Mahina

Māhina is a commune in the north of Tahiti in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. Māhina is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands, themselves part of the Society Islands. Māhina is the 5th most populous commune in French Polynesia with a population of 14,623 (2022 census), in an area of 52 km2. Mount Orohena is a nearby mountain.

== History == The area of Māhina was first settled by early Polynesians. Large, double-hulled canoes made out of tree trunks were used to sail across the Pacific, some vessels making it to Tahiti. In 1768, Captain James Cook was sent to Tahiti to observe the Transit of Venus. He set up his observatory in Māhina, on the black sand beach at the end of Matavai Bay, now called Pointe Vénus. He later sailed off to nearby Mo'orea and a few years later, he sailed to New Zealand and Australia. Charles Darwin had later come to Tahiti on his expedition. Don the Beachcomber had lived in Tahiti until his house was destroyed by a cyclone. The Faaʻa International Airport in Faʻaʻā was built in 1962, 16 km away from Māhina. In 2007, Air Moorea flight 1121 crashed right after take of from Faaʻa Airport on its way to Mo'orea, killing all 20 people on board.