Manua

Manuʻa is the eastern island group of the Samoan Islands, consisting of Taʻū, Ofu and Olosega. High volcanic islands and their sheltered coastal settlements stand within a seafaring world linked to other parts of Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Samoan traditions give Manuʻa a sacred place in the origins of chiefly authority.

The title Tuʻi Manuʻa carried prestige extending beyond the islands, with traditions recalling ties to Tonga and Fiji. Oral history relates the creation of its holder to the god Tagaloa and the beginnings of Samoa itself. In 1768 Louis Antoine de Bougainville’s French expedition approached the group and saw Samoan canoes on the open sea, encountering communities with their own longstanding authority and voyaging traditions.