kingdom · North America and Oceania
Kingdom of Huahine
Origins
Huahine, two islands joined by a narrow channel in the Leeward group of the Society Islands, was settled by Polynesians perhaps a thousand years ago. Around Lake Fauna Nui at Maeva, its chiefly families built one of the largest concentrations of marae in Polynesia. By the 18th century the island and nearby Maiao were ruled by a single royal line.
Rule and society
Huahine's ruling family was closely tied by marriage to the Kingdom of Tahiti; Teriitaria II, queen from 1815, was also a wife of Pōmare II. James Cook visited in 1769 and in 1777 left the traveller Mai, who had been to England, settled there. The London Missionary Society arrived in 1818 and most islanders became Protestant. Islanders lived from breadfruit, taro, fishing and provisioning ships.
Decline and legacy
In 1846 Huahine's warriors defeated French marines who tried to impose a protectorate, and the Jarnac Convention of 1847 recognised its independence. France proclaimed annexation of the Leeward Islands in 1888, completed on Huahine in 1895, and it is now part of French Polynesia.
Lineage
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Huahine. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-huahine
- MLA
- “Kingdom of Huahine.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-huahine. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Huahine.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-huahine.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Huahine’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-huahine (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻