An in-depth look at the European discovery of the South Pacific island of Tahiti and all the ideas it came to represent in European minds regarding sexuality, the exotic, and the nobility of the so-called savages; also examines Tahitian attitudes toward the visitors and the impact of their interactions with each other.
Romance and the islands have gone hand-in-hand since the bare-breasted young women of Tahiti gave a rousing welcome to the 18th-century European adventurers who discovered the island. It was not just a tropical port of call that Captain Wallis and his men found, but their tales of golden girls and a majestic island queen became a foundation stone of the Romantic Movement, an enduring inspiration for writers, artists, filmmakers ... mutineers. Joan Druett follows up her prize-winning biography of the remarkable priestly navigator, Tupaia, by bringing this extraordinary story to life.