Pōmare IV

Pōmare IV
Queen of Tahiti
Reign	11 January 1827 – 17 September 1877
Predecessor	Pōmare III
Successor	Pōmare V
Regent	Teriʻitariʻa Ariʻipaeavahine Teriʻitoʻoterai Teremoemoe Council of Chiefs
Born	28 February 1813 Pare, Tahiti
Died	17 September 1877 (aged 64) Royal Palace, Papeete, Tahiti
Burial	Pōmare Royal Cemetery, Papaʻoa, ʻArue
Spouse	Tapoa II Ariʻifaʻaite
Issue among others...	Ariʻiaue Pōmare V Teriʻimaevarua II Tamatoa V Punuariʻi Teriʻitapunui Teriʻitua Tuavira
Full name ʻAimata Pōmare IV Vahine-o-Punuateraʻitua
House	House of Pōmare
Father	Pōmare II
Mother	Teriʻitoʻoterai Tere-moe-moe
Religion	Protestantism

Queen Pōmare IV, portrait by Charles Giraud, Musée du quai Branly.

Queen Pōmare IV, portrait by Charles Giraud, Musée de Tahiti et des Îles.

Pōmare IV (28 February 1813 – 17 September 1877), more properly ʻAimata Pōmare IV Vahine-o-Punuateraʻitua (otherwise known as ʻAimata – "eye-eater", after an old custom of the ruler to eat the eye of the defeated foe), was the Queen of Tahiti between 1827 and 1877. She was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Tahiti.

Family

Pōmare was the daughter of Pōmare II and Teriʻitoʻoterai Tere-moe-moe, his second wife. Her grandfather was Pōmare I.

She succeeded as ruler of Tahiti after the death of her full brother Pōmare III when she was only 14 years old.

Biography

In 1843, the French declared Tahiti a French protectorate and installed a governor at Papeete. She fought in vain against French intervention, writing to the King of France and Queen Victoria, asking in vain for British intervention, and exiling herself to Raiatea in protest.^[1] What followed was the bloody French-Tahitian War which lasted from 1843 to 1847, involving every kingdom of the Society Islands. The Tahitians suffered many casualties, but the French losses were also great. Although the British never assisted the Tahitians, they actively condemned France and war nearly broke between the two powers in the Pacific. These conflicts ended in the defeat of the Tahitian forces at the Fort of Fautaua. The French were victorious, but they weren't able to annex the island due to diplomatic pressure from Great Britain, so Tahiti and Moorea continued to be ruled under the French protectorate. A clause to the war settlement was that Queen Pōmare's allies in Huahine, Raiatea, and Bora Bora would be allowed to remain independent.^[2][3][4]

Pōmare IV eventually relented and ruled under the French administration from 1847 until 1877. Pōmare IV is buried in the Royal Mausoleum, Papaʻoa, ʻArue. She was succeeded by Pōmare V, who reigned 1877–1880.

Issue

In December 1822, Pōmare married the future King Tapoa II of Taha'a and Bora Bora; this marriage was childless and ended with the Queen repudiating the marriage on the ground that he was sterile.^[5][6] She remarried on 5 December 1832, to her first cousin, Tenaniʻa Ariʻifaʻaite a Hiro (10 January 1820 – 6 August 1873).^[7] By her second husband, she had issue:

1. A boy (1833, died young).^[8][9]
2. Henry Pōmare (August 1835, died young).^[8][9]
3. Ariʻiaue Pōmare (12 August 1838 – 10 May 1856), Crown Prince of Tahiti, Ariʻi of Afaʻahiti.^[7]
4. Pōmare V (3 November 1839 – 12 June 1891), succeeded as King of Tahiti.^[7]
5. Teriʻimaevarua II (23 May 1841 – 12 February 1873), succeeded as Queen of Bora Bora.^[7]
6. Tamatoa V (23 September 1842 – 30 September 1881), succeeded as King of Ra'iātea.^[7]
7. Victoria Pōmare-vahine (1844 – June 1845).^[10][11][12]
8. Punuariʻi Teriʻitapunui Pōmare (20 March 1846 – 18 September 1888), Ariʻi of Mahina and President of the Tahitian High Court.^[7][13]
9. Teriʻitua Tuavira Pōmare (17 December 1847 – 9 April 1875), Ariʻirahi of Hitiaʻa, called the "Prince de Joinville".^[7]
10. Tevahitua Pōmare (1850/1852, died young).^[14][8][15]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Pōmare IV

16. Tu-moe-hania               8. Teu Tunuieaite Atua                       17. Tetua-huria               4. Pōmare I                             18. Tamatoa III (= 24)               9. Tetupaia-i-Hauiri                       19. Mai-he’a               2. Pōmare II                                   20. Teri’i-Vaetua-i-Ahura’i               10. Teihotu-i-Ahura’i                       21. Airoro-ana’a-i-Farepu’a               5. Tetua-nui-reia-i-te-raʻi-atea                             22. Punua Teraitua-i-Nu’urua               11. Vave’a Tetua-nui-rei-a-ite Ra’iatea                       23. Fetefete-te-ui               1. Pōmare IV                                         24. Tamatoa III (= 18)               12. Vetea-raʻi Uʻuru                       25. Hapaitaha’a               6. Tamatoa IV                             13. Opai-pai Te-roro                       3. Teri’to’-o-terai Tere-moe-moe                                   28. Mau’a               14. Mato Teri’i Tepoara’i                       29. Te-atua-nui-marama               7. Tu-ra’i-ariʻi E-he-vahine                             30. Teri’i-taria Te-ha’apapa               15. Te-ha’apapa I                       31. Teri’i-ohua-e-te-anuanua-i-te-tuahu

References

1. Patricia O'Brien "Think of Me as a Woman: Queen Pomare of Tahiti and Anglo- French Imperial Contest in the 1840s Pacific", Gender and History, Vol. 18 No. 1 April 2006: 108–129doi:10.1111/j.1468-0424.2006.00417.x
2. Matt K. Matsuda (2005). "Society Islands: Tahitian Archives". Empire of Love: Histories of France and the Pacific. Oxford University Press. pp. 91–112. ISBN 0-19-516294-3.
3. Ward & Gooch 1922, pp. 182–185.
4. La guerre franco-tahitienne (1844–1846). Histoire de l'Assemblée de la Polynésie française
5. Cuzent 1860, pp. 46-47.
6. Mortimer 1838, pp. 379-382.
7. Henry & Orsmond 1928, p. 249–250.
8. Christopher Buyers Page 4. "Tahiti: The Pomare Dynasty Genealogy". Royal Ark web site. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
9. Pritchard 1983, p. 225.
10. London Missionary Society 1845, p. 252.
11. London Missionary Society 1846, pp. 248-251.
12. Mortimer 1869, p. 422.
13. Pritchard 1983, p. 226.
14. Société des Études Océaniennes 1977, p. 75.
15. "The Polynesian". The Polynesian. 16 April 1859. Retrieved 30 June 2013.

Further reading

• Bulletin de la Société des Études Océaniennes, Issues 200-211. Société des Études Océaniennes. 1977.
• Cuzent, Gilbert (1860). Îles de la société Tahiti. Impr. Thèze.
• Dodd, Edward (1983). The Rape of Tahiti. Dodd, Mead & Company.
• Fayaud, Viviane (2006). "History Australia" 3. Monash University Publishing: 12.1–12.6. |chapter= ignored (help)
• Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons (1843). "Correspondence Relative to the Proceedings of the French at Tahiti, 1825–1843.". Accounts and Papers. London: T. R. Harrison. pp. 265–292.
• Henry, Teuira; Orsmond, John Muggridge (1928). Ancient Tahiti 48. Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.
• London Missionary Society (1845). The Juvenile Missionary Magazine (and Annual) 2. London: London Missionary Society.
• London Missionary Society (1846). The Juvenile Missionary Magazine (and Annual) 3. London: London Missionary Society.
• Lucett, Edward (1851). Rovings in the Pacific, from 1837 to 1849: with a glance at California 2. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.
• Mortimer, Favell Lee (1838). The Night of Toil: or, A Familiar Account of the Labors of the First Missionaries in the South Sea Islands (1 ed.).
• Mortimer, Favell Lee (1869). The Night of Toil: or, A Familiar Account of the Labors of the First Missionaries in the South Sea Islands (6 ed.). Hatchard and Company.
• Newbury, Colin (1986). "Commissioner George Brown at Tahiti, 1843". Hawaiian Journal of History (Hawaiian Historical Society) 20: 83–104. hdl:10524/470. delete character in |id= at position 53 (help)
• Pritchard, George (1983). The Aggressions of the French at Tahiti: And Other Islands in the Pacific. Oxford University Press.
• Pritchard, George; Pomare (queen of Tahiti.) (1878). Queen Pomare and Her Country.
• Ward, Adolphus William; Gooch, George Peabody (1922). The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy 2. CUP Archive. pp. 182–185.

Succession