Pà Âmare IV (28 February 1813 â 17 September 1877), more properly ûAimata Pà Âmare IV Vahine-o-Punuateraûitua (otherwise known as ûAimata â "eye-eater", after an old custom of the ruler to eat the eye of the defeated foe), was the Queen of Tahiti between 1827 and 1877. She was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Tahiti.
Pà Âmare was the daughter of Pà Âmare II and Teriûitoûoterai Tere-moe-moe, his second wife. Her grandfather was Pà Âmare I.
She succeeded as ruler of Tahiti after the death of her brother PÃ Âmare III when she was only 14 years old.
In 1843, the French declared Tahiti a French protectorate and installed a governor at Papeete. She fought in vain against French intervention, writing to the King Louis Philippe I of France and Queen Victoria, asking in vain for British intervention, and exiling herself to Raiatea in protest. What followed was the bloody French-Tahitian War which lasted from 1843 to 1847, involving every kingdom of the Society Islands. The Tahitians suffered many casualties, but the French losses were also great. Although the British never assisted the Tahitians, they actively condemned France and war nearly broke between the two powers in the Pacific. These conflicts ended in the defeat of the Tahitian forces at the Fort of Fautaua. The French were victorious, but they weren't able to annex the island due to diplomatic pressure from Great Britain, so Tahiti and Moorea continued to be ruled under the French protectorate. A clause to the war settlement was that Queen PÃ Âmare's allies in Huahine, Raiatea, and Bora Bora would be allowed to remain independent.
Pà Âmare IV eventually relented and ruled under the French administration from 1847 until 1877. She attempted to install her children in positions of power in Tahiti and the Leeward Islands. Three of her children were to become monarchs in their own right: King Pà Âmare V of Tahiti (r. 1877âÂÂ1880), Queen Teriûimaevarua II of Bora Bora (r. 1860âÂÂ1873), King Tamatoa V of Raiatea-Tahaa (r. 1857âÂÂ1871).
Pà Âmare IV died on 17 September 1877. She is buried in the Royal Mausoleum, Papaûoa, ûArue. She was succeeded by Pà Âmare V, who reigned 1877âÂÂ1880.
In December 1822, PÃ Âmare married the future King Tapoa II of Taha'a and Bora Bora. In 1830, Tahiti was visited by HMS Seringapatam, and her captain William Waldegrave noted in his diary with some surprise that PÃ Âmare was then sixteen years old and married but had no children. The marriage remained childless and ended with the Queen repudiating it on the ground that Tapoa was sterile.
On 5 December 1832, Pà Âmare was married again, this time to her first cousin, Tenaniûa Ariûifaûaite a Hiro (10 January 1820 â 6 August 1873). By her second husband, she had issue: