Tahiti: Did you mean...?

Elizabeth I reigned as queen of England from 1558 to 1603. Her 44-year reign was so long and packed with momentous events that the second half of the 16th century is now known as the Elizabethan era and still regarded as a 'Golden Age' for...

The 1588 Spanish Armada was a fleet of 132 ships assembled by King Philip II of Spain (r. 1556-1598) to invade England, his 'Enterprise of England'. The Royal Navy of Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603) met the Armada in the English Channel...

Herman Melville (1819-1891) was a 19th-century American author of novels, short stories and poetry. He is best known for his novel Moby Dick, published in 1851, and his short stories Bartleby the Scrivner and Billy Budd, Sailor. Despite his...

The Maori people of Aotearoa (New Zealand) have long observed the heliacal (pre-dawn) rising of the star cluster commonly known throughout the world as Pleiades or Messier 45 (M45), located in the constellation of Taurus. Matariki is the...

This painting is of Tahitians in a canoe and was done by Henry Byam Martin, a ship captain who visited Tahiti in the mid-1800s CE. Martin was a captain in the British Navy who painted and drew during his travels. This picture was painted...

The French exploration of New Zealand has been overshadowed by the achievements of British navigator Captain James Cook (1728-1779), but French navigators who visited Aotearoa's (New Zealand) shores named over 100 geographical places and...

In this gallery, we showcase 30 paintings by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), the French post-impressionist artist who made such an impact on modern art from the late 19th century. The selection here is presented in chronological sequence to show...

An 1892 oil on canvas, When Will You Marry? (Nafea Faa Ipoipo), by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) the French post-impressionist painter. Painted in Tahiti, the artist obviously valued this work highly since he set it as the most expensive in his...

Austronesian sail types: A: Double sprit (Sri Lanka) B: Common sprit (Philippines) C: Oceanic sprit (Tahiti) D: Oceanic sprit (Marquesas) E: Oceanic sprit (Philippines) F: Crane sprit (Marshall Islands) G: Rectangular boom lug...

A c. 1893 oil on canvas, Anna the Javanese (aka Aita Tamari Vahine Judith te Parari), by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) the French post-impressionist painter. Anna was Gauguin's mistress when he returned to Paris from Tahiti in 1893. Anna had a...