Douze jours à Nuku Hiva : Rencontres et révolte russe dans le Pacifique Sud

The first Russian voyage around the world was launched at the turn of the nineteenth century in the wake of Bougainville’s, Cook’s and La Perouse’s expeditions to the Pacific. Led by the Baltic German commander Adam von Krusenstern, the expedition comprised a diverse intellectual community of savants and naturalists from Switzerland, Germany, modern day Estonia, and Russia. In May 1804, the ships Nadezhda and Neva berthed at Nuku Hiva Island in the Marquesas (French Polynesia), recording an invaluable snapshot of traditional Nuku Hivan society on the eve of profound cultural change. Twelve days later, reeling from a bitter conflict between the captains and the onboard representative of the Russian Tsar, the ships left the island laden with food, sweet water, knowledge, artefacts, scores of sketches, “a French-marquesan” and many tattoos. On their return home, they told their stories in a variety of voices, languages, genres and media which have since been scattered by wars and revolution across the archives and museums of Europe, America and Asia. The time is here to reunite Marquesans with this unique page of their history and cultural heritage. This study, for the first time in the French language, brings together these disparate stories and images. With a collection of images far vaster than that of the original 2010 English edition, along with vocabularies, data drawn from the records of the expedition members, and extensive notes by Marie-Noëlle Ottino-Garanger proving broader context, this edition is encyclopaedic in its scope.