Q 01/05

Which French painter left Europe for Tahiti in 1891 to paint scenes of island life?

A) Paul Gauguin

B) Claude Monet

C) Paul Cézanne

D) Edgar Degas

Answer · why

A) Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin sailed for Tahiti on 1 April 1891, promising to return a rich man. He never did, spending his last years in the Marquesas Islands.

Q 02/05

HMS Bounty spent five months at Tahiti collecting seedlings of which plant for the Caribbean?

A) Sugar cane

B) Breadfruit

C) Pineapple

D) Plantain

Answer · why

B) Breadfruit

Breadfruit was meant as cheap food for enslaved plantation workers. After the mutiny wrecked the first attempt, a second expedition sailed in 1791 and...

Q 03/05

Tahitian Kauli Vaast won gold at Teahupo'o, on his home island, in which 2024 Olympic sport?

A) Sailing

B) Rowing

C) Surfing

D) Diving

Answer · why

C) Surfing

Surfing was the only 2024 Olympic sport held outside mainland France, on a wave almost 16,000 km from the host city.

Q 04/05

Which star made Tetiaroa atoll his retreat after filming Mutiny on the Bounty on Tahiti?

A) Clark Gable

B) Mel Gibson

C) Anthony Hopkins

D) Marlon Brando

Answer · why

D) Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando first saw Tetiaroa while scouting locations in 1960 and built a small village there in 1970. A resort on the atoll now carries his name.

Q 05/05

James Cook sailed to Tahiti in 1769 so that astronomers could watch which planet cross the Sun?

A) Mercury

B) Venus

C) Mars

D) Jupiter

Answer · why

B) Venus

Venus crossed the Sun on 3 June 1769, and timing it from Tahiti was meant to reveal the distance between the Earth and the Sun.