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Tahiti (Winward Islands, French Polynesia): Historical flags

Last modified: 2007-02-10 by ivan sache
Keywords: tahiti | winward islands | otahiete | compass (yellow) | canton: france | pomare | laws (commodore j.) | star (white) |
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Kingdom of Tahiti, -1842

[Flag of Tahiti, 1822-1829]

Flag of the Kingdom of Tahiti, 1822-1829 - Image by Ivan Sache, 27 August 2005

King of Tahiti Pomare III introduced on 26 August 1822 a red flag with a white star in the upper hoist, which was also used on Bora-Bora, Huahine and Raiatea. This flag was in use until the red-white-red flag of equal stripes was introduced.

[Flag of Tahiti, 1829-1842]

Flag of the Kingdom of Tahiti, 1829-1842 - Image by Ivan Sache, 27 August 2005         [Flag of Tahiti, variant, 1822-1849]

Flag of the Kingdom of Tahiti and its variant, 1822-1829 - Images by Ivan Sache, 27 August 2005

Commodore J. Laws designed on 17 March 1829 for Tahiti a flag with equal horizontal stripes red-white-red, which was made official on 16 September 1829.
The Royal family used a flag with an emblem in the center, so the white stripe was wider. People used that flag too, without the Royal emblem.

Sources: The Flag Bulletin [tfb] III-2; Vexillinfo [vxf] VII/1982; Flags of Paradise chart [brt96]

Ralf Stelter & Ivan Sache, 27 August 2005

Norie and Hobbs [noh48] in 1848, as well as Steenbergen [stb62] in 1862, shows an "Otahiete" flag made of three horizontal equal stripes, red, yellow and white with a yellow compass in upper hoist on the red stripe. Otahiete is indeed an old variant name of Tahiti and the flag belongs to a rival government of the local one.

Nozomi Kariyasu, Ned Smith & Ralf Stelter, 21 January 2001

Protectorate of Tahiti, 1842-1880

[Flag of Tahiti, 1842-1843]

Flag of the Protectorate of Tahiti, 1842-1843 - Image by Ivan Sache, 27 August 2005

After the establishment of the French Protectorate, the French national flag was added to the canton of the flag of the former Kingdom of Tahiti and Queen Pomare was forced to abandon the flag of the former Kingdom.

Sources: Flags of Paradise chart [brt96]; Saquet [saq98]

[Flag of Tahiti, 1843-1880]

Flag of the Protectorate of Tahiti, 1843-1880 - Image by Ivan Sache, 27 August 2005

According to the Flags of Paradise chart [brt96], the flag was slightly modified in 1843 by dropping the white fimbriation (thin strip) which separated the red fields of the French national flag and the former flag of the Kingdom of Tahiti in the first flag of the Protectorate.
In 1880, Tahiti became a French colony and this flag was suppressed. However, Meyers Konversations Lexicon [mkl97] missed the change and still shows the flag of the Protectorate in its 1897 release.

Ivan Sache & Gunter Zibell, 27 August 2005