The title Tui Manua is considered the oldest chiefly title of the Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

 Islands 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...

. Tuimanua Elisala (c. 1899) was the last Tuimanua titleholder. He was the grandson of Tuimanua Alalamua whose genealogy descended from the Sa Tagaloa.

History

The Tui Manu'a

Tui Manu'a

An ancient prodominant title of the Manu'a islands of the Samoa Islands , which are now part of the United States Territory of American Samoa...

 is one of the oldest Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

n titles in Samoa. Traditional oral literature

Oral literature

Oral literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do...

 of Samoa and Manu'a talks of a widespread Polynesian

Polynesians

The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...

 network or confederacy

Confederation

A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...

 (or "empire") that was prehistorically ruled by the successive Tui Manu'a dynasties. Manuan genealogies and religious oral literature also suggest that the Tui Manu'a had long been one of the most prestigious and powerful paramounts of the Pacific. Legends suggest that the Tui Manu'a kings governed a confederacy of far-flung islands which included 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...

, Tonga, the Cook Islands

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

 as well as smaller western Pacific chiefdom

Chiefdom

A chiefdom is a political economy that organizes regional populations through a hierarchy of the chief.In anthropological theory, one model of human social development rooted in ideas of cultural evolution describes a chiefdom as a form of social organization more complex than a tribe or a band...

s and Polynesian outliers such as Uvea

Uvea

The uvea , also called the uveal layer, uveal coat, uveal tract, or vascular tunic, is the pigmented middle of the three concentric layers that make up an eye. The name is possibly a reference to its reddish-blue or almost black colour, wrinkled appearance and grape-like size and shape when...

, Futuna

Futuna Island, Wallis and Futuna

Futuna is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna. It is one of the Hoorn Islands or Îles Horne, nearby Alofi being the other...

, Tokelau

Tokelau

Tokelau is a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km2 and a population of approximately 1,400...

, and Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...

. Commerce and exchange routes between the western Polynesian societies is well documented and it is speculated that the Tui Manu'a dynasty grew through its success in obtaining control over the oceanic trade of currency goods such as finely woven ceremonial mats, whale ivory

Ivory

Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...

 "tabua

Tabua

A tabua is a polished tooth of a sperm whale that is an important cultural item in Fijian society. They were traditionally given as gifts for atonement or esteem , and were important in negotiations between rival chiefs. The dead men would be buried with their tabua, along with war clubs and even...

", obsidian

Obsidian

Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...

 and basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

 tools, chiefly red feathers, and seashells reserved for royalty (such as polished nautilus

Nautilus

Nautilus is the common name of marine creatures of cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus...

 and the egg cowry

Cowry

Cowry, also sometimes spelled cowrie, plural cowries, is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries...

).

The Tui Manu'a lineage of paramounts is unlike the standardized genealogies of the Tu'i Tonga line. There are various Tui Manu'a descent lines, many of which bear little resemblance to each other. It is common belief, however, as part of Samoan myths and legends, that the first Tui Manu'a was a direct descendant of the Samoan supreme god, Tagaloa

Tagaloa

In Samoan mythology, Tagaloa is generally accepted as the supreme ruler, the creator of the universe, the chief of all gods and the progenitor of other gods and humans. Tagaloa dwelt in space and made the Heavens , the sky, the land, the seas, the fresh water, the trees and the people...

. In Samoan lore, the islands of Manu'a (Ofu, Olosega, and Ta'u) are always the first lands to be created or drawn from the sea; consequently the Tui Manu'a is the first human ruler mentioned. This "senior" ranking of the Tui Manu'a title continues to be esteemed and acknowledged by Tongan and Samoan royal families despite the fact that the title itself is no longer occupied.

Ancestry and Succession

Tui Manu'a Elisara was born on the island of Ta'u as the second son of Tui Manu'a Alalamua and Sofe, a daughter of Matiu of Ta'u island. Tui Manu'a Alalamua (of the female branch called the Avaloa clan in the Tui Manu'a family) was the successor of Tui Manu'a Tauveve, also from the Avaloa clan. Shortly after the death of Tui Manu'a Alalamua a vigorous debate ensued among potential heirs. From the three main branches of the Tui Manu'a family, three candidates emerged from each clan as each endorsed by their own branches of the Tui Manu'a family and their political allies: Alalamua's own son, Elisara (from the Avaloa clan) was named as an obvious contender although Elisara himself refused the title in lieu of his religious calling. The other two claimants were Taofi (from the female branch called the Falesoā clan of the Tui Manu'a family) and a young woman named Matelita (a descendant of Tui Manu'a Taliutafa Tupolo, son of Tui Manu'a Moaatoa of the Anoalo clan). With Elisara temporarily out of the succession, Taofi remained as one of the lesser direct heir and his party named him Tui Manu'a. Matelita's party, however, was able to amass even more support for her campaign (mainly through her male-side lineage of the Anoalo clan of the Tui Manu'a family and Eastern and Western Samoan relatives of her half-caste father Arthur Stephen "Pa'u" Young); Taofi capitulated to her sovereignty and she held the title until her death in 1895. As there were no other available family member of the male branch from the Anoalo clan after Tui Manu'a Matelita to take the title, in 1899 chiefly assembly of the Faletolu and Anoalo appointed the title to one of the female branches the Avaloa clan from Alalamua's line by persuading Elisara to take the throne.

Last Titleholder

Tuimanu’a Elisara Alalamua attended the London Missionary Society

London Missionary Society

The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...

 seminary in Malua on 'Upolu island and returned to his native village where he served as the Congregationalist

Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....

 minister of Fitiuta. When the Faletolu (chiefly assembly) of Ta'u approached Elisara about taking the Tui Manu'a throne the request was initially denied on the grounds of his ministry. However, when the Berlin Act placed the Manu'a islands under the protection of the United States he was petitioned zealously by the people of Manu'a. He accepted the leadership role and was bestowed the paramount title of Tui Manu'a on the island of Ta'u on October 25, 1899.

The Manu'a islands were grouped with Tutuila

Tutuila

Tutuila is the largest and the main island of American Samoa in the archipelago of Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific located roughly northeast of Brisbane, Australia and over northeast of Fiji. It contains a large, natural harbor,...

 and Aunu'u as the United States possession now called American Samoa

American Samoa

American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...

. The presidency of the United States, and to some extent the military authorities of the US Navy, supplanted the native administrative role of the Tui Manu'a. On July 6, 1904 Tui Manu'a Elisara officially ceded the islands of Manu'a to the United States through the signing of the Deed of Succession. He was relegated the office of Governor of Manu'a for the term of life and the understanding that the Tui Manu'a title would follow him to the grave. He died in 1909.

After a fifteen year break the office was revived in 1924 when Chris Young, a member of the Anoalo clan of the Tui Manu'a family and the brother of Tui Manu'a Makerita who reigned between 1890–95, was named Tui Manu'a by the general assembly of the Faletolu and Anoalo. American officials were worried that the Manu'ans were restoring a "king" who would cause trouble for the administration. Governor Edward Stanley Kellogg

Edward Stanley Kellogg

Edward Stanley Kellogg was a United States Navy Captain who served as the 16th Governor of American Samoa. Kellogg graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1892, and joined the Naval Engineer Corps. He served as an assistant engineer on numerous ships, and participated in the...

 opposed the bestowal and had the new Tui Manu'a brought to Tutuila where he was prevented from exercising the powers of his office. The Governor did not recognise the title on the basis that a monarchy was incompatible within the framework of the Constitution of the United States and the previous Tui Manu'a had pledged to be the last person to hold the title.

Sources

• McMullin, Dan. 2005. "The Passive Resistance of Samoans to US and Other Colonialisms", article in "Sovereignty Matters" http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Sovereignty-Matters,672997.aspx, University of Nebraska Press.
• Office of the Governor. 2004. Manu‘a ma Amerika. A brief historical documentary. Manu‘a Centennial. 16 July 1904. 16 July 2004. Office of the Governor, American Samoa Government. 20 p.
• David Hatcher Childress, Ancient Tonga & The Lost City of Mu'a, Adventures Unlimited Press (1996)
• Samoa News http://www.samoanews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=9357
• Linnekin, Hunt, Lang & McCormick (University of Hawaii Pacific Islands Cooperative Botanic Studies Institute)http://www.samoan-sensation.com/q-and-a/10827.html