|
Papeete |
|
| Papeete waterfront | |
| Location of the commune (in red) within the Windward Islands | |
| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Overseas collectivity | French Polynesia |
| Administrative subdivision | Windward Islands (administrative capital) |
| Mayor | Michel Buillard (1995–present) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 0–621 m (0–2,037 ft) |
| Land area | 17.4 km2 (6.7 sq mi) |
| Population1 | 26,017 (August 2007 census) |
| - Density | 1,495 /km2 (3,870 /sq mi) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 98735/ 98714 |
| 1 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Papeete (pronounced [papeˈʔete]) is the capital of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the Pacific Ocean. The commune (municipality) of Papeete is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands, of which Papeete is the administrative capital. The French High Commissioner also resides in Papeete.[1] It is the primary center of Tahitian and French Polynesian public and private governmental, commercial, industrial and financial services, the hub of French Polynesian tourism and a commonly used Port of call.[1] The Windward Islands are themselves part of the Society Islands. The name Papeete means "water from a basket".[2]
The urban area of Papeete had a total population of 131,695 inhabitants at the August 2007 census, 26,017 of whom lived in the commune of Papeete proper.[3]
Contents |
The growth of the city was boosted by the decision to move the nuclear weapon test range from Algeria to the atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa, some 1,500 km (930 mi) at the east of Tahiti; this originated in particular in the construction of the Faa'a airport next to Pape'ete, the only international airport in French Polynesia. In 1983, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints built the Papeete Tahiti Temple here because of the large number of members in the region. On 5 September 1995 the government of Jacques Chirac conducted the first of the last series of nuclear test detonations off the shores of Moruroa. A resulting riot in Papeete lasted for two days and damaged the international airport, injured 40 people, and scared away tourism for some time.[4][5] (Similar rioting occurred after another French nuclear test in the same area in 1987.)
There are very busy streets in the town center. Sometimes traffic can be a problem since the streets are too small. There is a freeway that starts close to the town center and it starts with a street named Pomare Boulevard after the settlers that came there. By air, the people would use the Faaa International Airport. From there they could either take Air Tahiti to go to another island of the territory or take a plane like Air Tahiti Nui to go international. By sea, they would either take Moorea ferries to go to Moorea or the Bora Bora cruisline to go to Bora Bora.
The urban area of Papeete had a total population of 131,695 inhabitants at the August 2007 census, 26,017 of whom lived in the commune of Papeete. Faaa, the largest commune in French Polynesia, is located just to the south. The commune of Papeete is subdivided into eleven quartiers (wards):[6][7][8]
Traveling tourists arrive and depart Papeete via cruise ship at Papeete Harbor or domestic airline at Faa'a International Airport, which was completed and opened in 1962.
Papeete features a tropical monsoon climate with a wet season and dry season. However, precipitation is observed even during the city's dry season. The city dry season is short, covering only the months of August and September. The rest of the year is wet, with the heaviest precipitation falling in the months of December and January. Temperatures are relatively constant throughout the course of the year, averaging around 25 degrees celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit).
| Climate data for Papeete | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 32 (89) |
32 (89) |
32 (89) |
32 (89) |
31 (87) |
30 (86) |
30 (86) |
30 (86) |
30 (86) |
31 (87) |
31 (88) |
31 (88) |
30.8 (87.5) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 22 (72) |
22 (72) |
22 (72) |
22 (72) |
21 (70) |
21 (69) |
20 (68) |
20 (68) |
21 (69) |
21 (70) |
22 (71) |
22 (72) |
21.3 (70.4) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 335 (13.2) |
292 (11.5) |
165 (6.5) |
173 (6.8) |
124 (4.9) |
81 (3.2) |
66 (2.6) |
48 (1.9) |
58 (2.3) |
86 (3.4) |
165 (6.5) |
302 (11.9) |
1,897 (74.7) |
| Source: Weatherbase [9] | |||||||||||||
Air Tahiti Nui has its head office in the Immueble Dexter in Papeete.[11]
The name Papeete is sometimes spelled Pape’ete in Tahitian, using the apostrophe (in fact a variant of it hard to differentiate from the regular apostrophe when using small fonts) to represent the glottal stop, as promoted by the Académie Tahitienne and accepted by the territorial government.[12] This apostrophe, however, is often omitted.
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||