page_title: Kingdom of Tahiti
section_title: Pomare II
hierarchical_section_title: Kingdom of Tahiti / History / Consolidation / Pomare II
caption_attribution_description: English: Pōmare II, King of Tahiti (c. 1774 - 7 December 1821).
context_page_description: The Kingdom of Tahiti was a monarchy founded by paramount chief Pōmare I, who, with the aid of English missionaries and traders, and European weaponry, unified the islands of Tahiti, Moʻorea, Tetiaroa, Mehetia and at its peak included the Tuamotus, Tubuai, Raivavae and other islands of eastern Polynesia. Its leaders were Christian following the baptism of Pomare II. Its progressive rise and recognition by Europeans allowed Tahiti to remain free from a planned Spanish colonization as well as English and earlier French claims to the islands. The Kingdom was one of a number of independent Polynesian states in Oceania, alongside Raiatea, Huahine, Bora Bora, Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Rarotonga and Niue in the 19th century. The Kingdom is known for bringing a period of peace and cultural and economic prosperity to the islands over the reign of the five Tahitian monarchs.
  Tahiti and its dependencies were made a French protectorate in 1842 and largely annexed as a colony of France in 1880. The monarchy was abolished by France shortly thereafter, though there are still pretenders.
context_section_description: Pōmare II, King of Tahiti (1774 – 7 December 1821) was the second king of Tahiti between 1782 and 1821. He was installed by his father Pōmare I at Tarahoi, 13 February 1791. He ruled under regency from 1782 to 1803.
  Initially recognised as supreme sovereign and Ariʻi-maro-ʻura by the ruler of Huahine, he was subsequently forced to take refuge in Moʻorea 22 December 1808, but returned and defeated his enemies at the Battle of Te Feipī. He was thereafter recognized as undisputed King of Tahiti, Moʻorea and its dependencies.
  Other chieftains on Tahiti became fed up with what they saw as Pomare's pretensions of power, and in 1808 they drove him from Tahiti to the nearby island of Eimeo (Moorea). These other chieftains hostile towards the missionaries, which caused the missionaries to leave Tahiti for other islands.
  Pomare organized military support from his kinsmen on the islands of Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Warring resumed, with Pomare winning the decisive Battle of Te Fe’i Pī, on 12 November 1815. His victory was a victory also for the Christians. And, in victory Pomare surprised the Tahitians. He pardoned all who laid down their weapons. When defeated warriors returned from the hills, they found their homes had not been set afire and that their wives and children had not been slaughtered. The warfare culture of the islanders had been changed by the influence that the missionaries had on Pomare II.
  Centralized authority among chiefs was not traditional in Tahiti, but the missionaries welcomed Pomare's new power. Distress from disease, civil war and death won for them serious attention to their teachings. They launched a campaign to teach the islanders to read, so they could read scripture. There were mass conversions in hope of the supernatural protections that Christianity offered. The missionaries told the islanders how to dress. The climate was suitable to exposing the skin to the greater cool of open air, but for the missionaries cool was no consideration. Little clothing for them was indecent exposure.
  Another lifestyle promoted by the missionaries was manufacturing, the missionaries setting up a sugar refinery and a textile factory. In 1817, Tahiti acquired its first printing press, and, in 1819, cotton, sugar and coffee crops were planted.
  Pomare II asked the missionaries for advice on laws, and the missionaries, being monarchists and wanting Pomare to be a proper monarch, advised him that the laws would have to be his, not theirs. They did make suggestions, however, and in September 1819, Pomare produced Tahiti's first written law. There was protection of life and property, observance of Sabbath, a sanctification of marriage and a judiciary to maintain the laws.
  Pōmare was married to Queen Tetua-nui Taro-vahine.
  He was baptised 16 May 1819 at the Royal Chapel, Papeʻete. Three London Missionary Society missionaries, Henry Bicknell, William Henry, and Charles Wilson preached at the baptism of King Pomare II.
  Pomare died of drink-related causes at Motu Uta, Papeete, 7 December 1821. Pomare II died in 1824 at the age of forty-two, leaving behind an eight-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son. The son, Teriʻi-ta-ria and Pōmare III, ruled in name from 1821 to 1827 while being educated by the missionaries. He died in 1827 of an unknown disease, and the daughter, then eleven, became Queen Pōmare IV.
caption: King Pomare II
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