High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Raiatea (or Ra`iatea), is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia. The island is widely regarded as the `center` of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that the organised migrations to Hawaii, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and other parts of East Polynesia started at Ra`iatea. A traditional name for the island is believed to be Havai`i.