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 French Polynesia| Facts & Figures |
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| Status: Overseas Country High Commissioner: Adolphe Colrat (2008) President: Oscar Temaru (2009) Land area: 1,413 sq mi (3,660 sq km);
total area: 1,609 sq mi (4,167 sq km) Population (2010 est.): 291,000 (growth
rate: 1.3%); birth rate: 15.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 7.4/1000;
life expectancy: 76.9 density per sq mi: 77 Capital (2003 est.): Papeete (on Tahiti),
111,400 (metro. area), 30,200 (city proper) Monetary unit: Pacific financial
community franc More Facts & Figures |
The term
French Polynesia
is applied to
the scattered French possessions in the South Pacific—Mangareva
(Gambier), Makatea, the Marquesas Islands, Rapa, Rurutu, Rimatara, the
Society Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago, Tubuai, Raivavae, and the island
of Clipperton—which were organized into a single colony in 1903.
There are 120 islands, of which 25 are uninhabited. The principal and most
populous island—Tahiti, in the Society group—was claimed by
the French in 1768. The indigenous people are mostly Maoris.
The Pacific Nuclear Test Center on the atoll of
Mururoa, 744 mi (1,200 km) from Tahiti, was completed in 1966. In 1975
worldwide opposition forced the French to move the testing underground on
Fangataufa. To compensate the residents for the nuclear weapons tests from
1995 to 1996, France offered a 10-year $194-million annual compensation
package. An independence movement continues to flourish in French
Polynesia. In 2004, France changed its status from a French Overseas
Territory to an Overseas Country, which gave French Polynesia more
autonomy over local affairs.
Due to a steady stream of shifting alliances and parliamentary motions of no-confidence, more than a dozen governments have come and gone during the period 2004 to 2011. The most recent, in April 2011, conducted in the face of pending legislation from France meant to stabilize the country's political situation, resulted in a no-confidence vote against the government of President Gaston Tong Sang. Oscar Temaru immediately became the new president.
See also
Encyclopedia:
French Polynesia
.
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