This session and the next focus on the return to the Pacific of Polynesians who traveled with Europeans. What did they learn during their stay in Paris, London or Lima ? Is this experience a resource or an embarrassment ? Were they prepared for what lay ahead ?
Several observers were highly critical of the lack of any real education given to Ahutoru and Mai during the long months they spent in Europe. President de Brosses deplored the lack of determination on the part of the monarchy, which, instead of taking advantage of Ahutoru to further explore Polynesia and establish French interests in Tahiti, contented itself with showing him the Parisian spectacles before sending him back under hazardous conditions. Similarly, Georg Forster severely criticizes the lack of preparation for Mai's return trip, when he could have been " the benefactor and legislator " of his compatriots. The language of utility and progress, characteristic of the Enlightenment, is accompanied by a condescending discourse in which Europeans must guide other peoples along the path of civilization.
In a second time, we follow the tragic fate of Ahutoru, who sets sail in March 1770 for the island of France, aboard a merchant ship. From there, following the instructions of the Minister of the Navy, the Duc de Choiseul, an expedition was to be organized to bring him back to Tahiti. But a series of difficulties arose, and Ahutoru spent a year on the Île de France, under the responsibility of Intendant Pierre Poivre, at a time when the island was becoming a key element of French colonial policy in the Indian Ocean, with Poivre's ambition to transform it into a spice island. We discuss the debates sparked by Richard Grove's dissertation on Poivre's action in making the Isle of France a laboratory for the first environmental policies. Another protagonist of this story is Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, who spent two years on the Île de France, where he later set his best-selling novel Paul et Virginie. Bernardin met Ahutoru several times and left a record of his time on the island, where he discovered slavery and the plantation economy.
In the fall of 1771, Ahutoru finally embarked with Marion-Dufresne, whose mission was to take him back to Tahiti and bring back spice plants to the Isle of France. He did neither. A victim of smallpox, Ahutoru fell ill on departure and died on November 6 , three years and a half after leaving his island. A few months later, Marion-Dufresne was killed by Maori warriors in New Zealand.