle Maria Tepano Matua making them second cousins. Queen Agapa predeceased her husband on 7 June 1868. Joseph Gregorio died without leaving issue on 21 November 1868 while still at school on the island of

. Because the throne of Mangareva could only pass to a male heir, after his death, a regency was installed pending the birth of an heir from one of his two surviving sisters Agnès and Philomèle. At the time, other factions in the kingdom were in support of ending the monarchy and either becoming a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

or a theocracy under the guidance of Laval and the French mission. After his death, the Gambier Islands steadily fell under colonial influence, becoming a French protectorate in 1871 and fully annexed to the territory of French Oceania in 1881, today part of the overseas country of

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. He is buried alongside his father at the Chapelle St-Pierre located behind St. Michael's Cathedral in

Rikitea Rikitea is a small town on Mangareva, which is part of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. A majority of the islanders live in Rikitea. The island was a protectorate of France in 1871 and was annexed in 1881. History The town's history dates ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph Gregorio II 1847 births 1868 deaths French Polynesian royalty History of French Polynesia Gambier Islands Roman Catholic monarchs Child monarchs from Oceania People from the Gambier Islands 19th-century monarchs in Oceania