These islands were first discovered by the Portuguese in 1607, then by the English in 1767 and the next year by Louis Antoine de Bougainville of France.  One year later James Cook arrived and named the islands the Society Islands after the Royal Society of London.  Each of these groups brought missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant to "save" the natives of Tahiti, whom the colonists viewed as savages.  The establishment of these missions caused many conflicts, so the Queen of Tahiti asked France to place the islands under its protection, where they have remained ever since.  They are now a French overseas territory (DOM) and, although lying thousands of miles away from Europe, they are officially part of France.

The person who made Tahiti the most famous was the French impressionist artist Paul Gauguin.  He was originally a banker from Paris.  One day Gauguin decided that he had had enough of banking so he left his wife and children and eventually went to Tahiti.  His paintings have left us with a lasting vision of life in Tahiti.  Using bright, happy colours, he painted scenes of the lush, green, tropical countryside and the beautiful natives of the islands.  Paul Gauguin died many years ago but the beauty of Tahiti lives on in his artwork.