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Kingdom of Rarotonga

Unified Cook Islands monarchy (1858) under the Makea Nui ariki; became a British protectorate in 1888 and ceded to New Zealand in 1900.

Dissolved in 1893 when it was renamed the Cook Islands Federation, then fully annexed by New Zealand on 7 October 1900 via deeds of cession signed by the ariki and chiefs, incorporated into the Colony of New Zealand by Order in Council in 1901.

See it on the interactive map →

Further reading

• Covid in the Islands: A Comparative Perspective on the Caribbean and the Pacific John Connell · 1983

  Regional history covering nineteenth-century Rarotonga and the Cook Islands.

• The Cook Islands 1820–1950 Richard Gilson (ed. Ron Crocombe) · undefined

  Standard scholarly history of the Cook Islands covering the Kingdom of Rarotonga period through British annexation to New Zealand; confirmed via NLA catalogue and Amazon listings.

• A History of the Pacific Islands Steven Roger Fischer · 2013

  A single-volume history of the island Pacific — broad context for this polity.

Sources

• Kingdom of Rarotonga — Wikipedia (via WebSearch 2026-06-25) [roster-stage: geometry pending]