Description
Liberty on Throne 2 Francs & Tahiti Beach, Outrigger Canoe, Sailboat French Polynesia Authentic Coin (South Pacific Island) 1965 (Marquesas) Obverse: Liberty sitting on throne, facing left holding lit torch in left hand. Assorted fruit in a cornucopia in bend of right arm. Lettering: REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE Reverse: Palm trees on left, sea with sailboat in middle, mountains in distance. Boat with outrigger in foreground, plus assorted fruit in container. Lettering: POLYNESIE 2 F. FRANÇAISE Features IssuerFrench Polynesia PeriodFrench Polynesia › French overseas territory (1957-2003) TypeStandard circulation coin Year1965 Value2 Francs 2 XPF = USD 0.019 CurrencyCFP Franc (1945-date) CompositionAluminium Weight2.2 g Diameter27 mm Thickness1.7 mm ShapeRound TechniqueMilled OrientationCoin alignment ↑↓ NumberN# 3744 ReferencesKM# 3, Schön# 7 Wikipedia: French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France & its sole overseas country. It comprises 118 geographically dispersed islands & atolls stretching over more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) in the South Pacific Ocean. The total land area of French Polynesia is 4,167 square kilometres (1,609 sq mi). French Polynesia is divided into five groups of islands: the Society Islands archipelago, comprising the Windward Islands & the Leeward Islands; the Tuamotu Archipelago; the Gambier Islands; the Marquesas Islands; & the Austral Islands. Among its 118 islands & atolls, 67 are inhabited. Tahiti, which is in the Society Islands group, is the most populous island, being home to nearly 69% of the population of French Polynesia as of 2017. Papeete, located on Tahiti, is the capital of French Polynesia. Although not an integral part of its territory, Clipperton Island was administered from French Polynesia until 2007. The legal tender of French Polynesia is the CFP franc which has a fixed exchange rate with the euro. Early settling of Tahiti The first Tahitians arrived from Western Polynesia sometime around 1000 AD, after a long migration from South East Asia or Indonesia, via the Fijian, Samoan & Tongan Archipelagos. This hypothesis of an emigration from Southeast Asia is supported by a range of linguistic, biological & archaeological evidence. For example, the languages of Fiji & Polynesia all belong to the same Oceanic sub-group, Fijian-Polynesian, which itself forms part of the great family of the Austronesian languages. This emigration, across several hundred kilometres of ocean, was made possible by using outrigger canoes that were up to twenty or thirty meters long & could transport families as well as domestic animals. in 1769, for instance, James Cook mentions a great traditional ship (va'a) in Tahiti that was 33 m (108 ft) long, & could be propelled by sail or paddles. in 2010, an expedition on a simple outrigger canoe with a sail retraced the route back from Tahiti to Asia. Landings of the whalers in the 1790s, whalers began landing at Tahiti during their fishing expeditions in the southern
