The area was first settled by early Polynesians during the 4th
century. Many more people arrived on canoes and the population had grown. The early
Polynesians had made houses out of grass. They also hunted fish with spears and
sticks. The Tahitians lost the French Tahitian War making Tahiti and all
the other islands belong to France. During the California Gold Rush, people
left Vaitape and went looking for gold. The only way to go to California at
that time time was by ship. By the 1900s the population of the area had grown
and during World War II it served as a military supply base, and an oil depot,
