Editing History of Tuvalu (section)

==Voyages by Europeans in the Pacific==
[[File:Tuvalu costume.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Tuvaluan man in traditional costume drawn by [[Alfred Agate]] in 1841 during the [[United States Exploring Expedition]].]]
Tuvalu was first sighted by Europeans on 16 January 1568, during the voyage of [[Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira]], Spanish explorer and [[cartographer]], who sailed past the island of [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]], and charted it as ''Isla de Jesús'' (Spanish for "Island of Jesus"). This was because the previous day had been the feast of the [[Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus|Holy Name]]. Mendaña made contact with the islanders but was unable to land.<ref name="HEMaude59">{{cite journal|first=H. E.|last=Maude|title=Spanish Discoveries in the Central Pacific: A Study in Identification|url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_68_1959/Volume_68,_No._4/Spanish_discoveries_in_the_Pacific,_by_H._E._Maude,_p_285-326/p1|year=1959|volume=68|issue=4|journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society|pages=284–326|access-date=4 May 2013|archive-date=10 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210235215/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_68_1959/Volume_68%2C_No._4/Spanish_discoveries_in_the_Pacific%2C_by_H._E._Maude%2C_p_285-326/p1|url-status=dead}}</ref> During Mendaña's second voyage across the Pacific he passed [[Niulakita]] on 29 August 1595, which he named ''La Solitaria''.<ref name="HEMaude59"/><ref name="KSDDM">{{cite book |author1=Keith S. Chambers |author2=Doug Munro |title=The Mystery of Gran Cocal: European Discovery and Mis-Discovery in Tuvalu |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_89_1980/Volume_89,_No._2/The_%26apos%3Bmystery%26apos%3B_of_Gran_Cocal%3A_European_discovery_and_mis-discovery_in_Tuvalu,_by_Doug_Munro,_p_167-198/p1 |year=1980 |publisher=89(2) The Journal of the Polynesian Society |pages=167–198 |access-date=10 March 2013 |archive-date=15 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215134048/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_89_1980/Volume_89%2C_No._2/The_%26apos%3Bmystery%26apos%3B_of_Gran_Cocal%3A_European_discovery_and_mis-discovery_in_Tuvalu%2C_by_Doug_Munro%2C_p_167-198/p1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Captain [[John Byron]] passed through the islands of Tuvalu in 1764 during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of the {{HMS|Dolphin|1751|3}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.solarnavigator.net/circumnavigation.htm|title=Circumnavigation: Notable global maritime circumnavigations|publisher=Solarnavigator.net|access-date=20 July 2009}}</ref> Byron charted the atolls as ''Lagoon Islands''.

The first recorded sighting of [[Nanumea]] by Europeans was by Spanish naval officer [[Francisco Antonio Mourelle|Francisco Mourelle de la Rúa]] who sailed past it on 5 May 1781 as captain of the frigate ''La Princesa'', when attempting a southern crossing of the Pacific from the Philippines to [[New Spain]]. He charted Nanumea as ''San Augustin''.<ref name=autogenerated1>Keith S. Chambers & Doug Munro, ''The Mystery of Gran Cocal: European Discovery and Mis-Discovery in Tuvalu'', 89(2) (1980) ''[[The Journal of the Polynesian Society]]'', 167-198</ref><ref>Laumua Kofe, Palagi and Pastors, ''Tuvalu: A History'', Ch. 15, (USP / Tuvalu government)</ref> Keith S. Chambers and Doug Munro (1980) identified [[Niutao]] as the island that Mourelle also sailed past on 5 May 1781, thus solving what Europeans had called ''The Mystery of Gran Cocal''.<ref name="KSDDM"/> Mourelle's map and journal named the island ''El Gran Cocal'' ('The Great Coconut Plantation'); however, the latitude and longitude was uncertain. Longitude could only be reckoned crudely as accurate chronometers were not available until the late 18th century. Laumua Kofe (1983)<ref name="Laumua Kofe 1983">{{cite book | author= Laumua Kofe |  title=''Tuvalu: A History, Ch 15, 'Palagi and Pastors''' | year= 1983 | publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu}}</ref> accepts Chambers and Munro's conclusions, with Kofe describing Mourelle's ship ''La Princesa'', as waiting beyond the reef, with Nuitaoans coming out in canoes, bringing some coconuts with them. ''La Princesa'' was short of supplies but Mourelle was forced to sail on – naming Niutao, ''El Gran Cocal'' ('The Great Coconut Plantation').<ref name="Laumua Kofe 1983" />

In 1809, Captain Patterson in the brig ''Elizabeth'' sighted Nanumea while passing through the northern Tuvalu waters on a trading voyage from Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia to China.<ref name=autogenerated1/>
In May 1819, Arent Schuyler de Peyster, of New York, captain of the armed [[brigantine]] or [[privateer]] ''Rebecca'', sailing under British colours,<ref name="DeP1">{{cite journal|title = De Peyster, Arent Schuyler, 1779–1863. Details of the discovery of the Ellice and de Peyster Islands in the Pacific Ocean in May, 1819|url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_04051|journal= Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec|date=26 March 2024 |isbn=978-0-665-04051-1 }}</ref><ref name="DeP2">{{cite web|title= The De Peysters|url= http://corbett-family-history.com/de-peyster|access-date= 14 August 2017|archive-date= 3 July 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170703170833/http://corbett-family-history.com/de-peyster|url-status= dead}}</ref> passed through the southern Tuvaluan waters while on a voyage from [[Valparaíso]] to India; de Peyster sighted [[Funafuti]], which he named Ellice's Island after an English politician, [[Edward Ellice (merchant)|Edward Ellice]], the Member of Parliament for Coventry and the owner of the Rebecca's cargo.<ref name="Laumua Kofe 1983"/><ref name="HEMaude86">{{cite journal|first=H.E.|last= Maude |title = Post-Spanish Discoveries in the Central Pacific |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_70_1961/Volume_70,_No._1/Post-Spanish_discoveries_in_the_central_Pacific,_by_H._E._Maude,_p_67-111/p1 |date= November 1986 |volume=70 |issue=1 |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |pages=67–111 }}</ref><ref name="DMDP1">{{cite journal|first=Doug|last=Munro|title=De Peyster's Rebecca Logbook, 1818–1824|url=https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/PacificStudies/article/download/9534/9183|date=November 1986 |volume=10 |issue=1 |journal=Pacific Studies|pages=146|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003044515/https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/PacificStudies/article/download/9534/9183|archive-date=3 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="DMDP2">{{cite journal|first=Doug|last=Munro|title=A Further Note on De Peyster's Rebecca Logbook, 1818–1824|url=https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/PacificStudies/article/download/9534/9183|date=November 1988 |volume=12 |issue=1 |journal=Pacific Studies|pages=198–199|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003044515/https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/PacificStudies/article/download/9534/9183|archive-date=3 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> The next morning, de Peyster sighted another group of about seventeen low islands forty-three miles northwest of Funafuti, which was named "De Peyster's Islands."<ref name="PIM1964-11">{{cite web| last =| first =  | work= 35(11) Pacific Islands Monthly |title=What's In A Name? Ellice Islands Commemorate Long-Forgotten Politician  |date =1 June 1966|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-325281389/view?sectionId=nla.obj-333938427&partId=nla.obj-325342876#page/n84/mode/1up| access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref>  It is the first name, [[Nukufetau]], that was eventually used for this atoll.

In 1820 the Russian explorer [[Mikhail Lazarev]] visited Nukufetau as commander of the [[Mirny (sloop-of-war)|''Mirny'']].<ref name="Laumua Kofe 1983"/> [[Louis Isidore Duperrey]], captain of [[French ship Astrolabe (1811)|''La Coquille'']], sailed past [[Nanumanga]] in May 1824 during a circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825).<ref name="DDN">{{cite journal |author= Doug Munro and Keith S. Chambers |title= Duperrey and the Discovery of Nanumaga in 1824: an episode in Pacific exploration |journal= Great Circle |volume=11 |year=1989 |pages=37–43}}</ref> A Dutch expedition by the frigate ''Maria Reigersberg''<ref name="DW">{{cite web|title= Dutch warships available but not in active service in August 1834|date =3 December 2011|url= http://warshipsresearch.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/dutch-warships-avaible-but-not-in.html| access-date=22 March 2016}}</ref> under captain Koerzen, and the corvette ''Pollux'' under captain C. Eeg, found [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]] on the morning of 14 June 1825 and named the main island ([[Fenua Tapu (isle)|Fenua Tapu]]) as ''Nederlandsch Eiland''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/aanteekeningeng00troogoog#page/n13/mode/2up |title=Pieter Troost: ''Aanteekeningen gehouden op eene reis om de wereld: met het fregat de Maria Reigersberg en de ...'' |year=1829 |access-date=14 August 2017}}</ref>

<gallery>
TROOST(1829) p405 Platte Grond van het Nederlandsch-Eiland.jpg| Dutch map of Nui atoll, made in June 1825. 
TROOST(1829) p297 Het Nederlandsch Eiland.jpg| View of Fenua Tapu, Nui atoll.
TROOST(1829) p293 Het Nederlandsch Eilanden.jpg| View of Nui atoll.
</gallery>

[[Whaling|Whalers]] began roving the Pacific, although visiting Tuvalu only infrequently because of the difficulties of landing on the atolls. Captain George Barrett of the [[Nantucket]] whaler ''Independence II'' has been identified as the first whaler to hunt the waters around Tuvalu.<ref name="HEMaude86"/> In November 1821 he bartered coconuts from the people of [[Nukulaelae]] and also visited [[Niulakita]].<ref name="KSDDM"/> A shore camp was established on [[Sakalua]] islet of Nukufetau, where coal was used to melt down the whale blubber.<ref name="TAH16">{{cite book |first1= Simati |last1=Faanin |editor-first1=Hugh |editor-last1=Laracy |title= Tuvalu: A History |year= 1983 |publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu |page=122 |chapter=Chapter 16 – Travellers and Workers}}</ref>

For less than a year between 1862 and 1863, Peruvian ships engaged in the so-called "[[blackbirding]]" trade, combed the smaller islands of Polynesia from [[Easter Island]] in the eastern Pacific to Tuvalu and the southern atolls of the Gilbert Islands (now [[Kiribati]]), seeking recruits to fill the extreme labour shortage in [[Peru]], including workers to mine the [[guano]] deposits on the [[Chincha Islands]].<ref name="E. Maude, 1981">H.E. Maude, ''Slavers in Paradise'', Institute of Pacific Studies (1981)</ref> On Funafuti and Nukulaelae, the resident traders facilitated the recruiting of the islanders by the "blackbirders".<ref name="Doug Munro 1987">Doug Munro, ''The Lives and Times of Resident Traders in Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below'', (1987) 10(2) Pacific Studies 73</ref> The Rev. Archibald Wright Murray,<ref>Murray A.W., 1876. ''Forty Years' Mission Work''. London Nisbet</ref> the earliest European missionary in Tuvalu, reported that in 1863 about 180 people<ref>The figure of 171 taken from Funafuti is given by Laumua Kofe, Palagi and Pastors, ''Tuvalu: A History'', Ch. 15, U.S.P. & Government of Tuvalu, (1983)</ref> were taken from [[Funafuti]] and about 200 were taken from Nukulaelae,<ref>The figure of 250 taken from Nukulaelae is given by Laumua Kofe, Palagi and Pastors, ''Tuvalu: A History'', Ch. 15, U.S.P. & Tuvalu (1983)</ref> as there were fewer than 100 of the 300 recorded in 1861 as living on Nukulaelae.<ref>W. F. Newton, ''The Early Population of the Ellice Islands'', 76(2) (1967) The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 197–204.</ref><ref>The figure of 250 taken from Nukulaelae is stated by Richard Bedford, Barrie Macdonald & Doug Munro, ''Population Estimates for Kiribati and Tuvalu'' (1980) 89(1) Journal of the Polynesian Society 199</ref>