On the 18th of June, 1767 the island of Tahiti was sighted by the British frigate HMS Dolphin. The crew found a generous and peaceful native population without envy or greed or disease. The British introduced them to all of that and more. What the British left out, the Spanish and French did not.
This is an excellent look how the "discovery" of Tahiti changed its society forever. Written by a Cambridge-educated BBC war correspondent, Tahiti reads more like a novel than an historical work. It is both uplifting, sometimes funny, and often heartbreaking. With illustrations. Tahiti: A Paradise Lost is available here on Amazon