Lau Islands
Encyclopedia
The Lau Islands of Fiji
are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean
, just east of the Koro Sea
. Of this chain of about one hundred islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited. The Lau Group covers a land area of 188 square miles (487 square km), and had a population of 10,683 at the most recent census
in 2007. While most of the northern Lau Group are high island
s of volcanic origin, those of the south are mostly carbonate
low island
s.
Administratively the islands belong to Lau Province
.
The British
explorer James Cook
reached Vatoa
in 1774. By the time of the discovery of the Ono Group in 1820, the Lau archipelago was the most mapped area of Fiji.
Political unity came late to the Lau Islands. Historically, they comprised three territories: the Northern Lau Islands, the Southern Lau Islands, and the Moala Islands
. Around 1855, the renegade Tonga
n prince Enele Ma'afu
conquered the region and established a unified administration. Calling himself the Tui Lau
, or King of Lau, he promulgated a constitution
and encouraged the establishment of Christian missions. The first missionaries had arrived at Lakeba
in 1830, but had been expelled. The Tui Nayau
, who had been the nominal overlord of the Lau Islands, became subject to Ma'afu.
The Tui Nayau
and Tui Lau
titles came into personal union
in 1973, when Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
, who had already been installed as Tui Nayau in 1969, was also installed as Tui Lau. He had inherited the former title from his father, Tevita Uluilakeba III
; the latter title had been left vacant from his cousin, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna
, in 1958.
The Northern Lau Islands, which extended as far south as Tuvuca
, were under the overlordship of Taveuni
and paid tribute
to the Tui Cakau
(Paramount Chief of Cakaudrove
). In 1855, however, Ma'afu gained sovereignty over Northern Lau, establishing Lomaloma
, on Vanua Balavu
, as his capital.
The Southern Lau Islands extended from Ono-i-Lau
, in the far south, to as far north as Cicia
. They were the traditional fiefdom of the Tui Nayau
, but with Ma'afu's conquest in the 1850s, he became subject to Tongan supremacy.
The Moala Islands
had closer affiliation with Bau Island
and Lomaiviti
than with Lau, but Ma'afu's conquest united them with the Lau Islands. They have remained administratively a part of the Lau Province
ever since.
n Fiji
and Polynesia
n Tonga
, the Lau Islands are a meeting point of the two cultural spheres. Lauan villages remain very traditional, and the islands' inhabitants are renowned for their wood carving and masi paintings. Lakeba especially was a traditional meeting place between Tongans and Fijians. The south-east trade winds allowed sailors to travel from Tonga to Fiji, but much harder to return. The Lau Island culture became more Fijian rather than Polynesian beginning around 500 BC.http://www.hawaii.edu/oceanic/rotuma/os/schmidt/Schmidt.html However, Tongan influence can still be found in names, language, food, and architecture. Unlike the square-shaped ends characterizing most houses elsewhere in Fiji, Lauan houses tend to be rounded, following the Tonga
n practice.
Just off the island of Vanua Balavu
at Lomolomo was the Yanuyanu Island Resort, built to encourage tourism
in what has been a less accessible area of Fiji, but the small resort failed almost immediately and has been abandoned since about 2000. An airstrip and a copra
port are also located on Vanua Balavu, at Lomaloma
. There are guest houses on Vanua Balavu and on Lakeba
, the other principal island.
The Lau Islands are the centre of the game of Cricket
in Fiji. Cricket is the most popular team sport in Lau, unlike the rest of the country where Rugby
and Association Football
are preferred. The national team is invariably dominated by Lauan players.
(1920-2004), the Tui Nayau
(hereditary Paramount Chief
of the Lau Islands) and the founding father
of modern Fiji who was Prime Minister for most of the period between 1967 and 1992, and President from 1993 to 2000. Other noted Lauans include Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna
(1898-1958), who forged embryonic constitutional institutions for Fiji in the years that preceded independence, the former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase
and Attorney-General Qoriniasi Bale
. I. L. Bula who was a famous cricketer was also from the capital of Lau, Tubou, Lakeba. Recently young leaders like Roko Jonetani Waqavonovono (Pita), Roko Liwaki Uluilakeba, and Jackie Koroivulaono have risen through the ranks.
Given its small population, the Lau Islands' contribution to the leadership of Fiji has been disproportionately large.
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, just east of the Koro Sea
Koro Sea
The Koro Sea or Sea of Koro is a sea in the Pacific Ocean between Viti Levu island, Fiji to the west and the Lau Islands to the east, surrounded by the islands of the Fijian archipelago.It is named after Koro Island.- References :...
. Of this chain of about one hundred islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited. The Lau Group covers a land area of 188 square miles (487 square km), and had a population of 10,683 at the most recent census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
in 2007. While most of the northern Lau Group are high island
High island
In geology , a high island is an island of volcanic origin. The term can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, whose origin is due to sedimentation or uplifting of coral reefs.-Definition and origin:...
s of volcanic origin, those of the south are mostly carbonate
Carbonate
In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, . The name may also mean an ester of carbonic acid, an organic compound containing the carbonate group C2....
low island
Low island
A low island is, in geology , an island of coral origin. The term applies whether the island was formed as a result of sedimentation upon a coral reef or of the uplifting of such islands...
s.
Administratively the islands belong to Lau Province
Lau Province
Lau Province is one of fourteen provinces of Fiji. Its capital is at Tubou, at the southern end of the island of Lakeba. The province forms part of the country's Eastern Division , and of the Tovata Confederacy, a traditional hierarchy of chiefs from northern and eastern Fiji.Geographically it...
.
History
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
explorer James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
reached Vatoa
Vatoa
Vatoa is an outlier of Fiji's Lau Group.Vatoa was the only island of present-day Fiji visited by James Cook. The island was sighted on 2 July 1774...
in 1774. By the time of the discovery of the Ono Group in 1820, the Lau archipelago was the most mapped area of Fiji.
Political unity came late to the Lau Islands. Historically, they comprised three territories: the Northern Lau Islands, the Southern Lau Islands, and the Moala Islands
Moala Islands
The Moala Islands are a subgroup of Fiji's Lau archipelago. Its three islands are located west of the Lau Islands proper, and were historically linked more closely with Bau Island and Viti Levu than with Lau. They we unified by Ratu Sukuna to part of the Lau congregation to support traditional...
. Around 1855, the renegade Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
n prince Enele Ma'afu
Enele Ma'afu
Enele Ma'afu'otu'itonga, commonly known as Ma'afu, was a man of two kingdoms being traditionally a Tongan Prince and a self forged Fijian chief.-A Brief History:...
conquered the region and established a unified administration. Calling himself the Tui Lau
Tui Lau
Tui Lau is a Fijian chiefly title of recent history which was created during the time of Ma'afu and his conquests after Ma'afu was disclaimed as a Tongan Prince by his cousin King George Tupou I. Since the Vuanirewa consider Ma'afu as their own they therefore installed him as the 1st Tui Lau...
, or King of Lau, he promulgated a constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
and encouraged the establishment of Christian missions. The first missionaries had arrived at Lakeba
Lakeba
Lakeba is an island in Fiji's Southern Lau Archipelago; the provincial capital of Lau is located here. The island is the tenth largest in Fiji, with a land area of nearly 60 square kilometers. It is fertile and well watered, and encircled by a 29-kilometer road. Its closest neighbors are Aiwa...
in 1830, but had been expelled. The Tui Nayau
Tui Nayau
Tui Nayau is the title held by the Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands in Fiji and is synonymous with the title holders over lordship of these islands. When translated Tui Nayau means Lord of Nayau, an island north of Lakeba, the latter accepted by many to be the chiefly island in the Lauan...
, who had been the nominal overlord of the Lau Islands, became subject to Ma'afu.
The Tui Nayau
Tui Nayau
Tui Nayau is the title held by the Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands in Fiji and is synonymous with the title holders over lordship of these islands. When translated Tui Nayau means Lord of Nayau, an island north of Lakeba, the latter accepted by many to be the chiefly island in the Lauan...
and Tui Lau
Tui Lau
Tui Lau is a Fijian chiefly title of recent history which was created during the time of Ma'afu and his conquests after Ma'afu was disclaimed as a Tongan Prince by his cousin King George Tupou I. Since the Vuanirewa consider Ma'afu as their own they therefore installed him as the 1st Tui Lau...
titles came into personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
in 1973, when Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
Kamisese Mara
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG, KBE is considered the founding father of the modern nation of Fiji. He was Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992...
, who had already been installed as Tui Nayau in 1969, was also installed as Tui Lau. He had inherited the former title from his father, Tevita Uluilakeba III
Tevita Uluilakeba III
Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba III was the 12th Tui Nayau and Sau Ni Vanua of the Lau Islands. He was also the father of the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, founding father of the modern nation of Fiji....
; the latter title had been left vacant from his cousin, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna
Lala Sukuna
Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, KCMG, KBE was a Fijian chief, scholar, soldier, and statesman. He is regarded as the forerunner of the post-independence leadership of Fiji...
, in 1958.
The Northern Lau Islands, which extended as far south as Tuvuca
Tuvuca
Tuvuca is a small island off Vanua Balavu in Fiji's Lau archipelago, it is a densely wooded and inhabited island and rises 800 feet above sea level at the highest point. There is only one village on the island...
, were under the overlordship of Taveuni
Taveuni
Taveuni is the third-largest island in Fiji, after Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, with a total land area of 435 square kilometers . The cigar-shaped island, a massive shield volcano which rises from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, is situated 6.5 kilometers to the east of Vanua Levu, across the...
and paid tribute
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
to the Tui Cakau
Tui Cakau
The Tui Cakau is the Paramount Chief of Cakaudrove Province in Fiji. In Modern Fiji this chiefly title is regarded as the most senior in the Tovata Confederacy, and the third most senior in the country.-Recent history :...
(Paramount Chief of Cakaudrove
Cakaudrove
Cakaudrove is one of fourteen provinces of Fiji, and one of three based principally on the northern island of Vanua Levu, occupying the south-eastern third of the island and including the nearby islands of Taveuni, Rabi, Kioa, and numerous other islands in the Vanua Levu Group...
). In 1855, however, Ma'afu gained sovereignty over Northern Lau, establishing Lomaloma
Lomaloma
Lomaloma is a village on the Fiji island of Vanua Balavu in the Lau archipelago. It is part of the Tikina of Lomaloma which comprises 9 villages, which is further made up of 13 Yavusa which are further broken down into 42 Mataqali and 54 Tokatoka from early records first documented in 1881 by...
, on Vanua Balavu
Vanua Balavu
Vanua Balavu is the second largest island in Fiji's Lau archipelago , and the main island of the Northern Lau Group.-Geography and infrastructure:...
, as his capital.
The Southern Lau Islands extended from Ono-i-Lau
Ono-i-Lau
Ono-i-Lau is a volcanic and coral island in Fiji's Lau archipelago.One of the southernmost of the Lau Islands, it is located at 20.80° South and 178.75° East, and occupies an area of 7.9 square kilometers. It has a maximum elevation of 113 meters. It is 90 kilometers southsouthwest of Vatoa, the...
, in the far south, to as far north as Cicia
Cicia
Cicia is a Fijian island of the Lau Group. One of the Northern Lau Islands, Cicia is volcanic and is composed of raised coral. Its area is 34 km²....
. They were the traditional fiefdom of the Tui Nayau
Tui Nayau
Tui Nayau is the title held by the Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands in Fiji and is synonymous with the title holders over lordship of these islands. When translated Tui Nayau means Lord of Nayau, an island north of Lakeba, the latter accepted by many to be the chiefly island in the Lauan...
, but with Ma'afu's conquest in the 1850s, he became subject to Tongan supremacy.
The Moala Islands
Moala Islands
The Moala Islands are a subgroup of Fiji's Lau archipelago. Its three islands are located west of the Lau Islands proper, and were historically linked more closely with Bau Island and Viti Levu than with Lau. They we unified by Ratu Sukuna to part of the Lau congregation to support traditional...
had closer affiliation with Bau Island
Bau Island
Bau is a small island in Fiji, off the east coast of the main island of Viti Levu.-History:With the aid of Charlie Savage, who brought firearms to Bau Island, the Bauan people quickly established themselves as an undefeatable military force...
and Lomaiviti
Lomaiviti
The Lomaiviti archipelago of Fiji consists of seven main islands and a number of smaller ones. They cover a total area of 411 square kilometers, and had a population of 16,461 at the most recent census in 2007...
than with Lau, but Ma'afu's conquest united them with the Lau Islands. They have remained administratively a part of the Lau Province
Lau Province
Lau Province is one of fourteen provinces of Fiji. Its capital is at Tubou, at the southern end of the island of Lakeba. The province forms part of the country's Eastern Division , and of the Tovata Confederacy, a traditional hierarchy of chiefs from northern and eastern Fiji.Geographically it...
ever since.
Culture and economy
Since they lie between MelanesiaMelanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
n Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
and Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
n Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
, the Lau Islands are a meeting point of the two cultural spheres. Lauan villages remain very traditional, and the islands' inhabitants are renowned for their wood carving and masi paintings. Lakeba especially was a traditional meeting place between Tongans and Fijians. The south-east trade winds allowed sailors to travel from Tonga to Fiji, but much harder to return. The Lau Island culture became more Fijian rather than Polynesian beginning around 500 BC.http://www.hawaii.edu/oceanic/rotuma/os/schmidt/Schmidt.html However, Tongan influence can still be found in names, language, food, and architecture. Unlike the square-shaped ends characterizing most houses elsewhere in Fiji, Lauan houses tend to be rounded, following the Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
n practice.
Just off the island of Vanua Balavu
Vanua Balavu
Vanua Balavu is the second largest island in Fiji's Lau archipelago , and the main island of the Northern Lau Group.-Geography and infrastructure:...
at Lomolomo was the Yanuyanu Island Resort, built to encourage tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
in what has been a less accessible area of Fiji, but the small resort failed almost immediately and has been abandoned since about 2000. An airstrip and a copra
Copra
Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake which is mainly used as feed for livestock.-Production:...
port are also located on Vanua Balavu, at Lomaloma
Lomaloma
Lomaloma is a village on the Fiji island of Vanua Balavu in the Lau archipelago. It is part of the Tikina of Lomaloma which comprises 9 villages, which is further made up of 13 Yavusa which are further broken down into 42 Mataqali and 54 Tokatoka from early records first documented in 1881 by...
. There are guest houses on Vanua Balavu and on Lakeba
Lakeba
Lakeba is an island in Fiji's Southern Lau Archipelago; the provincial capital of Lau is located here. The island is the tenth largest in Fiji, with a land area of nearly 60 square kilometers. It is fertile and well watered, and encircled by a 29-kilometer road. Its closest neighbors are Aiwa...
, the other principal island.
The Lau Islands are the centre of the game of Cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
in Fiji. Cricket is the most popular team sport in Lau, unlike the rest of the country where Rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
and Association Football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
are preferred. The national team is invariably dominated by Lauan players.
Notable Lauans
The Lau Islands' most famous son is the late Ratu Sir Kamisese MaraKamisese Mara
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG, KBE is considered the founding father of the modern nation of Fiji. He was Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992...
(1920-2004), the Tui Nayau
Tui Nayau
Tui Nayau is the title held by the Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands in Fiji and is synonymous with the title holders over lordship of these islands. When translated Tui Nayau means Lord of Nayau, an island north of Lakeba, the latter accepted by many to be the chiefly island in the Lauan...
(hereditary Paramount Chief
Ratu
Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, Adi is used by females of chiefly rank.-Etymology:Ra is a prefix in many titles and Tu is simply "chief"...
of the Lau Islands) and the founding father
Father of the Nation
Father of the Nation is an honorific title given to a man considered the driving force behind the establishment of their country, state or nation...
of modern Fiji who was Prime Minister for most of the period between 1967 and 1992, and President from 1993 to 2000. Other noted Lauans include Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna
Lala Sukuna
Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, KCMG, KBE was a Fijian chief, scholar, soldier, and statesman. He is regarded as the forerunner of the post-independence leadership of Fiji...
(1898-1958), who forged embryonic constitutional institutions for Fiji in the years that preceded independence, the former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase
Laisenia Qarase is a Fijian political figure. He served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase joined the Interim Military Government as a financial adviser on 9 June 2000, until his appointment...
and Attorney-General Qoriniasi Bale
Qoriniasi Bale
Qoriniasi Babitu Bale is a lawyer and political leader, who has served twice as Fiji's Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, most recently from 2001 to 2006, when he was deposed in the military coup of 5 December...
. I. L. Bula who was a famous cricketer was also from the capital of Lau, Tubou, Lakeba. Recently young leaders like Roko Jonetani Waqavonovono (Pita), Roko Liwaki Uluilakeba, and Jackie Koroivulaono have risen through the ranks.
Given its small population, the Lau Islands' contribution to the leadership of Fiji has been disproportionately large.
Further reading
- Lau Islands, Fiji, By A.M HocartArthur Maurice HocartArthur Maurice Hocart was an anthropologist best known for his eccentric and often far-seeing works on Polynesia, Melanesia and Sri Lanka.-About the Man:...
, Bernice Bishop Museum Bulletin 62, 1929 - Islands, Islanders and the World: Colonial and Post-colonial Experience of Eastern Fiji. By T.P.Bayliss- Smith, Published by Cambridge University Press.
- World Atlas of Coral Reefs - Page 344, by Corinna Ravilious, Mark D. Spalding, Edmund Peter Green, World Conservation Monitoring Centre – 2001, Published by University of California Press
- Tovata I & II By AC Reid, Printed in Fiji by Oceania printers Fiji (1990)
- Cyclopedia of Lau Illustrated, Publisher Pure Blue Fiji Ltd.
- The Lau Islands (Fiji) and Their Fairy Tales and Folklore - by T[homas] R[eginald] St. Johnston, Published 1918 by The Times book co., ltd.Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized Dec 15, 2006.
External links
- Lau group (with map)
- Ethnography of the Lau Islands
- Vanua Balavu Information
- A Newspaper article with General information on Lau