The coconut palm was introduced into the Pacific Ocean from of Southeast Asia there is hundreds of years (Lepofsky et al., 1992). 
The Polynesians have selected coconut trees suited to different uses, including successively introducing these new coconut trees on islands. They contributed to the creation of many varieties which morphological diversity is spectacular. The coconut has become part of the lifestyle of the Polynesians. Figure 2 shows a picture of the variability at the global level for the coconut fruit.
From 1870 to 1930, following the international market development of copra, the number of coconut trees planted in Polynesia French has been multiplied by a factor very high, probably about 80 to 100 (Guerin, personal communication). On coral soil, planting of coconut trees was conducted at the end of the century and renewed in part the result of major hurricanes of 1903 and 1906. In the high islands, an inland valley coconut grove was planted after the First World War.
Over the last two centuries, the Polynesian population has declined sharply, which inevitably led to a loss of traditional knowledge (Juventin, 2003). Changes socio-economic brutal affected Polynesia during the twentieth century were then exacerbated this loss of traditional knowledge. Regarding the coconut varieties that had been painstakingly selected over millennia by the Polynesians (Henry, 1928) were gradually diluted by the mass of coconut trees selected and used mainly to produce copra. The successive cyclones, especially during the 1980s, also strongly affected the coconut (Dupon, 1987).
The Polynesians have selected coconut trees suited to different uses, including successively introducing these new coconut trees on islands. They contributed to the creation of many varieties which morphological diversity is spectacular. The coconut has become part of the lifestyle of the Polynesians. Figure 2 shows a picture of the variability at the global level for the coconut fruit. From 1870 to 1930, following the international market development of copra, the number of coconut trees planted in Polynesia French has been multiplied by a factor very high, probably about 80 to 100 (Guerin, personal communication). On coral soil, planting of coconut trees was conducted at the end of the century and renewed in part the result of major hurricanes of 1903 and 1906. In the high islands, an inland valley coconut grove was planted after the First World War.
Over the last two centuries, the Polynesian population has declined sharply, which inevitably led to a loss of traditional knowledge (Juventin, 2003). Changes socio-economic brutal affected Polynesia during the twentieth century were then exacerbated this loss of traditional knowledge. Regarding the coconut varieties that had been painstakingly selected over millennia by the Polynesians (Henry, 1928) were gradually diluted by the mass of coconut trees selected and used mainly to produce copra. The successive cyclones, especially during the 1980s, also strongly affected the coconut (Dupon, 1987).
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