The French navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville led the first French expedition to Tahiti in 1768, just a year before James Cook’s arrival. His expedition was motivated by a desire to claim Tahiti for France and to establish a French presence in the Pacific. Bougainville’s voyage was also the first to circumnavigate the globe, and he wrote a book about his experiences, which sparked a great deal of interest in the Pacific region.