Papeari is a village on the south coast of Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

. It is located in Tahiti-nui district, around 32 miles from Papeete

Papeete

-Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront esplanade*Bougainville Park -Sights:* Interactive Google map of Papeete, to discover the 30 major tourist attractions in Papeete downtown.*The waterfront...

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History

Papeari is attested in some accounts as Tahiti's oldest village.

Some 19th century sources attest that Papeari was formerly known as Vaiari (or Wyere), a name attributed to an indigenous group. It houses a harbor with anchorage.

Tourist sites in and near modern Papeari include the former home of the British novelist Robert Keable

Robert Keable

Robert Keable was a British novelist, formerly a missionary and priest in the Church of England. He resigned his ministry following his experiences in the First World War and caused a scandal with his 1921 novel Simon Called Peter, the tale of a priest's wartime affair with a young nurse...

, who lived there from 1942 until his death in 1928, and a museum dedicated to the French painter Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...

, also a former resident of the area (from 1891-3).