The paramount chieftaincy of the Manuʻa Islands in eastern Samoa, held by oral tradition to be the oldest and most sacred chiefly title in Polynesia, exercising spiritual prestige across the Samoan archipelago until cession to the United States in 1904.
The last Tui Manuʻa, Elisara (also written Elisala), ceded the Manuʻa Islands to the United States on 16 July 1904 via the Treaty of Cession of Manuʻa, completing US acquisition of American Samoa; before his death on 2 July 1909, Elisara expressed the wish that the title die with him, and no successor was appointed.
Places the Tui Manuʻa title within the broader context of Samoan and Polynesian chiefly hierarchy.
Covers Samoan prehistory and the Lapita ancestry of Samoan chiefly titles including the Tui Manuʻa.
Sweeping archaeological history of the Pacific; synthesises Lapita scholarship within full Pacific prehistory context; revised edition 2017