Papeete (pronounced [pa.pe.ʔe.te]) is the capital of French Polynesia, an overseas country of France in the Pacific Ocean. The commune (municipality) of Papeete is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands, of which Papeete is the administrative capital. The French High Commissioner also resides in Papeete. It is the primary center of Tahitian and French Polynesian public and private governmental, commercial, industrial and financial services, the hub of French Polynesian tourism and a commonly used port of call. The Windward Islands are themselves part of the Society Islands. The name Papeete means "water from a basket".
The urban area of Papeete had a total population of 133,627 inhabitants at the August 2012 census, 25,769 of whom lived in the commune of Papeete proper.
The commune of Papeete is subdivided into eleven quartiers (wards):
The Papeete was a schooner built in 1891 by Matthew Turner, a San Francisco Bay Area shipbuilder who had extensive business interests in Tahiti. The ship was known for a fast passage from San Francisco to Tahiti of 17 days.
She was built to serve in the packet trade, as was the similarly named barquentine City of Papeete.
Schooner Papeete was still afloat in 1929.
I woke up one morning heard a robin's song.
I asked that robin "Why do you sing?"
"It was a voice whose rhymes are worlds
That made my song for me
How could I not sing?"
I woke up on morning heard a robins song
I asked that robin "Who made your throat?"
"That same hand that flies a million dawns
Made my tiny throat and wrote my songs
How could I not sing?"
I built an arbor and I asked the vine
"How come you grow so tall?"
"If I can make it above the wall
That same hand that holds out hope for all
Will gild me in the morning sky
And though I cannot sing
That hand a gentle wind will bring
And make a rustling lullaby
For milky sleeping babes
How could I not grow?"
I woke up one morning and I asked the sky
"How can you bear such emptiness?"
"For that bright eye that looks out and smiles
And makes my night her day
What would I not bear?"
I woke up one morning and I heard her voice
She called me by my name
What would I not give
To be called her child
What would I not give
To be called her friend
I'm gonna wake up one morning I'm gonna see her face
Smiling down on me
That robin's song and that morning sky
Are all the hope I need
I don't know how and I don't know why
But I'm gonna wake up one morning and I'll see her face
Smiling Down on me
I'm gonna wake up one morning
I'm gonna wake up one morning