11 Pasifika explorers
Europeans and their vessels were objects of great interest to people in the Pacific. Throughout Polynesia, islanders quickly recognised the value of Europeans’ metal tools and sought to exploit their ocean-going prowess. Ahutoru (a Tahitian) reached France in 1769, courtesy of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville’s expedition. He was the first Tahitian explorer to set off for Europe, but not the last. Other Tahitians, quickly followed by people from other island groups, seized early opportunities to travel on European vessels. As European voyages to the Pacific increased in number and frequency, Pasifika began to travel widely and to exploit new opportunities for employment, and for adventure.
When Europeans arrived in Oceania they encountered societies with strong cultures of voyaging and exploration. The islands of the Pacific were peopled because islanders were skilled navigators who both travelled between the island groups of central Polynesia and undertook adventurous voyages into previously unknown regions. Voyaging to the far corners of Polynesia—Hawai’i, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Aotearoa (New Zealand)—no longer occurred by the time of European arrival in Oceania, but Polynesian vessels were capable of reliably covering enormous distances. When European vessels began to call at Pacific Islands, they represented a new means of travel, but not a new relationship with voyaging.
Ahutoru was the first Tahitian to reach Europe and remained in France for a year. He enjoyed his time there, feted as an intriguing and attractive exotic specimen, but died during the voyage meant to return him to Tahiti. The second Tahitian to set off for Europe was Tupaia, accompanied by his servant Taiata. Tupaia was a priest and navigator who played an important role in the Endeavour’s voyage in the Pacific, but neither Tupaia nor Taiata survived the voyage to Europe. The third attempt by Tahitians to voyage to Europe resulted in a successful return voyage by Mai. While Cook did not consider Mai to be the intellectual equal of Tupaia, he was handsome and caused a sensation on his arrival in England in 1774. Mai returned to Tahiti in 1777.
Early travel by Tahitians to Europe fitted with the cultural expectations of both parties. The Pacific has strong traditions of travel; Europeans have a long history of curiosity about people from elsewhere, and a history of importing humans as curiosities for examination and public show. The experiences of the first Tahitians to reach Europe were enjoyable: they were feted and treated well, and at the conclusion of their time in Europe efforts were made to return them home. This was not the experience of all ‘human specimens’, and while the Tahitians travelled willingly, other travellers to Europe had been kidnapped, deceived, or otherwise exhibited without full consent. Indigenous peoples from the Pacific, and then from Australia, continued to be of interest to European audiences, but the hospitality accorded