Editing Tokelau (section)

===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>