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Abstract

In this article, I analyze the connection between Chile and the Society Islands from 1854 to 1862. For this purpose, I consider the study of religious and geographical aspects, which, added to essentially commercial parameters, determined the creation of the first Chilean consulate on the largest of the islands, Tahiti. Likewise, I address both the context and the problems faced by Chile during this period and examine the work of its first official consul in Papeete, Andrew Gibson. Finally, I give an account of hitherto unknown antecedents of the process and formulate new questions about Chilean-Tahitian relations.