Nuku Hiva

Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands, a volcanic island cut by deep valleys and sheltered bays. Communities in the valleys maintained their own chiefs and rivalries, and voyaging connected them with other Marquesan islands. Archaeological stone platforms and ceremonial places remain evidence of their long history.

In 1791 the American Joseph Ingraham sighted the northern Marquesas, followed by the French navigator Étienne Marchand. Taiohae Bay offered an anchorage among the island’s steep coasts and drew visiting ships seeking shelter. In 1813 the American captain David Porter brought the Essex to Nuku Hiva and intervened in local warfare. Allied with the Te Iʻi and Hapaʻa, his men attacked the Tai Pī, drawing a foreign expedition into the island’s existing conflicts.