French Polynesia (French: Polynésie française ,
Tahitian: Pōrīnetia Farāni),
officially the Collectivity of French Polynesia, is an overseas collectivity of
the French Republic and its
sole overseas country. It
is composed of 118 geographically dispersed islands and atolls
stretching over an expanse of more than 2,000 kilometres.
French Polynesia is divided into five groups
of islands: the Society Islands
archipelago, composed of the Windward Islands and
the Leeward Islands; the
Tuamotu Archipelago; the Gambier Islands; the Marquesas Islands; and the Austral Islands. Among its 118 islands and atolls, 67 are
inhabited. Tahiti, which is located within the Society Islands, is the
most populous island, having close to 69% of the population of French Polynesia
as of 2017. Papeete, located on Tahiti, is the capital. Although not an
integral part of its territory, Clipperton Island was administered from French Polynesia until
2007.
Following the Great Polynesian Migration, European
explorers visited the islands of French Polynesia on several occasions. Traders
and whaling ships also visited. In 1842, the French took over the islands and
established a French protectorate they called Établissements français
d'Océanie (EFO) (French
Establishments/Settlements of Oceania). In 1946, the EFO became an overseas territory
under the constitution of the French Fourth Republic,
and Polynesians were granted the right to vote through citizenship. In 1957,
the EFO were renamed French Polynesia. In 1983 French Polynesia became a member
of the Pacific Community, a
regional development organization. Since 28 March 2003, French Polynesia has
been an overseas collectivity of the French Republic under the constitutional
revision of article 74, and later gained, with law 2004-192 of 27 February
2004, an administrative autonomy, two symbolic manifestations of which are the
title of the President of French Polynesia
and its additional designation as an overseas country. Aside from Tahiti, some
other important atolls, islands, and island groups in French Polynesia are: Ahē, Bora Bora, Hiva 'Oa, Huahine, Mai'ao, Maupiti, Meheti'a, Mo'orea, Nuku Hiva, Raiatea, Taha'a, Tetiaroa, Tupua'i and Tūpai.
French Polynesia, formerly known as the French Oceania. The first postage stamps used in French
Polynesia were the general stamps of the French Colonies
from 1862. In 1882 a shortage of 25c stamps necessitated a surcharge on less-used values. Some of the surcharges also
included the name "TAHITI". Stamps inscribed "Établissements de
l’Oceanie" (French Settlements in Oceania) became available in 1892 with
the Navigation and Commerce issue.
In 1893, two kinds of overprint were applied to the remaining
stocks of regular and postage due French Colonies stamps; one
type was a slanted overprint reading "TAHITI" and the other was a
horizontal "1893 / TAHITI". For some values of stamps, very few were
left to be overprinted, and genuine overprints are quite rare.
The covers posted from Tahiti, the main island of French Polynesia on Nov 26,2015. And it reached on December 22,2015.
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