Niue: History
Archaeological evidence suggests that Polynesians from Samoa settled on Niue around 900 CE. Further settlers arrived from Tonga in the form of a war party in the 16th century, according to Niuean tradition.
Until the beginning of the 18th century, Niue appeared to have had no national government or single leader; chiefs and heads of families exercised authority over segments of the population. A succession of patu-iki (kings) ruled, beginning with Puni-mata. Tui-toga, who reigned from 1875 to 1887, was the first of the country's kings to adopt Christianity.
The first Europeans to sight Niue sailed under Captain James Cook in 1774. Cook made three attempts to land, but the inhabitants refused to grant permission to do so. He named the island "Savage Island" because, as legend has it, the natives who "greeted" him were painted in what appeared to be blood. The red substance was actually hulahula, a native red fe'i banana. For the next couple of centuries, Niue was known as "Savage Island" until its original name, "Niue", which translates as "behold the coconut", regained use.
Whaling vessels were some of the most regular visitors to the island in the nineteenth century. The first on record was the Fanny in February 1824. The last known whaler to visit was the Albatross in November 1899.
The next documented European visitors represented the London Missionary Society, who arrived on the Messenger of Peace. After many years of trying to land a European missionary, they abducted a Niuean named Nukai Peniamina and trained him as a pastor at the Malua Theological College in Samoa.
Peniamina returned in 1846 on the John Williams as a missionary with the help of Toimata Fakafitifonua. He was finally allowed to land in Uluvehi Mutalau after a number of attempts in other villages had failed. The chiefs of Mutalau village allowed him to land and protected him day and night at the fort in Fupiu.
Christianity was first taught to the people of Mutalau before it spread to all the villages. Originally other major villages opposed the introduction of Christianity and had sought to kill Peniamina.
The people from the village of Hakupu, although the last village to receive Christianity, came and asked for a "word of God"; hence, their village was renamed "Ha Kupu Atua" meaning "any word of God", or "Hakupu" for short.
In July 1849, Captain John Erskine visited the island in HMS Havannah. …