Bora Bora is a volcanic
island of French Polynesia located in the southern Pacific, about
260 km northwest of Tahiti (45 minutes with Air Tahiti).
Discovered by Roggeveen
(Dutch navigator) in 1722, Cook arrived in Bora Bora in 1769 and
named it Bora Bora (from the Tahitian "Pora Pora"),
name which means “First born”, allusion to the fact that the Taaroa
god would have immediately created it after Raiatea.
The history of Bora
Bora is marked by the wars between the various clans of the island
or against the close islands.
In 1820, the Protestant
missionaries arrive on the island and the first temple is open
in 1822. In1888, Bora Bora and all Leeward Islands were annexed
by France.
An important fact in
the contemporary history of Bora Bora is the presence between
1942 and 1946 of the American troops during the Bobcat operation.
It left on the island many vestiges like anti-aircraft batteries,
blockhouses, but especially the landing strip which was a long
time the longest of French Polynesia.
Since the opening of
the first hotel in 1961, the island did not cease developing with
constructions of hotels and their famous Overwater bungalows.
In spite of this development, the island kept its pleasant and
very quiet atmosphere.
We hope you'll have
a chance to see one day this little paradise ;-)