Society Islands
The Society Islands (French Îles de la Société ) are one belonging to French Polynesia archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.
In them lives a large population of French Polynesia.
Geography
The Society Islands are a tropical South Sea island of volcanic origin. They represent the most economically important of the five archipelagos of French Polynesia
They are divided into two groups:
On the main island of Tahiti, live on the 50 % of the population, there is also the capital of French Polynesia, Papeete.
The colonization of the islands is focused on the coastal regions and is getting thinner toward the mountainous center of the islands.
The individual islands
Îles du Vent
- Tahiti
- Moorea
- Tetiaroa
- Mehetia
- Maiao
Îles sous le Vent
Climate
The climate on the islands varies due to their expansion between tropical and subtropical. The heat and the extremely high humidity have created together with the fertile volcanic soil on the islands of dense rainforests. There are two seasons: a hot season, which lasts from November to March and a cooler season from April to October.
Fauna and Flora
The tropical rain forests of French Polynesia home to an abundance of rare animals and plants.
Especially for their smell scenery, the islands are known. The Tahiti Tiare, which blooms only on the Society Islands, one of the most intense odor flowers is and has been under protection.
The atolls around the islands are bewuchert with numerous corals to the cavort butterfly and clown fish. The Manta Rays are also located here.
However, it was destroyed by the nuclear tests France 1966-1968 some of the underwater world of French Polynesia.
History
The records of the Society Islands begin when Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 discovered the Tuamotu Archipelago.
In June 1767, the archipelago is detected and recorded by Samuel Wallis. This identifies the main island, now known as Tahiti, according to the principal and sponsor his circumnavigation. From then on, the island was called King George Iceland. In April 1768 Louis Antoine de Bougainville reached the Society Islands, ignorant that he encounters an already discovered archipelago.
Be reliably mapped the islands in 1777 by James Cook. The island group was not, as is often claimed, named in honor of the Royal Society, but because of the arrangement of the islands into a " society" (English " society" ). In 1843 the colonization begins by France.