French Polynesia

French Polynesia is a Pacific territory where France tested 193 nuclear weapons between 1966 and 1996, exposing the Māʻohi people to radiation while denying most victims compensation. The independence movement that has organized since the 1970s frames these tests as the continuation of colonialism by other means.

Polynesian navigators settled these islands over a thousand years ago, developing the sophisticated voyaging culture that would spread across the Pacific. The 118 islands scattered across an ocean area larger than Western Europe comprise five distinct archipelagos: the Society Islands (including Tahiti), the Marquesas, the Tuamotu atolls, the Australs, and the Gambiers. Each developed distinctive traditions, though the Tahitian chiefs eventually dominated.

European contact began with Samuel Wallis in 1767, followed by Bougainville and Captain Cook. France declared a protectorate over Tahiti and the Marquesas in 1842. After three years of resistance war, Queen Pomare IV reluctantly accepted French rule in 1847. The islands were formally annexed in 1880, becoming part of France's Pacific empire. Missionaries converted the population to Christianity; French became the administrative language; traditional social structures were disrupted.

In 1963, French Polynesia was quietly removed from the UN decolonization list. The timing was not coincidental: France was preparing to relocate its nuclear testing program from the newly independent Algeria. In 1966, the first atmospheric nuclear test at Moruroa atoll began 26 years of explosions—187 detonations above and below the Pacific. The atmospheric tests (41 total, until 1974) exposed workers and nearby populations to dangerous radiation levels, contaminating food and water supplies.

The human cost continues. Studies suggest thousands developed cancers and other radiation-related illnesses. The 2010 Morin law established a compensation scheme, but of 2,846 applications, only about 400 have been approved—roughly 3% of claims. The criteria require proving direct links between specific illnesses and radiation exposure, a near-impossible burden given incomplete records and France's long denial of health effects.

Oscar Temaru founded the Polynesian Liberation Front (Tavini Huiraatira) in 1977, linking nuclear justice with the independence cause. The movement argues that nuclear testing was only possible because French Polynesia remained a colony—indigenous peoples could not have prevented tests on their own territory. The term "Māʻohi" emerged as a political claim to indigenous identity, distinct from the colonial designation "French Polynesian."

Today, tourism dominates the economy—Tahiti's iconic overwater bungalows and Bora Bora's luxury resorts attract visitors seeking paradise. The French military maintains a presence; transfer payments from Paris sustain public employment. But the 2024 Paris Olympics, which held surfing competitions in Tahiti, highlighted the contradiction: French Polynesia as tourist paradise alongside ongoing demands for nuclear justice and acknowledgment of colonial harm.

Through 2026, the territory remains in constitutional limbo—autonomous but not independent, scarred by nuclear legacy but still economically dependent on France. Recent discussions of a French "nuclear umbrella" for Europe have revived memories of what that capability cost the Māʻohi people who lived beneath the mushroom clouds.