Niue – The Rock of Polynesia, settled around 900 CE
Archaeological evidence suggests Polynesians from Samoa settled Niue around 900 CE, and Niuean tradition records further arrivals from Tonga in the sixteenth century. For a long time there was no single ruler; chiefs and heads of families held authority until a succession of patu-iki, or kings, began with Puni-mata. Europeans first sighted the island under Captain James Cook in 1774; he was not permitted to land and called it Savage Island, a name that stuck for two centuries before Niue, meaning behold the coconut, came back into use. One of the world's largest coral islands, it is known today as The Rock, with a population of 1,689 at the 2022 census. Share your own memories and photographs with us.