Brief History of Tuvalu Island!

Most of the Polynesians travelled about 2,000 years ago from the beautiful Samoa Islands on the Southern Pacific to the three tropical atolls of Tokelau territory in New Zealand and from the atolls of Atafu, Fakaofo and Nukunonu they sailed to Tuvalu.

Some of the Polynesians came from the beautiful Tonga Islands and beautiful Wallis Island, known also as Uvea, while the Micronesians came from the Republic of Kiribati in the centre of the tropical Pacific to settle on the northern islands of Tuvalu. Follow the comment links for references to those terms here.

The indigenous people in the beautiful Tuvalu Island integrated to develop their way of living by creating traditional methods of land farming, sea fishing, home building, stockpiling, knitting, art crafting, witchcraft, fortune telling and building small societies with a traditional leading system.

Every society in Tuvalu islands consists of some hundreds of people under a chief called aliki and his vice chief, the community of the elders, leaders of the traditional beliefs; priests replaced those later and traditional healers or fortune-tellers.

According to this system, the family called sologa had some responsibilities in the community, through which the family played important role in the integrity of the society.

It leads many daily activities through which all the members of the family participate in farming, fishing, healing, building, defending land, dancing, and singing.

Therefore, the land was the primary asset for the family dominated by the superiority of the male in this system. However, some lands were properties as communal lands to supply the needy.

In 1568, the Spanish explorer Alvaro de Mendana came across the islands of Tuvalu. Later in 1781, the Spanish Francisco Antonio Mourelle reached the reef island of Niutao, which is one of nine districts at the north of Tuvalu.

The American explorer captain Arent De Peyster reached Funafuti atoll, one of the beautiful atolls of Tuvalu that makes the capital of the Beautiful Tuvalu Island. He gave it the name of his friend the English politician and merchant, Edward Ellice, so the name of the island was Ellice's Island.

The traders and the whalers among them began to come to Tuvalu Islands starting from 1820 and the islands were charted in 1830 and the Tuvaluan traditional life began to change.

** You are here at the brief history of Tuvalu Island.

** Read additional page about Tuvalu at the beautiful Tuiva State.

** Comment or write about Tuvalu using the forms on any of those linked pages here.

** If you were not from Tuvalu, write about your city of birth or your city of residence using the form at any beautiful city.

** Read about other beautiful places on the Pacific Ocean at Beautiful Places in Tongatapu| Beautiful Vavau Islands| Vavau|