Sighting and First European Landfall at Tahiti

While circumnavigating the globe in HMS Dolphin, Wallis's expedition sighted Tahiti on 18 June 1767. In June 1767 the expedition made the first European landfall on the island, which Wallis named "King George the Third's Island" in honour of the King. The Tahiti article describes this as the first of the European visits to the region during the period of intense Anglo-French rivalry between the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War, and perhaps the first European visit to Tahiti itself. The sighting date of 18 June 1767 is stated precisely, but the sources give the landfall only as June 1767, and a legacy record dates the visit to 17 June 1767; the discrepancy is kept explicit.