Editing History of Tuvalu (section)

==Early history==
{{see also|Tuvaluan mythology}}
[[File:Nukufetauman1831.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A man from the [[Nukufetau]] atoll, 1841, drawn by [[Alfred Agate]].]]
Tuvaluans are a Polynesian people, with the [[Polynesia#History of the Polynesian people|origins of the people of Tuvalu]] addressed in the theories regarding migration into the Pacific that began about 3000 years ago.<ref name=Howe>{{cite book |last=Howe |first=Kerry |title=The Quest for Origins |year=2003 |publisher=Penguin |location=New Zealand |isbn=0-14-301857-4 |pages=68, 70 }}</ref> There is evidence for a dual genetic origin of Pacific Islanders in Asia and [[Melanesia]], which results from an analysis of [[Y chromosome]] (NRY) and [[mitochondrial DNA]] (mtDNA) markers; there is also evidence that [[Fiji]] playing a pivotal role in west-to-east expansion within Polynesia.<ref name=ANT>{{cite web|title = Melanesian and Asian Origins of Polynesians: mtDNA and Y Chromosome Gradients Across the Pacific |work=Anthrocivitas.net|date = October 2009 | url=http://anthrocivitas.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5420| access-date=23 January 2014}}</ref>

During pre-European-contact times there was frequent canoe voyaging between the islands, as [[Polynesian navigation]] skills are recognised to have allowed deliberate journeys on [[Catamaran#Development in Oceania and Asia|double-hulled sailing canoes]] or [[outrigger canoe]]s.<ref name="Belwood1">{{cite book |last1= Bellwood|first1= Peter|title=The Polynesians – Prehistory of an Island People |year= 1987 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |pages=39–44}}</ref> Eight of the nine islands of Tuvalu were inhabited; thus the name, Tuvalu, means "eight standing together" in [[Tuvaluan language|Tuvaluan]] (compare to ''*walo'' meaning "eight" in [[Proto-Austronesian language#Numerals|Proto-Austronesian]]). Possible evidence of fire in the [[Caves of Nanumanga]] may indicate human occupation thousands of years before that. The pattern of settlement that is believed to have occurred is that the Polynesians spread out from the [[Samoa]]n Islands into the Tuvaluan atolls, with Tuvalu providing a stepping stone to migration into the [[Polynesian outliers|Polynesian Outlier communities]] in [[Melanesia]] and [[Micronesia]].<ref name="SSP">{{cite journal |author= Smith, S. Percy |title= The First Inhabitants of the Ellice Group |journal= Journal of the Pacific Society |volume= 6|year=1897 |pages=209–10}}</ref><ref name="Belwood2">{{cite book |last1= Bellwood|first1= Peter|title=The Polynesians – Prehistory of an Island People |year= 1987 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |pages=29 & 54}}</ref><ref name="Bayard">{{cite book |last1=Bayard|first1=D.T.|title=The Cultural Relationships of the Polynesian Outiers |year= 1976 |publisher=Otago University, Studies in Prehistoric Anthropology, Vol. 9}}</ref><ref name="Kirch">{{cite book |last1=Kirch|first1=P.V.|title=The Polynesian Outiers |year= 1984 |publisher=95 (4) Journal of Pacific History|pages=224–238 }}</ref>

[[File:Pacific Culture Areas.jpg|thumb|400px|Polynesia is the largest of three major cultural areas in the Pacific Ocean. Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the [[Polynesian triangle]].]]
An important [[Tuvaluan mythology|creation myth of the islands of Tuvalu]] is the story of ''te Pusi mo te Ali'' (the Eel and the Flounder) who created the [[islands of Tuvalu]]; ''te Ali'' (the [[Bothidae|flounder]]) is believed to be the origin of the flat [[atoll]]s of Tuvalu and ''te Pusi'' (the [[Moray eel|eel]]) is the model for the [[coconut]] palms that are important in the lives of Tuvaluans. The stories as to the ancestors of the Tuvaluans vary from island to island. On [[Niutao]] the understanding is that their ancestors came from [[Samoa]] in the 12th or 13th century.<ref name="PAS">{{cite book |last1=Sogivalu, Pulekau A.|title=A Brief History of Niutao|year=1992|publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific |isbn=982-02-0058-X}}</ref> On [[Funafuti]] and [[Vaitupu]] the founding ancestor is described as being from Samoa;<ref name="Genesis 1983">{{cite book | author= Talakatoa O’Brien|  title=Tuvalu: A History, Chapter 1, Genesis| year= 1983 | publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu  }}</ref><ref name="Kennedy">{{cite journal | first=Donald G. | last=Kennedy | url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_38_1929/Field_notes_on_the_culture_of_Vaitupu%2C_Ellice_Islands%2C_by_Donald_Gilbert_Kennedy%2C_p_1-99/p1?action=null | title=Field Notes on the Culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands | journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society | volume=38 | year=1929 | pages=2–5 | access-date=14 April 2008 | archive-date=15 October 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015043119/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_38_1929/Field_notes_on_the_culture_of_Vaitupu%2C_Ellice_Islands%2C_by_Donald_Gilbert_Kennedy%2C_p_1-99/p1?action=null | url-status=dead }}</ref> whereas on [[Nanumea]] the founding ancestor is described as being from [[Tonga]].<ref name="Genesis 1983"/>

These stories can be linked to what is known about the Samoa-based [[Tu'i Manu'a Elisala|Tu'i Manu'a Confederacy]], ruled by the holders of the Tu'i Manú'a title, which confederacy likely included much of Western Polynesia and some outliers at the height of its power in the 10th and 11th centuries. 

Tuvalu was also thought to have been visited by Tongans in the mid-13th century and was within [[Tonga]]'s sphere of influence.<ref name="Kennedy"/> Captain [[James Cook]] observed and recorded his accounts of the [[Tuʻi Tonga]] kings during his visits to the Friendly Isles of Tonga.<ref name=BOT>{{cite book | last = Elizabeth Bott with the assistance of Tavi  |title= Tongan society at the time of Captain Cook's visits : discussions with Her Majesty Queen Salote Tupou |publisher= Polynesian Society |location= Wellington, New Zealand |pages=|year =1982 }}</ref><ref name="ALK">{{cite journal |author= Adrienne L. Kaeppler|url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/2798262 |title= Eighteenth Century Tonga: New Interpretations of Tongan Society and Material Culture at the Time of Captain Cook|journal= Man - Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=6 (2)|date= June 1971|issue= 1|pages=204–220 |doi= 10.2307/2798262 |jstor= 2798262 }}</ref><ref name="JPS">{{cite journal |author= |url= https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/23700060/captain-cooks-view-of-tonga-the-journal-of-the-polynesian-society|title= An Account of Eighteenth Century Tonga – Chapter 1: Captain Cook's view of Tonga|journal= Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume=|date= 15 March 2014 |issue= |pages=11–55}}</ref> By observing such Pacific cultures as Tuvalu and [[Wallis (island)|Uvea]], the influence of the Tuʻi Tonga line of Tongan kings and the existence of the [[Tuʻi Tonga Empire]], which originated in the 10th century, was quite strong and has had more of an impact in Polynesia and also parts of Micronesia than the Tu'i Manu'a.

The oral history of [[Niutao]] recalls that in the 15th century Tongan warriors were defeated in a battle on the reef of Niutao. Tongan warriors also invaded Niutao later in the 15th century and again were repelled. A third and fourth invasion of Tongan occurred in the late 16th century, again with the Tongans being defeated.<ref name="PAS"/>

Tuvalu is on the western boundary of the [[Polynesian Triangle]] so that the northern islands of Tuvalu, particularly [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]], have links to [[Micronesians]] from [[Kiribati]].<ref name="Genesis 1983"/> The oral history of Niutao also recalls that during the 17th century warriors invaded from the islands of Kiribati on two occasions and were defeated in battles fought on the reef.<ref name="PAS"/>