The Tuamotu Islands – as a part of French Polynesia – have officially no own flag. It must be hoisted the French tricolor or additionally, the flag of French Polynesia. However, there exists for local purposes an unofficial flag. It shows three horizontal stripes in red, white and red (ratio: 1:1:1) and a blue vertical stripe at the leech. In the white stripe are placed two rows of eight blue five-pointed stars. They stand for the sixteen municipalities of the archipelago. The flag remembers the flag of the Kingdom of Tuamotu, which existed between 1832 and 1843. The colour sequence of red, white and red remembers Tahiti and French Polynesia. The colours blue, white and red are the colors of France, and the blue also represents the sky and the sea. The colour red is defined as Pantone 185c, and the colour blue as Pantone 286c.
Subdivisions of French Polynesia:
Landkarte/map, Source: By L. Claudel (Sardon - fr:Sardon) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons, click to enlarge
1521 · the Portugese seafarer Ferdinand Magellan discoveres the islands and visits Puka Puka and probably Fakahina and Fangatau too
1606 · the Spanish seafarer Pedro Fernández de Queirós travels through the archipelago
1616 · The Dutch seafarers Schouten and Le Maire travel through the archipelago
1722 · The Dutch seafarer Jacob Roggeveen travels through the archipelago
1765 · the British seafarers John Byron travels through the archipelago
1767 · the British seafarer Samuel Wallis travels through the archipelago, in the following years the from Tahiti coming Pomaré Dynasty can prevail – supported by United Kingdom – even on the Tuamotu Islands
1768 · the French seafarer Louis Antoine de Bougainville travels through the archipelago and names it "Dangerous Islands"
1769 · the British seafarer James Cook travels through the archipelago
1815 · the Russian seafarer Otto von Kotzebue travels through the archipelago
1818 · the islands become a French sphere of influence
1832–1843 · Kingdom of Tuamotu
1844 · France declares the Tuamotu Islands to a French Protectorate
1880 · France annexes Tahiti and also the Tuamotu Islands, they become a French colony
The today's Tuamoutu Archipelago had already many names, and some of them can still be found in some old atlases. The most famous is likely the designation "Paumotu Archipelago", but also "Low Isles" is known, "Dangerous Islands" probably less. As in 1616, the Dutchman Willem Schouten sailed through the archipelago, he named the area "Evil Sea". His compatriot Jacob Roggeveen travels in 1722 through the archipelago, and named it "Labyrinth". The Russian officer Adam Johann von Krusenstern, who probably visited this part of the world in 1767 under Commander Samuel Wallis, named the archipelago "Low Isles" (Low Archipel). One year later, the French navigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville travels through the archipelago, and named it "Dangerous Islands". "Toamotu" is a Polynesian word, composed of the words "tua" (far) and "motu" (island), and it can be translated with "Far Islands". "Paumotu" is also a Polynesian word, but composed of the words "pau" (end) and "motu" (island), and it can be translated with "Islands on the End".
