French Polynesia and Tahiti

For more than 200 years, Tahiti has represented the tropical-paradise myth for Europeans, but ask almost anyone about French Polynesia and they will look at you blankly. Tahiti is, in fact, just one island in one of the five island groups that make up French Polynesia. It's the region's biggest, most famous and historically interesting island, but the glossy pictures of aqua-blue seas and palm-fringed beaches that you see in travel agents' windows are almost certainly some other French Polynesian island.

People come to French Polynesia to live it up in stylish resorts, scuba dive in lagoons teeming with tropical fish, gorge on the unique mix of French and Polynesian cuisine and, basically, experience a little French chic mixed with South Pacific charm. And why not, since French Polynesia is stunningly beautiful, but the enduring myth that it is also an unproblematic tropical paradise was clearly exposed during the riots that rocked Papeete's streets in September 1995, following the resumption of French nuclear testing at Moruroa.

Full Name: French Polynesia
Area: 5 million sq km (2,000,000 sq mi). Land area: 3500 sq km (1370 sq mi)
Population: 220,000 (Tahiti pop: 150,000)
Capital City: Papeete
People: 83% Polynesians (Maohis), 12% Europeans, 5% Asians
Languages: Tahitian, French and English
Religion: 55% Protestant, 30% Catholic, 6% Mormon, 2% Seventh-Day Adventist, 2% Buddhist and Confucianist
Government: Overseas territory of the Republic of France
President: Gaston Flosse

GDP: US$2.8 billion (1993)
GDP per head: US$12,750 (1993)
Major Industries: Tourism, pearling
Major Trading Partners: France, USA, Japan and New Zealand