User:KAVEBEAR/Tati the Great

Tati, born Taura atua i Patea (1773 – 1854) was a Tahitian district chief or Ari‘irahi of Papara. He became the head of the Teva clan and served as a member of the Council of Regents during the reign of King Pōmare II and the early years of Queen Pōmare IV.

He was born to High Chief Teuraiterai and High Chiefess Tetau i Ravea Teahupoo. His father Teuraiterai was the son of High Chief Manea, the ruling chief of Papara and head of the Teva clan of southern Tahiti. Manea was the brother of High Chief Amo, who along with his wife Purea were the Tahitian chiefs to receive the first European explorers to the island under Captain Samuel Wallis of HMS Dolphin. After his grandfather death, Tatit suceeded as chief of Papara.

The Teva family of Papara was considered the most influential in the island of Tahiti. At the turn of the 18th century, the Pōmare Dynasty emerged and with the assistance of the Europeans consilidated most of Tahiti under their rule. The chiefs of Papara predeccesors were allies with Pōmare I and Tati was allowed to remain an autonomous chief under his rule, although a rivalry soon develop between the two families. This rivalry came into full play when Pōmare II led a suprise attack on Papara. Tati fled for his life to the distant island of Bora Bora, leaving behind his younger brother Opuhara, who was able to defeat Pōmare in December 22, 1808 and force him off Tahiti to the island of Moorea. It would take another seven years before Pōmare II was able to regain Tahiti and defeat Opuhara at the Battle of Te Feipī in November 15, 1815.

Tati returned to Tahiti

A high chief from Papara, Tahiti, currently French Polynesia, whose authority rivaled that of the ruling Po- mare family. When Pomare II died in 1824, custom would have transferred the ruling power to Tati, however, the Christian missionaries insisted that the young Pomare III be crowned king. During the religious crisis between the Protestants and Catholics, Tati supported France's intervention in the islands to prevent anarchy, and he signed the protectorate document in 1842. He later became president of the legislative assembly under Queen Pomare IV from 1848 to 1852. He was a brilliant orator, handsome in demeanor, and highly respected among his ...

He was head of the conservative factions of Tahiti in opposition to the power of the Protestant missionaries.

He had up to five wives and numerous children. His main wife was chiefess Teraimateata Teharuru Onohi, who he had his eldest son named Tetapu-a-Ta'aroa. Tati eventually outlived his eldest son, so it was his grandaughter Ari'i Ta'ima'i (1824-1897) who would succeed him as chief of Papara and head of the Teva clan. She married Englishman Alexander Salmon and became the matriarch of the Salmon family. Ta'ima'i named her son Tati Salmon (1852-1918) in honor of his great-grandfather and he became the head of the Teva clan after her. Along with his Salmon progeny, Tati also has descendants through his other granddaughter Aromaitera'ia Tati or Teri'itaumaiterai Tepau a Fa'a, who married into the Mai chiefly family of Bora Bora. His descendants intermarried with the Pōmare Dynasty, including Queen Moe a Mai, wife of King Tamatoa V of Raiatea; and Queen Marau Taaroa, wife of Pōmare V, the last King of Tahiti.

An epidemic of measles, complicated by dysentery and pneumonia, wiped out more than eight hundred people in the island, in 1854. Tati also succumbed to the outbreak and died in his eighties.