Society Archipelago

Also known as the Society’s toponymic islands, is located in the Pacific Ocean south of the equator, just under half the distance from Australia to El Salvador, Central America. Papeete, the administrative capital, is 1,147 km east-northeast of Avarua, Cook Islands, and 4,095 km east-northeast of Auckland, New Zealand. Approximately 430 km further east is the Anaa Atoll, one of the nearest islands of the Tuamotu Archipelago. The Society’s archipelago is the most populated of the five island ensembles forming French Polynesia. It is divided into two groups: the Wind Islands and the Leeward Islands. French and Tahitian are spoken there (Reo Tahiti).