Vaitahu

Detail of stained glass, Vaitahu church.
Image courtesy of Mark Reed

Vaitahu is the name of a bay and valley in western Tahuata. It is the site of most important village on that island.

Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña landed here on 21 July 1595 and named the town Madre de Dios (God's Mother in Spanish). In 1774, Captain James Cook landed here, and it was here that Admiral Dupetit-Thouars signed the treaty of annexation of the Marquesas to France, in 1842.

The first Christian missionaries in the Marquesas Islands settled there in 1797, first Protestants and later, Roman Catholics. The Catholic church, decorated with magnificent stained glass windows, is the most imposing structure in the small village.

See also

• French Polynesia
• Marquesas Islands