The Spaniard Alvaro de Mendaņa was the first known European to make contact with Polynesians: In 1595 Mendaņa was sailing from Peru to the Philippines when he encountered the islands and named them Las Islas Marquesas after his patron, the viceroy of Peru.
The famous British explorer Capt. James Cook came in 1774 and wrote in his journal that the Marquesans were "the finest race ever beheld…tall and well proportioned." More frequent contact didn't occur, however, until whaling ships started calling at the Marquesas in the early 19th century. For example, the American author, Herman Melville, published his first book, Typee, in 1846 based on his earlier experiences in Nuku Hiva.
In 1842 France took possession of the island group, which has remained under French rule until the present. Sometimes the islands are called by their French name, Les Marquises. During the mid-1800s, quite a few Marquesans were carried off to South America as indentured laborers. None are known to have returned.
By the time French painter Paul Gauguin went to the Marquesas in 1901 there were as few as 1,500 Marquesans left. Gauguin spent his last two years living among them and painting in their remote islands. He is buried on Hiva Oa.
Because of their relative isolation, the Marquesas have basically languished for the past century, with little growth or economic development, although the population has rebounded somewhat.
