Tahiti (the largest island in French Polynesia) is situated in the Pacific Ocean just over half way along a diagonal line from Los Angeles to New Zealand. Thought to have been settled by polynesians around the 10th century, its first contact with European seafarers was in the mid 18th century. Although not the first to arrive, Captain Cook landed there in 1769.

Those who visited Tahiti in the 1760s came back talking about an island paradise. Writers such as Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stephenson, Pierre Loti and Somerset Maugham; and artists such as Charles Giraud, John La Farge and Paul Gauguin kept the image created by the artists who accompanied Captain Cook (William Hodges and John Webber) going for 150 years; but what was it about Tahiti that was so alluring. Was it simply the time it was 'discovered' and the popularity of certain writers and artists that made Tahiti magical?  

IMAGES: A view taken in the bay of Oaite Peha, Otaheite (William Hodges, 1775) and Portrait of Omai (Joshua Reynolds). Both courtesy of the lecturer taken from Wikimedia (public domain)