page_title: Vaitahu
hierarchical_section_title: Vaitahu
caption_attribution_description: English: closeup of Madonna and child stained glass in Catholic church, Vaitahu, Tahuata, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia Français&#160;: Détail d'un vitrail de l'église catholique de Vaitahu, ile de Tahuata, archipel des Marquises, Polynésie Française.
context_page_description: Vaitahu is the name of a bay and valley in western Tahuata. It is the site of most important village on that island.
  Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña landed here on 21 July 1595 and named the town Madre de Dios. In 1774, Captain James Cook landed here, and it was here that Admiral Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars signed the treaty of annexation of the Marquesas to France, in 1842.
  The first Christian missionaries in the Marquesas Islands settled there in 1797, first Protestants who arrived on the ship Duff, and later, Roman Catholics. The Catholic church, decorated with magnificent stained glass windows, is the most imposing structure in the small village.
context_section_description: Vaitahu is the name of a bay and valley in western Tahuata.  It is the site of most important village on that island.
  Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña landed here on 21 July 1595 and named the town Madre de Dios (God's Mother in Spanish).  In 1774, Captain James Cook landed here, and it was here that Admiral Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars signed the treaty of annexation of the Marquesas to France, in 1842.
  The first Christian missionaries in the Marquesas Islands settled there in 1797, first Protestants who arrived on the ship Duff, and later, Roman Catholics.  The Catholic church, decorated with magnificent stained glass windows, is the most imposing structure in the small village.
caption: Detail of stained glass, Vaitahu church.
   Image courtesy of Mark Reed
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-ZS1", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.2", "Image DateTime": "2011:04:26 13:41:19", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "634", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D2": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D3": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "10740", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9039", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:04:26 13:41:19", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:04:26 13:41:19", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "299/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "10168", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "328", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}