Editing Tokelau (section)

==History==
{{Main|British Western Pacific Territories}}

===Pre-history===
Archaeological evidence indicates that the atolls of Tokelau – [[Atafu]], [[Nukunonu]], and [[Fakaofo]] – were settled about 1,000 years ago from Samoa and may have been a gateway into Eastern Polynesia.<ref name="Research Coomons">{{cite web|url=http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz//handle/10289/2891|title=Archeology of Atafu, Tokelau: Some Initial Results 2008|access-date=12 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621021339/http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz//handle/10289/2891|archive-date=21 June 2013}}</ref> The inhabitants embrace [[Polynesian mythology]] and the local god, [[Tui Tokelau]].<ref name="SSP1">{{cite journal |author= Smith, S. Percy |title= Notes on the Ellice and Tokelau Groups; translated from the "Karere Mangaia" 1899|journal= Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume= 29|year= 1920 |pages=144–148 }}</ref> Over time, they developed distinctive [[Music of Tokelau|musical]] and art forms. The three atolls have historically functioned separately politically, while maintaining social and linguistic cohesion. Tokelauan society has been governed by chiefly [[clan]]s, and there have been occasional skirmishes and wars between the atolls, as well as inter-marriage. Fakaofo, the "chiefly island",<ref>[http://www.fakaofo.tk/page001.html Fakaofo] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016173013/http://www.fakaofo.tk/page001.html |date=16 October 2012 }}</ref> held some dominion over Atafu and Nukunonu after the dispersal of Atafu. Life on the atolls was historically subsistence-based, with a diet that relied mainly on fish and [[coconut]].<ref name="mfat">{{cite web|url=http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Countries/Pacific/Tokelau.php|publisher=[[New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade]]|title=Tokelau|access-date=29 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807191509/http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Countries/Pacific/Tokelau.php|archive-date=7 August 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Contact with other cultures===
[[File:Bowditch Tokelau.png|thumb|Fakaofo islanders, drawn in 1841 by the [[United States Exploring Expedition]]]]
The first European to sight Atafu was British Navy officer Commodore [[John Byron]], on 24 June 1765. He called the island "Duke of York's Island". Parties from his expedition who landed ashore reported that there were no signs of current or previous inhabitants.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Byron| first1 = John| last2 = Wallis| first2 = John Samuel| last3 = Carteret| first3 = Philip| last4 = Cook| first4 = James| last5 = Banks| first5 = Sir Joseph| title = An Account of the Voyages Undertaken| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_8lgBAAAAYAAJ| year = 1773| publisher = W. Strahan| pages = 132–134 }}</ref><ref name="mac30">MacGregor, 30</ref> [[Edward Edwards (Royal Navy officer)|Captain Edward Edwards]], having learned of Byron's discovery, visited Atafu on 6 June 1791<ref>{{Cite book|title=International Dictionary of Historic Places, Volume 5: Asia and Oceania|publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers|year=1996|isbn=1-884964-04-4|editor-last=Schellinger|editor-first=Paul|location=Chicago|pages=819|editor-last2=Salkin|editor-first2=Robert}}</ref> in search of the [[Mutiny on the Bounty|''Bounty'' mutineers]]. They found no inhabitants, but saw that there were houses containing canoes and fishing gear, which suggested to them that the island was being used as a temporary residence by fishing parties from other, nearby islands.<ref name="mac30"/> On 12 June 1791, Edwards sailed farther south, and sighted Nukunonu, naming it "Duke of Clarence's Island".<ref>{{cite book| last = Sharp| first = Andrew| title = The Discovery of the Pacific Islands| url = https://archive.org/details/discoveryofpacif0000shar_l2x3| url-access = registration| year = 1960| publisher = Clarendon Press| page = [https://archive.org/details/discoveryofpacif0000shar_l2x3/page/164 164] | isbn = 978-0-19-821519-6}}</ref> A landing party that went ashore was unable to make contact with the inhabitants, but saw "''morai''s", burying places, and canoes with "stages in their middle" sailing across the island's lagoons.<ref name="mac30"/>

On 29 October 1825, August R. Strong of the [[USS Dolphin (1821)|USS ''Dolphin'']] and his crew arrived at the atoll Nukunonu. He wrote: <blockquote>Upon examination, we found they had removed all the women and children from the settlement, which was quite small, and put them in canoes lying off a rock in the lagoon. They would frequently come near the shore, but when we approached they would pull off with great noise and precipitation.<ref>''The Journal of the South Pacific'', 110 (3), p.&nbsp;296</ref></blockquote>

On 14 February 1835, Captain Smith, of the United States [[Whaling|whaling ship]] the ''General Jackson'', wrote of having sighted Fakaofo, which he chose to call "D'Wolf's Island".<ref>{{cite book| author = Polynesian Society (N. Z.)| title = The Journal of the Polynesian Society| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oWQLAAAAIAAJ| year = 1961| publisher = Polynesian Society.| page = 102 }}</ref><ref name="booklet">{{cite web|url=http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Foreign-Relations/Pacific/Tokelau/0-tokelaubooklet.php|publisher=[[New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade]]|title= Information Bulletin on Tokelau|access-date=29 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513011331/http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Foreign-Relations/Pacific/Tokelau/0-tokelaubooklet.php|archive-date=13 May 2014}}</ref> On 25 January 1841, the [[United States Exploring Expedition]] visited Atafu, and discovered a small population living on the island. The residents appeared to be there only temporarily, because there was no chief among them, and they had the kind of double [[canoe]]s that were typically used for inter-island travel. They appeared to have interacted with foreigners in the past, because they expressed a desire to engage in barter with the expedition crew, and they possessed items that were apparently of foreign origin: blue beads and a plane-iron. A few days later, French explorer Captain Morvan sighted Fakaofo.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/AJHR1948-I.2.1.2.7?query=Morvan|title=Tokelau Islands–Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1948 Session I, A-04a|year=1948|first=Peter|last=Fraser|author-link=Peter Fraser|page=4}}</ref> The American expedition reached Nukunonu on 28 January 1841, but did not record any information about inhabitants. On 29 January 1841, the expedition sighted Fakaofo and named it "Bowditch".<ref>[[Nathaniel Bowditch]] (1773–1838) was an American mathematician remembered for his work on ocean navigation.</ref> The Fakaofo islanders were found to be similar in appearance and behavior to the Atafu islanders.<ref>{{cite book| last = Wilkes| first = Charles| title = Voyage Round the World| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NyQcAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA538| year = 1849| publisher = Geo. W. Gorton| page = 538 }}</ref>

Missionaries preached [[Christianity in Tokelau]] from 1845 to the 1870s. French [[Catholic]] missionaries on [[Wallis Island]] (also known as 'Uvea) and missionaries of the [[Protestant]] [[London Missionary Society]] in Samoa used native teachers to convert the Tokelauans. Atafu was converted to Protestantism by the London Missionary Society, Nukunonu was converted to Catholicism and Fakaofo was converted to both denominations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tokelau.org.nz/About_Tokelau/people.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506233328/http://www.tokelau.org.nz/About_Tokelau/people.htm|url-status=dead|title=Tokelau Government|archivedate=6 May 2013|website=tokelau.org.nz}}</ref> The Rev. Samuel James Whitmee, of the [[London Missionary Society]], visited Tokelau in 1870.<ref name="JCC">{{cite book |last1=Whitmee |first1= Rev. Samuel James |title= A missionary cruise in the South Pacific: being the report of a voyage amongst the Tokelau, Ellice and Gilbert Islands, in the missionary barque "John Williams" during 1870|year= 1871 |publisher= Joseph Cook & Co |location=Sydney }}</ref>

Helped by [[Swains Island]]-based Eli Jennings senior, [[Peru]]vian [[blackbirding|"blackbird"]] [[slave trader]]s arrived in 1863 and kidnapped nearly all (253) of the able-bodied men to work as labourers, depopulating the atolls.<ref>H.E. Maude's ''Slavers in Paradise'' (A.N.U., Canberra, 1981)</ref> The Tokelauan men died of [[dysentery]] and [[smallpox]], and very few returned. With that loss, the system of governance became based on the "Taupulega", or "Councils of Elders", on which individual families on each atoll were represented.<ref name="mfat"/><ref name="booklet"/> During that time, [[Polynesia]]n immigrants settled, followed by American, [[Scottish people|Scottish]], French, [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://houseofpereira.com/tokelau-a-historical-ethnography-by-j-huntsman-a-hooper/|title=Ethnography of Tokelau|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624180634/https://houseofpereira.com/tokelau-a-historical-ethnography-by-j-huntsman-a-hooper/|archive-date=24 June 2021}}</ref> and German [[Beachcombing#Historical usage|beachcombers]], marrying local women and repopulating the atolls.<ref name="booklet"/>

In 1856 the United States claimed that it held sovereignty over the island and the other Tokelauan atolls under the [[Guano Islands Act]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/38907/Tokelau-looks-to-independence |title=Tokelau looks to independence |publisher=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |access-date=19 November 2023}}</ref> In 1979, the U.S. conceded that Tokelau was under New Zealand sovereignty, and a [[maritime boundary]] between Tokelau and [[American Samoa]] was established by the [[Treaty of Tokehega]].

In 1889, Tokelau became a [[protectorate]] of the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.tokelau.org.nz/About+Us/History.html |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=tokelau.org.nz}}</ref> This lasted until 1916, when it was annexed and incorporated into the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands|Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony]]. In 1926, it was incorporated into New Zealand.

[[File:Fakaofo_village_square_20070716.jpg|thumb|The square in the centre of the village of [[Fakaofo]]]]

===Tropical cyclones===
[[Cyclone Percy]] struck and severely damaged Tokelau in late February and early March 2005. Forecasters underestimated the cyclone's strength and the length of time it would be in vicinity to Tokelau. It coincided with a spring [[tide]] which put most of the area of the two villages on Fakaofo and Nukunonu under a metre of seawater. The cyclone also caused major [[erosion]] on several islets of all three atolls, damaging roads and bridges and disrupting electric power and telecommunications systems. The cyclone did significant and widespread damage to food crops including bananas, [[coconut]]s and [[pandanus]]. It did not seriously injure anyone but villagers lost significant amounts of property.

No significant land is more than {{convert|2|m|ft|spell=in|abbr=off}} above [[high water]] of ordinary tides. This means Tokelau is particularly vulnerable to future [[sea level rise]].

===Time zone===
{{main|Time in New Zealand}}

Until December 2011, Tokelau was 11&nbsp;hours behind [[Coordinated Universal Time]] (UTC).<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/timezone.html?n=738&syear=2000
| title = UTC offset for years 2000–2009 in Fakaofo, Tokelau
| access-date = 7 August 2012
}}</ref> At midnight 29 December 2011 Tokelau shifted to [[UTC+13:00]] in response to Samoa's decision to switch sides of the International Dateline.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/timezone.html?n=738&syear=2010
| title = UTC offset for years 2010–2019 in Fakaofo, Tokelau
| access-date = 7 August 2012
}}</ref> This brought Tokelau closer to [[New Zealand]] time (and in the process omitted 30 December).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15197275 |title=Tokelau to join Samoa and leap forward over dateline |work=[[BBC News]] |date=6 October 2011 |access-date=1 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029123306/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15197275 |archive-date=29 October 2012 }}</ref>

The Time&Date website states that "the international time zone community has apparently been listing the wrong local time for Tokelau since 1901" and that "most sources, including the commonly referred to International Atlas by Shanks/Pottenger, claim that the UTC offset is +14 hours, or equivalent."<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/tokelau-wrong-time.html
| title = Tokelau: Wrong local time for over 100 years
| access-date = 7 August 2012
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140402175645/http://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/tokelau-wrong-time.html
| archive-date = 2 April 2014
}}</ref>