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Ma'afu Prince Of Tonga Chief Of Fiji : The Life And Times Offiji's First Tui Lau
Paperback Edition: 1
Acting as a putative champion of the lotu, Ma`afu undertook successful military campaigns elsewhere in Fiji and, after adding the Yasayasa Moala and the Exploring Isles to the nascent Lauan state, he was able to establish the Tovata ko Lau, a union of Lau, Cakaudrove and Bua, with himself as head. His power was formally recognised in 1869 when the Lauan chiefs appointed him as Tui Lau, a new title in the polity of Fiji. Ma`afu was now able to challenge Cakobau for the mastery of Fiji.
After serving as Viceroy during the farcical planter oligarchy known as the Kingdom of Fiji, Ma`afu underwent a severe humiliation when, in order to maintain his power in Lau, he was forced to accede to the wishes of Fijis other great chiefs in offering their islands to Great Britain. He would end his days as Roko Tui Lau, a subordinate administrator in the Crown Colony of Fiji, presiding over a province characterised by corruption and maladministration but where the legacy of his earlier innovative land reforms has endured..
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Pages : 693
Publisher : ANU Press
Publication date : 2015-02-01
Subjects: Non-fiction, Published in Australia, Pasifika, Fiji, Pacific Biography And True Stories, Fijian History