Papeete

Papeete is the capital of French Polynesia, an overseas country of France in the Pacific Ocean. The commune (municipality) of Papeete is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands, of which Papeete is the administrative capital. The French High Commissioner also resides in Papeete. It is the primary center of Tahitian and French Polynesian public and private governmental, commercial, industrial and financial services, the hub of French Polynesian tourism and a commonly used port of call. The Windward Islands are themselves part of the Society Islands. The name Papeete means "water from a basket".

Papeete in Worldwar
Papeete was the capital of French Polynesia. After the Peace of Cairo in 1944, virtually all of France's empire had been annexed by the either the Germans, Japanese and the Race, reducing Free France to the islands of French Polynesia. This resulted in Papeete becoming the capital of Free France.

In 1963, Ginger smuggler Rance Auerbach fled South Africa to Tahiti and took up residence in the town. To him, the place felt like it didn't quite know what to make of itself. Parts were still the sleepy, languorous backwater it had been before the Race arrived, while the rest had evolved into its purpose as a national capital after Free France based it's headquarters there.