Papeete

Papeete is a town on Tahiti, an island in the big Pacific Ocean.

It has a harbor full of boats.

Papeete is the main town of French Polynesia, says the French encyclopedia Larousse. It lies on the north coast of Tahiti, the main island of the Society Islands in the South Pacific. It is a center for offices, shops and tourism.

The 2022 census counted 26,654 people in Papeete's commune. Larousse says Papeete and its suburbs hold more than two thirds of Tahiti's people.

Larousse ('Papeete'): chef-lieu of French Polynesia, on the north coast of the island of Tahiti; 26,244 inhabitants (2012 census); the agglomeration holds most of Tahiti's population; an administrative, commercial and tourist center, served by Faa'a airport. Larousse ('Tahiti'): main island of French Polynesia and of the Society archipelago, at 17° south; 183,645 inhabitants (2012 census); Papeete with its suburbs holds more than two thirds of the population. City Population (census 22 August 2022): Papeete commune 26,654, third among City Population's major places of French Polynesia (Faa'a 29,826 is larger); Windward Islands 209,980. Universalis ('PAPEETE'): the agglomeration runs from Paea in the west to Mahina in the east, and the commune now holds only a fifth of its people.

Look at the turquoise water and the boats in the harbor!

Red and white roofs stand among green trees and hills.

Laurent Seignobos took this photo from the air on 15 November 2002. It shows the harbor of Papeete: turquoise water, a few small boats along a waterfront road, and part of a large white sailing ship at the lower left. Behind them, red-roofed and white buildings spread among trees toward green hills.

Universalis says Papeete has a good harbor site: a wide pass in the coral reef leads to deep, sheltered water. The port was enlarged by filling in Motu Uta, the islet that protects the harbor, and by building a breakwater more than 2 kilometers long on the reef.

Commons: File:Papeete port aérien - Laurent Seignobos 1.jpg, by Laurent Seignobos (own work, uploader = author, CC BY-SA 4.0), taken 15 November 2002 08:06, uploaded 13 March 2021; his description 'Papeete port aérien' (an aerial view of the port); two minutes after the upload the photographer himself added the categories 'Panoramics of Papeete' and 'Harbour'; the other current categories (including 'Port de Papeete') were added or changed later by other users. An old photo (2002): the town may look different now. Seen in the 1,280-pixel copy: the harbor basin, small boats along the waterfront, part of a large white sailing ship with a mast at the lower left, a quay, red-roofed and white buildings, trees and green hills. Universalis: a favorable harbor site, with a wide pass in the reef giving access to a deep, sheltered anchorage on the leeward coast; the port was enlarged and completely rebuilt, with the infilling of Motu Uta (the islet that protects the roadstead) and a breakwater of more than two kilometers on the reef. Wikidata: Motu Uta (Q31930141), 0.75 km NNE of the town point (a point given to the nearest minute).

Tahiti is made of two volcanoes that do not erupt anymore.

People grow coconuts, bananas and vanilla.

Larousse says Tahiti is made of two extinct volcanoes joined by a narrow neck of land, the isthmus of Taravao. One part, Tahiti-Nui, rises to Orohena, 2,237 meters high, and deep valleys cut into the mountains. A narrow coastal plain runs around the island, edged by a lagoon and, except in the northeast, a coral reef.

Nobody lives in the forested mountains inside the island. People live along the coast, farming coconut palms, root crops, breadfruit, bananas and vanilla, and fishing.

Larousse ('Tahiti'): the island is formed by two extinct volcanoes joined by the narrow isthmus of Taravao and cut by deep valleys: Tahiti-Nui, dominated by Orohena (2,237 m), in the northwest, and Taiarapu, at the foot of Roniu (1,323 m), in the southeast; both are roughly circular, with a narrow coastal plain bordered by a lagoon, cut by a few passes, and a coral reef (except in the northeast); the mountainous interior is forest or more or less degraded bush and is uninhabited; the population lives on the coast from farming (coconut groves, tubers, breadfruit, bananas, vanilla) and fishing. Wikidata: Mont Orohena (Q512465), 2,241 m, 13.45 km SE of the town point; Fautaua Valley (Q30066057) 2.97 km NE.