View source for History of Tuvalu

{{Short description|none}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Culture of Tuvalu}}
The first inhabitants of [[Tuvalu]] were [[Polynesians]], so the [[Polynesia#History of the Polynesian people|origins of the people of Tuvalu]] can be traced to the spread of humans out of [[Southeast Asia]], from [[Taiwanese aborigines|Taiwan]], via [[Melanesia]] and across the Pacific islands of [[Polynesia]].

Various names were given to individual islands by the captains and chartmakers on visiting European ships. In 1819 the island of [[Funafuti]], was named Ellice Island; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands, after the work of English hydrographer [[Alexander George Findlay]].<ref>''A Directory for the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean: With Description of Its Coasts, Islands, Etc. from the Strait of Magalhaens to the Arctic Sea''</ref> 

The United States claimed [[Funafuti]], [[Nukufetau]], [[Nukulaelae]] and [[Niulakita]] under the [[Guano Islands Act]] of 1856. This claim was renounced under the 1983 treaty of friendship between [[Tuvalu]] and the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.doi.gov/oia/islands/disputedislands |title=DOI Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) – FORMERLY DISPUTED ISLANDS |date=12 June 2015 |publisher=Doi.gov |access-date=5 March 2017}}</ref>

The Ellice Islands came under Great Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century as the result of a treaty between Great Britain and Germany relating to the demarcation of the spheres of influence in the Pacific Ocean.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_between_Great_Britain_and_Germany_relating_to_the_Demarcation_of_the_Spheres_of_Influence |title=Declaration between the Governments of Great Britain and the German Empire relating to the Demarcation of the British and German Spheres of Influence in the Western Pacific, signed at Berlin, April 6, 1886|year=1886 |access-date=22 October 2017}}</ref> Each of the Ellice Islands was declared a [[Protectorate#British protectorates|British Protectorate]] by Captain [[Herbert William Sumner Gibson|Herbert Gibson]] of {{HMS|Curacoa|1878|6}}, between 9 and 16 October 1892.<ref name="TAHNPT">{{cite book |first1=Noatia P. |last1=Teo |editor-first1=Hugh |editor-last1=Larcy |title=Tuvalu: A History|year= 1983 |publisher= University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu|pages=127–139|chapter= Chapter 17, Colonial Rule }}</ref> The Ellice Islands were administered as part of the [[British Western Pacific Territories]] (BWPT) as British protectorate by a [[Resident Commissioner]] from 1892 to 1916, and then as part of the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]] Colony from 1916 to 1976. 

In 1974, the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu,<ref name="PIM174-8">{{cite web| last =| first =| work=  45(8) Pacific Islands Monthly |title=Moment of Decision for Ellice|date =1 August 1974|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-333436664/view?sectionId=nla.obj-338519758&partId=nla.obj-333504166#page/n17/mode/1up| access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref> which resulted in the Gilbert Islands becoming [[Kiribati]] upon independence.<ref name="TPBN">{{cite journal |first=W. David |last=McIntyre |title=The Partition of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands |url=http://www.islandstudies.ca/sites/islandstudies.ca/files/ISJ-7-1-2012-McIntyre.pdf |year=2012 |volume=7 |issue=1 |journal=Island Studies Journal |pages=135–146 |doi=10.24043/isj.266 |s2cid=130336446 |access-date=16 December 2012 |archive-date=2 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202095641/https://www.islandstudies.ca/sites/islandstudies.ca/files/ISJ-7-1-2012-McIntyre.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Colony of Tuvalu came into existence on 1 October 1975.<ref name="PIM175-5">{{cite web| last =| first =  | work= 46(5) Pacific Islands Monthly |title=Ellice goes it alone on October 1  |date =1 May 1975|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-334718231/view?sectionId=nla.obj-338653913&partId=nla.obj-334743035#page/n88/mode/1up| access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref> Tuvalu became fully independent within the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] on 1 October 1978. On 5 September 2000, Tuvalu became the [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1290|189th member]] of the [[United Nations]].

The [[Tuvalu National Library and Archives]] hold "vital documentation on the cultural, social and political heritage of Tuvalu", including surviving records from the colonial administration, as well as Tuvalu government archives.<ref name="bl.uk">[http://www.bl.uk/about/policies/endangeredarch/2006/rovery.html "Tuvalu National Archives major project"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202161907/http://www.bl.uk/about/policies/endangeredarch/2006/rovery.html |date=2 February 2007 }}, British Library</ref>
[[File:H-C-Fassett-Ellice-Is-1900.jpg|300px|right|thumb|alt=1900, Woman on Funafuti, Tuvalu, then known as Ellice Islands| Woman on Funafuti, [[Harry Clifford Fassett]] (1900).]]

{{see also|Timeline of the history of Tuvalu}}

==Early history==
{{see also|Tuvaluan mythology}}
[[File:Nukufetauman1831.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A man from the [[Nukufetau]] atoll, 1841, drawn by [[Alfred Agate]].]]
Tuvaluans are a Polynesian people, with the [[Polynesia#History of the Polynesian people|origins of the people of Tuvalu]] addressed in the theories regarding migration into the Pacific that began about 3000 years ago.<ref name=Howe>{{cite book |last=Howe |first=Kerry |title=The Quest for Origins |year=2003 |publisher=Penguin |location=New Zealand |isbn=0-14-301857-4 |pages=68, 70 }}</ref> There is evidence for a dual genetic origin of Pacific Islanders in Asia and [[Melanesia]], which results from an analysis of [[Y chromosome]] (NRY) and [[mitochondrial DNA]] (mtDNA) markers; there is also evidence that [[Fiji]] playing a pivotal role in west-to-east expansion within Polynesia.<ref name=ANT>{{cite web|title = Melanesian and Asian Origins of Polynesians: mtDNA and Y Chromosome Gradients Across the Pacific |work=Anthrocivitas.net|date = October 2009 | url=http://anthrocivitas.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5420| access-date=23 January 2014}}</ref>

During pre-European-contact times there was frequent canoe voyaging between the islands, as [[Polynesian navigation]] skills are recognised to have allowed deliberate journeys on [[Catamaran#Development in Oceania and Asia|double-hulled sailing canoes]] or [[outrigger canoe]]s.<ref name="Belwood1">{{cite book |last1= Bellwood|first1= Peter|title=The Polynesians – Prehistory of an Island People |year= 1987 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |pages=39–44}}</ref> Eight of the nine islands of Tuvalu were inhabited; thus the name, Tuvalu, means "eight standing together" in [[Tuvaluan language|Tuvaluan]] (compare to ''*walo'' meaning "eight" in [[Proto-Austronesian language#Numerals|Proto-Austronesian]]). Possible evidence of fire in the [[Caves of Nanumanga]] may indicate human occupation thousands of years before that. The pattern of settlement that is believed to have occurred is that the Polynesians spread out from the [[Samoa]]n Islands into the Tuvaluan atolls, with Tuvalu providing a stepping stone to migration into the [[Polynesian outliers|Polynesian Outlier communities]] in [[Melanesia]] and [[Micronesia]].<ref name="SSP">{{cite journal |author= Smith, S. Percy |title= The First Inhabitants of the Ellice Group |journal= Journal of the Pacific Society |volume= 6|year=1897 |pages=209–10}}</ref><ref name="Belwood2">{{cite book |last1= Bellwood|first1= Peter|title=The Polynesians – Prehistory of an Island People |year= 1987 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |pages=29 & 54}}</ref><ref name="Bayard">{{cite book |last1=Bayard|first1=D.T.|title=The Cultural Relationships of the Polynesian Outiers |year= 1976 |publisher=Otago University, Studies in Prehistoric Anthropology, Vol. 9}}</ref><ref name="Kirch">{{cite book |last1=Kirch|first1=P.V.|title=The Polynesian Outiers |year= 1984 |publisher=95 (4) Journal of Pacific History|pages=224–238 }}</ref>

[[File:Pacific Culture Areas.jpg|thumb|400px|Polynesia is the largest of three major cultural areas in the Pacific Ocean. Polynesia is generally defined as the islands within the [[Polynesian triangle]].]]
An important [[Tuvaluan mythology|creation myth of the islands of Tuvalu]] is the story of ''te Pusi mo te Ali'' (the Eel and the Flounder) who created the [[islands of Tuvalu]]; ''te Ali'' (the [[Bothidae|flounder]]) is believed to be the origin of the flat [[atoll]]s of Tuvalu and ''te Pusi'' (the [[Moray eel|eel]]) is the model for the [[coconut]] palms that are important in the lives of Tuvaluans. The stories as to the ancestors of the Tuvaluans vary from island to island. On [[Niutao]] the understanding is that their ancestors came from [[Samoa]] in the 12th or 13th century.<ref name="PAS">{{cite book |last1=Sogivalu, Pulekau A.|title=A Brief History of Niutao|year=1992|publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific |isbn=982-02-0058-X}}</ref> On [[Funafuti]] and [[Vaitupu]] the founding ancestor is described as being from Samoa;<ref name="Genesis 1983">{{cite book | author= Talakatoa O’Brien|  title=Tuvalu: A History, Chapter 1, Genesis| year= 1983 | publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu  }}</ref><ref name="Kennedy">{{cite journal | first=Donald G. | last=Kennedy | url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_38_1929/Field_notes_on_the_culture_of_Vaitupu%2C_Ellice_Islands%2C_by_Donald_Gilbert_Kennedy%2C_p_1-99/p1?action=null | title=Field Notes on the Culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands | journal=Journal of the Polynesian Society | volume=38 | year=1929 | pages=2–5 | access-date=14 April 2008 | archive-date=15 October 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015043119/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_38_1929/Field_notes_on_the_culture_of_Vaitupu%2C_Ellice_Islands%2C_by_Donald_Gilbert_Kennedy%2C_p_1-99/p1?action=null | url-status=dead }}</ref> whereas on [[Nanumea]] the founding ancestor is described as being from [[Tonga]].<ref name="Genesis 1983"/>

These stories can be linked to what is known about the Samoa-based [[Tu'i Manu'a Elisala|Tu'i Manu'a Confederacy]], ruled by the holders of the Tu'i Manú'a title, which confederacy likely included much of Western Polynesia and some outliers at the height of its power in the 10th and 11th centuries. 

Tuvalu was also thought to have been visited by Tongans in the mid-13th century and was within [[Tonga]]'s sphere of influence.<ref name="Kennedy"/> Captain [[James Cook]] observed and recorded his accounts of the [[Tuʻi Tonga]] kings during his visits to the Friendly Isles of Tonga.<ref name=BOT>{{cite book | last = Elizabeth Bott with the assistance of Tavi  |title= Tongan society at the time of Captain Cook's visits : discussions with Her Majesty Queen Salote Tupou |publisher= Polynesian Society |location= Wellington, New Zealand |pages=|year =1982 }}</ref><ref name="ALK">{{cite journal |author= Adrienne L. Kaeppler|url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/2798262 |title= Eighteenth Century Tonga: New Interpretations of Tongan Society and Material Culture at the Time of Captain Cook|journal= Man - Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=6 (2)|date= June 1971|issue= 1|pages=204–220 |doi= 10.2307/2798262 |jstor= 2798262 |url-access= subscription}}</ref><ref name="JPS">{{cite journal |author= |url= https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/23700060/captain-cooks-view-of-tonga-the-journal-of-the-polynesian-society|title= An Account of Eighteenth Century Tonga – Chapter 1: Captain Cook's view of Tonga|journal= Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume=|date= 15 March 2014 |issue= |pages=11–55}}</ref> By observing such Pacific cultures as Tuvalu and [[Wallis (island)|Uvea]], the influence of the Tuʻi Tonga line of Tongan kings and the existence of the [[Tuʻi Tonga Empire]], which originated in the 10th century, was quite strong and has had more of an impact in Polynesia and also parts of Micronesia than the Tu'i Manu'a.

The oral history of [[Niutao]] recalls that in the 15th century Tongan warriors were defeated in a battle on the reef of Niutao. Tongan warriors also invaded Niutao later in the 15th century and again were repelled. A third and fourth invasion of Tongan occurred in the late 16th century, again with the Tongans being defeated.<ref name="PAS"/>

Tuvalu is on the western boundary of the [[Polynesian Triangle]] so that the northern islands of Tuvalu, particularly [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]], have links to [[Micronesians]] from [[Kiribati]].<ref name="Genesis 1983"/> The oral history of Niutao also recalls that during the 17th century warriors invaded from the islands of Kiribati on two occasions and were defeated in battles fought on the reef.<ref name="PAS"/>

==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>

==Trading firms & traders==
[[File:Tv-map.png|thumb|250px|A map of Tuvalu.]]
John (also known as Jack) O'Brien was the first European to settle in Tuvalu, he became a trader on [[Funafuti]] in the 1850s. He married Salai, the daughter of the paramount chief of Funafuti. The Sydney firms of [[Robert Towns|Robert Towns and Company]], J. C. Malcolm and Company, and Macdonald, Smith and Company, pioneered the coconut-oil trade in Tuvalu.<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 German firm of [[Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy|J.C. Godeffroy und Sohn]] of Hamburg<ref name="SM">{{cite web| last = Masterman| first = Sylvia |title= The Origins of International Rivalry in Samoa: 1845–1884, Chapter ii. The Godeffroy Firm|publisher= George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London [[NZETC]] |page=63|year =1934|url= http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-MasOrig-t1-body1-d4-d2.html| access-date=15 April 2013}}</ref> established operations in [[Apia]], [[Samoa]]. In 1865 a trading captain acting on behalf of J.C. Godeffroy und Sohn obtained a 25-year lease to the eastern islet of [[Niuoko]] of [[Nukulaelae]] atoll.<ref name="GP">{{cite book |author1=Suamalie N.T. Iosefa |author2=Doug Munro |author3=Niko Besnier |title=Tala O Niuoku, Te: the German Plantation on Nukulaelae Atoll 1865–1890 | year= 1991 | publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies |isbn=9820200733}}</ref>

For many years the islanders and the Germans argued over the lease, including its terms and the importation of labourers, however the Germans remained until the lease expired in 1890.<ref name="GP"/> By the 1870s J. C. Godeffroy und Sohn began to dominate the Tuvalu [[copra]] trade, which company was in 1879 taken over by Handels-und Plantagen-Gesellschaft der Südsee-Inseln zu Hamburg (DHPG). Competition came from Ruge, Hedemann & Co, established in 1875,<ref name="SM"/> which was succeeded by H. M. Ruge and Company, and from [[Thomas Henderson (New Zealand politician)|Henderson and Macfarlane]] of Auckland, New Zealand.<ref name="Flude">[http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/CSL/ ''The Circular Saw Shipping Line.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609213056/http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/CSL/ |date=9 June 2011 }} Anthony G. Flude. 1993. (Chapter 7)</ref>

These trading companies engaged [[palagi]] traders who lived on the islands, some islands would have competing traders with dryer islands only have a single trader. [[George Lewis Becke|Louis Becke]], who later found success as a writer, was a trader on [[Nanumanga]], working with the Liverpool firm of John S. de Wolf and Co., from April 1880 until the trading-station was destroyed later that year in a [[cyclone]]. He then became a trader on [[Nukufetau]].<ref name="SON">{{cite web|first= Sally|last= O'Neill |title = Becke, George Lewis (Louis) (1855–1913)| year=1980|url= https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/becke-george-lewis-louis-5177/text8699|publisher= Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |access-date=23 March 2013}}</ref><ref name="M&D">{{cite book |author1=James A. Mitchener |author2=A. Grove Day |title= Rascals in Paradise |year=1957 |publisher= Secker & Warburg |chapter= Louis Beck, Adventurer and Writer }}</ref> George Westbrook and [[Alfred Restieaux]] operated trade stores on Funafuti, which were destroyed in a cyclone that struck in 1883.<ref name="H83">{{cite book |last1=Resture|first1= Jane |title= Hurricane 1883 |url= http://www.janeresture.com/hurribebe/hurricanebebe2.htm |publisher= Tuvalu and the Hurricanes: 'Gods Who Die' by Julian Dana as told by George Westbrook}}</ref>

H. M. Ruge and Company, a German trading firm that operated from Apia, Samoa, caused controversy when it threatened to seize the entire island of [[Vaitupu]] unless a debt of $13,000 was repaid.<ref name="DMTM">{{cite book |author1=Doug Munro |author2=Teloma Munro |title= The Rise and Fall of the Vaitupu Company: An Episode in the Commercial History of Tuvalu |year=1985|publisher= 20 (4) Journal of Pacific History 174-90}}</ref> The debt was the result of the failed operations of the Vaitupu Company, which had been established by Thomas William Williams, with part of the debt relating to the attempts to operate the trading schooner ''Vaitupulemele''.<ref name="NZH">{{cite news |work =[[New Zealand Herald]] |volume=XVI |issue=5545 |date= 25 August 1879 |page=4 |url= http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZH18790825.2.9&l=mi&e=-------10--1----0tararua+campbell-- |title=Shipping News}}</ref> The Vaitupuans continue to celebrate Te Aso Fiafia (Happy Day) on 25 November of each year. Te Aso Fiafia commemorates 25 November 1887 which was the date on which the final instalment of the debt of $13,000 was repaid.<ref name="TP">{{cite web|last=Panapa |first=Tufoua |title=Ethnographic Research on Meanings and Practices of Health in Tuvalu: A Community Report |publisher=Report to the Tuvaluan Ministries of Health and Education: PhD Candidate Centre for Development Studies – "Transnational Pacific Health through the Lens of Tuberculosis" Research Group. Department of Anthropology, The University of Auckland, N.Z. |year=2012 |url=http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/webdav/site/arts/shared/Departments/anthropology/documents-publications/Tufoua%20Ethnographic%20Research%20on%20Meanings%20and%20Practices%20of%20Health%20in%20Tuvalu%20final.pdf |access-date=5 April 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Martin Kleis family.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Martin Kleis (1850–1908) with Kotalo Kleis and their son Hans Martin Kleis.]]
From the late 1880s changes occurred with steamships replacing sailing vessels. Over time the number of competing trading companies diminished, beginning with Ruge's bankruptcy in 1888 followed by the withdrawal of the DHPG from trading in Tuvalu in 1889/90. In 1892 Captain [[Edward H. M. Davis|Edward Davis]] of {{HMS|Royalist|1883|6}}, reported on trading activities and traders on each of the islands visited. Captain Davis identified the following traders in the Ellice Group: Edmund Duffy ([[Nanumea]]); [[Jack Buckland]] ([[Niutao]]); Harry Nitz ([[Vaitupu]]); John (also known as Jack) O'Brien (Funafuti); [[Alfred Restieaux]] and Emile Fenisot ([[Nukufetau]]); and [[Christian Martin Kleis|Martin Kleis]] ([[Nui (atoll)|Nui]]).<ref name="JRdd">{{cite book|first= |last= |title = The proceedings of H.M.S. "Royalist", Captain E.H.M. Davis, R.N., May-August, 1892, in the Gilbert, Ellice and Marshall Islands}}</ref> The 1880s was the time at which the greatest number of [[palagi]] traders lived on the atolls.<ref name="Doug Munro 1987"/> In 1892 the traders either acted as agent for [[Thomas Henderson (New Zealand politician)|Henderson and Macfarlane]], or traded on their own account.<ref>{{cite web|first= Jane|last= Resture|title = ''TUVALU HISTORY'' – 'The Davis Diaries' (''H.M.S. Royalist'', ''1892 visit to Ellice Islands under Captain Davis'')|url= http://www.janeresture.com/tuvalu_davis/index.htm|access-date=20 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830021646/http://www.janeresture.com/tuvalu_davis/index.htm |archive-date=30 August 2011}}</ref>

From around 1900, Henderson and Macfarlane operating their vessel SS ''Archer'' in the South Pacific with a trading route to [[Fiji]] and the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]].<ref name="Doug Munro 1987"/><ref name="Archer">{{cite web|title = SS Archer (1883–1946)|url= http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?50490 |access-date= 5 December 2013}}</ref> New competition came from [[Burns Philp]], operating from what is now [[Kiribati]], with competition from [[Levers Pacific Plantations]] starting in 1903. Captain Ernest Frederick Hughes Allen of the Samoa Shipping and Trading Company competed for [[copra]] in the Ellice Islands, and the sale of goods to the islanders, when he built a trading store on Funafuti in 1911. In June 1914 he made Funafuti the operational base of the company, until the company was liquidated in 1925.<ref name="EFHA">{{cite book| last = Laracy  | first =Hugh |title= Ernest Frederick Hughes Allen (1867–1924): South Seas trader|publisher= Further Pacific Islands Portraits (Watriama and Co) |page=127-140|year =2013| doi =10.22459/WC.10.2013 | doi-access =free | isbn =978-1-921666-33-9 |url= https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/watriama-and-co | accessdate=22 March 2024}}</ref> [[Burns Philp]] continued to operate in the Ellice Islands, the company transferred the wooden auxiliary [[schooner]] ''Murua'' (253 tons) to the [[Tarawa]] - Ellice Islands run, until the vessel was wrecked at [[Nanumea]] in April 1921.<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><ref>{{cite news |last1= |first1= |title= Schooner Wrecked - |url= https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/1243743|access-date=20 February 2024 |work= The Sydney Morning Herald, Page 12|date=27 August 1921}}</ref>

After the high point in the 1880s, the numbers of palagi traders in Tuvalu declined.<ref name="Doug Munro 1987"/> In the 1890s, structural changes occurred in the operation of the Pacific trading companies; they moved from a practice of having traders resident on each island to instead becoming a business operation where the [[supercargo]] (the cargo manager of a trading ship) would deal directly with the islanders when a ship visited an island.<ref name="Doug Munro 1987"/> By 1909 there were no resident palagi traders representing the trading firms.<ref>Doug Munro, ''The Lives and Times of Resident Traders in Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below'', (1987) 10(2) Pacific Studies 73, citing, Mahaffy, Arthur 1909 "Report ... on the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorates." CO 225/86/26804; Wallin, F. 1910 "Report of 30 January 1910 on the Gilbert, Ellice and Marshall Islands", BPh</ref><ref name="AM1909">{{cite book |last1= Mahaffy |first1= Arthur |title= Report by Mr. Arthur Mahaffy on a visit to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands |year=1910|publisher= Great Britain, Colonial Office, High Commission for Western Pacific Islands (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office)|chapter=(CO 225/86/26804)|chapter-url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2367/ }}</ref> The last of the traders were [[Christian Martin Kleis|Martin Kleis]] on Nui,<ref name="AM1909"/><ref name="TPB12">{{cite web|title = Christian Martin Kleis|url= http://stampsoftuvalu.com/newsletter/2012-02.pdf|year=2012 |publisher= TPB 02/2012 Tuvalu Philatelic Bureau  |access-date=  19 November 2018}}</ref> [[Fred Whibley]] on [[Niutao]] and Alfred Restieaux on Nukufetau;<ref name="AR1">{{cite book|first= Alfred |last= Restieaux |title = Recollections of a South Seas Trader – Reminiscences of Alfred Restieaux |publisher= National Library of New Zealand, MS 7022-2}}</ref><ref name="AR2">{{cite book|first= Alfred |last= Restieaux |title = Reminiscences - Alfred Restieaux Part 2 (Pacific Islands) |publisher= National Library of New Zealand, MS-Papers-0061-079A}}</ref> who remained in the islands until their deaths.

Tuvaluans became responsible for operating trading stores on each island.<ref name="Doug Munro 1987"/> In 1926, [[Donald Gilbert Kennedy]] was the headmaster of Elisefou (New Ellice) on [[Vaitupu]]. He was instrumental in establishing the first co-operative store (''fusi'') on Vaitupu, which became a model for the bulk purchasing and selling cooperative stores established in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony to replace the stores operated by [[Palangi]] traders.<ref name="LH1">{{cite book |author1= Laracy, Hugh |title= Watriama and Co: Further Pacific Islands Portraits |year= 2013 |publisher= Australian National University Press |isbn=9781921666322|chapter=Chapter 11 - Donald Gilbert Kennedy (1897-1967) An outsider in the Colonial Service |chapter-url= http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p260041/pdf/ch113.pdf }}</ref>

==Scientific expeditions & travellers==
[[File:Tuvaluwoman1894.jpg|400px|right|thumb|A portrait of a woman on [[Funafuti]] in 1894 by Count Rudolf Festetics de Tolna.]]
[[File:The atoll of Funafuti; borings into a coral reef and the results, being the report of the Coral Reef Committee of the Royal Society (1904) (14765813295).jpg|250px|right|thumb|The atoll of Funafuti; borings into a coral reef and the results, being the report of the Coral Reef Committee of the Royal Society (1904).]]
[[File:Main Street in Funafuti(GN00313).jpg|250px|right|thumb|Main Street in Funafuti, (circa 1905).]]
The [[United States Exploring Expedition]], under Charles Wilkes, visited [[Funafuti]], [[Nukufetau]] and [[Vaitupu]] in 1841.<ref name=Tyler>{{cite book|last1=Tyler|first1=David B.|title=The First United States Exploring Expedition (1838–42)|date=1968|publisher=American Philosophical Society, ASIN: B000GPF7CK|location=Philadelphia}}</ref><ref name=Stanton>{{cite book|last1=Stanton|first1=William|title=The Great United States Exploring Expedition|date=1975|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=0520025571|pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatunitedstate00will/page/240 240]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/greatunitedstate00will/page/240}}</ref> During the visit, [[Alfred Thomas Agate]], engraver and illustrator, recorded the clothing and [[tattoo]] patterns of men of Nukufetau.<ref name="smith">{{cite book |first=Charles|last=Wilkes|title =Ellice's and Kingsmill's Group|url=http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/usexex/|publisher=The First United States Exploring Expedition (1838–42) [[Smithsonian Institution]]|page= Vol. 5, Ch. 2 pp. 35–75}}</ref>

In 1885 or 1886, the New Zealand photographer [[Thomas Andrew (photographer)|Thomas Andrew]] visited Funafuti<ref name="AT2">{{cite web| last =Andrew | first =Thomas |title= Washing Hole Funafuti. From the album: Views in the Pacific Islands|publisher= Collection of Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa)|year =1886 |url= http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?irn=1238498| access-date=10 April 2014}}</ref> and [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]].<ref name="AT3">{{cite web| last =Andrew | first =Thomas |title= Mission House Nui. From the album: Views in the Pacific Islands|publisher= Collection of Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa)|year =1886 |url= http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?irn=1238504| access-date=10 April 2014}}</ref><ref name="AT4">{{cite web| last =Andrew | first =Thomas |title= Bread fruit tree Nui. From the album: Views in the Pacific Islands|publisher= Collection of Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa)|year =1886 |url= http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?irn=1238500| access-date=10 April 2014}}</ref>

In 1890 [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], his wife [[Fanny Van de Grift|Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson]], and her son [[Lloyd Osbourne]] sailed on the ''Janet Nicoll'', a trading steamer owned by Henderson and Macfarlane of Auckland, New Zealand, which operated between Sydney, Auckland and into the central Pacific. The ''Janet Nicoll'' visited three of the Ellice Islands; while Fanny records that they made landfall at [[Funafuti]], [[Niutao]] and [[Nanumea]]; however Jane Resture suggests that it was more likely they landed at Nukufetau rather than Funafuti,<ref name=RSL>{{cite web|title=The Tuvalu Visit of Robert Louis Stevenson|url=http://www.janeresture.com/index.htm |publisher= Jane Resture’s Oceania |access-date=20 December 2001|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051215064230/http://www.janeresture.com/index.htm |archive-date=15 December 2005}}</ref> as Fanny describes meeting [[Alfred Restieaux]] and his wife Litia; however they had been living on [[Nukufetau]] since the 1880s.<ref name="AR1"/><ref name="AR2"/> An account of the voyage was written by Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson and published under the title ''The Cruise of the Janet Nichol'',<ref name="RJ4">{{cite book|last= A Diary by Mrs Robert Louis Stevenson  |title = The Cruise of the Janet Nichol among the South Sea Islands|publisher= ' (first published 1914). Roslyn Jolly (editor) republished 2004 by U. of Washington Press/U. of New South Wales Press }}</ref>{{#tag:ref|''Janet Nicoll'' is the correct spelling of the trading steamer owned by Henderson and Macfarlane of Auckland, New Zealand, which operated between Sydney, Auckland and into the central Pacific. Fanny Vandegrift Stevenson miss-names the ship as the ''Janet Nicol'' in her account of the 1890 voyage.|group=Note}} together with photographs taken by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne.

In 1894 Count Rudolf [[Festetics family|Festetics]] de Tolna,<ref name="FEST">{{cite web|title=Festetics de Tolna family tree| url=http://genealogy.euweb.cz/hung/festet2.html |access-date=29 July 2017}}</ref> his wife Eila (née Haggin) and her daughter Blanche Haggin visited Funafuti aboard the yacht ''Le Tolna''.<ref>Festetics De Tolna, Comte Rodolphe, ''Chez les cannibales: huit ans de croisière dans l'océan Pacifique à bord du'', Paris : Plon-Nourrit, 1903</ref><ref name="QBFR">{{cite book |title= "The Aristocrat and His Cannibals" Count Festetics von Tolna's travels in Oceania, 1893–1896 |publisher= musée du quai Branly|date=2007}}</ref> ''Le Tolna'' spent several days at Funafuti with the Count photographing men and women on Funafuti.<ref name="NMK">{{cite web|title= Néprajzi Múzeum Könyvtára|url= http://www.neprajz.hu |publisher= The library of the Ethnographic Museum of Hungary|access-date=20 September 2011}}</ref>

The boreholes on Funafuti at the site now called ''Darwin's Drill'',<ref name="PDN">{{cite book|last1=Lal|first1=Andrick|title=South Pacific Sea Level & Climate Monitoring Project – Funafuti atoll|url=http://www.pacificdisaster.net/oip/FinalReport/Annex/3_Survey%20LDP/Survey_Diagrams_JPACE-TV.pdf|publisher=SPC Applied Geoscience and Technology Division (SOPAC Division of SPC)|pages=35 & 40|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203011855/http://www.pacificdisaster.net/oip/FinalReport/Annex/3_Survey%20LDP/Survey_Diagrams_JPACE-TV.pdf|archive-date=3 February 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> are the result of drilling conducted by the [[Royal Society of London]] for the purpose of investigating the [[formation of coral reefs]] and the question as to whether traces of shallow water organisms could be found at depth in the [[coral]] of Pacific [[atolls]]. This investigation followed the work on [[The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs]] conducted by [[Charles Darwin]] in the Pacific. Drilling occurred in 1896, 1897 and 1911. In 1896 Professor [[Edgeworth David]] of the [[University of Sydney]] went to the Pacific atoll of Funafuti as part of the ''Funafuti Coral Reef Boring Expedition of the Royal Society'', under [[William Johnson Sollas|Professor William Sollas]].<ref name="MrsDavid">{{cite book |last1= David, Mrs Edgeworth  |authorlink1= |title= Funafuti or Three Months on a Coral Atoll: an unscientific account of a scientific expedition |url= |format= |accessdate=  |year=1899|publisher= John Murray |location= London |language= |isbn=|oclc= |doi= |id= |page= |pages=|chapter= |quote= |bibcode= }}</ref> There were defects in the boring machinery and the bore penetrated only slightly more than 100 feet (approx. 31&nbsp;m).

Prof. Sollas published a report on the study of Funafuti atoll,<ref name="JSW">{{cite journal |author= Sollas, William J. |title= Funafati: the study of a coral atoll|journal= Natural Science|volume= 14|year= 1899 |pages=17–37 }}</ref>  and [[Charles Hedley]], a naturalist, at the [[Australian Museum]], collected [[Invertebrate]] and [[Ethnological]] objects on Funafuti. The descriptions of these were published in ''Memoir III of the Australian Museum Sydney'' between 1896 and 1900. Hedley also write the ''General Account of the Atoll of Funafuti'',<ref name="CH1">{{cite book |last1= Hedley |first1= Charles |title= General account of the Atoll of Funafuti |url= http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16686/487_complete.pdf |year= 1896 |publisher= Australian Museum Memoir 3(2): 1–72 |access-date= 28 September 2013 |archive-date= 15 October 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131015112253/http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16686/487_complete.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref> ''The Ethnology of Funafuti''<ref name="CH2">{{cite book |last1= Hedley |first1= Charles|title= The ethnology of Funafuti |url= http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16696/497_complete.pdf |year= 1897 |publisher= Australian Museum Memoir 3(4): 227–304}}</ref> and ''The Mollusca of Funafuti''.<ref>Denis Fairfax, '[https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hedley-charles-6628 Hedley, Charles (1862–1926)]', ''[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]]'', Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, pp 252–253. Retrieved 5 May 2013</ref><ref name="Serle">{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Charles|Last=Hedley|shortlink=0-dict-biogHa-He.html#hedley1|access-date=5 May 2013}}</ref> [[Edgar Ravenswood Waite|Edgar Waite]] also was part of the 1896 expedition and published an account of ''The mammals, reptiles, and fishes of Funafuti''.<ref name="ERW">{{cite book |last1= Waite |first1= Edgar R. |title= The mammals, reptiles, and fishes of Funafuti |url= http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16695/494_complete.pdf |year= 1897 |publisher= Australian Museum Memoir 3(3): 165–202 |access-date= 28 September 2013 |archive-date= 9 September 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160909015549/http://australianmuseum.net.au/uploads/journals/16695/494_complete.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref> [[William Joseph Rainbow|William Rainbow]] described the spiders and insects collected at Funafuti in ''The insect fauna of Funafuti''.<ref name="WJR">{{cite book |last1= Rainbow |first1= William J. |title= The insect fauna of Funafuti |url= http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16690/490_complete.pdf |year= 1897 |publisher= Australian Museum Memoir 3(1): 89–104 |access-date= 28 September 2013 |archive-date= 9 September 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160909015505/http://australianmuseum.net.au/uploads/journals/16690/490_complete.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>

In 1897 Edgeworth David led a second expedition (that included [[George Sweet]] as second-in-command, and [[Walter George Woolnough]]) which succeeded in reaching a depth of {{convert|557|ft|m}}. David then organised a third expedition in 1898 which, under the leadership of Dr. [[Alfred Edmund Finckh]], was successful in deepening the bore to {{convert|1114|ft|m}}.<ref name="SMH1897">{{cite news |url=http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16695/494_complete.pdf |title=The Funafuti Coral-Boring Expedition, Address by Professor David |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=11 December 1897 |access-date=20 June 2012 |page=6 |archive-date=9 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160909015549/http://australianmuseum.net.au/uploads/journals/16695/494_complete.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17092086 |title=TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=11 September 1934 |access-date=20 June 2012 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The results provided support for [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of subsidence.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9782421 |title=CORAL FORMATION. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=10 December 1897 |access-date=19 June 2012 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Cara Edgeworth accompanied her husband on the second expedition and published a well-received account called ''Funafuti, or Three Months on a Coral Island''.<ref name="MrsDavid"/> Photographers on the expeditions recorded people, communities and scenes at Funafuti.<ref name="USydL">{{cite web|title= Photography Collection|url= http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/|publisher= University of Sydney Library|access-date= 20 September 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110925165211/http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/rare/|archive-date= 25 September 2011|url-status= dead}}</ref>

[[Harry Clifford Fassett]], captain's clerk and photographer, recorded people, communities and scenes at Funafuti in 1900 during a visit of [[USS Albatross (1882)|USFC ''Albatross'']] when the [[United States Fish Commission]] were investigating the [[formation of coral reefs]] on Pacific [[atoll]]s.<ref name="NARA">{{cite web|title=National Archives & Records Administration|url=https://www.archives.gov|publisher= Records of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S.|access-date=20 September 2011}}</ref>

==Pre-Christian beliefs==
Laumua Kofe (1983) describes the objects of worship as varying from island to island, although ancestor worship was described by the Rev. Samuel James Whitmee in 1870 as being common practice.<ref name="SJM">{{cite book |last1= Whitmee |first1= 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= J. Cook & Co, Sydney }}</ref><ref>Kofe, Laumua "Old Time Religion" in ''Tuvalu: A History''</ref>

In 1896 [[William Johnson Sollas|Professor William Sollas]] went to [[Funafuti]] as the leader of the ''Funafuti Coral Reef Boring Expedition of the Royal Society'', and with the assistance of Jack O'Brien (as interpreter), he recorded an oral history of Funafuti given by Erivara, the chief of Funafuti, which he published as ''The Legendary History of Funafuti''.<ref name="Sollas">{{cite journal |author= Sollas, William J.|url= https://www.nature.com/articles/055353a0.pdf  |title= The Legendary History of Funafuti|journal= Nature|volume= 55|issue= 11 |year= 1897 |pages=353–355 |doi= 10.1038/055353a0 |doi-access= free }}</ref> Erivara provided an account of the kings (chiefs) of Funafuti and a description of the spiritual beliefs before the introduction of Christianity. The beliefs evolved over time. In the beginning the people worshipped the powers of nature, such as thunder and lightening, as well as birds and fishes.<ref name="Sollas"/> Then the [[Animism|worship of spirits]] became the belief system, such as Tufakala who was named after a variety of seagull. Eventually the belief system was centred on the priests or spirit-masters (''vaka-atua'' or ''vakatua''), who were the intermediaries between the people and spirits, [[Deity|deities]] and [[Fetishism|fetish]] objects, such as an unusual red stone called the Teo.<ref name="Sollas"/>   Another fetish object was a hat made out of red, white and black pandanus leaves and adorned with white shells, called the Pulau, which was said to be the hat of Firapu, an ancestor who had been deified.<ref name="Sollas"/>  Daily activities such as fishing and cultivation of crops were connected to ceremonies involving the fetish objects and to specific spirits or deities. The ''vaka-atua'' were also the healers.<ref name="Sollas"/> Erivara described the destruction of the fetish houses, and the influence of the ''vaka-atua'', by the trader Jack O’Brien in the decade before the arrival of Christian missionaries on Funafuti.<ref name="Sollas"/>

==The arrival of Christian missionaries==
Traders, such as Tom Rose at Nukulaelae and Robert Waters at Nui, actively proselytized Christianity. Rose by holding services on Sundays. Although Waters, and other traders, such Charlie Douglas at Niutao and Jack O’Brien at Funafuti, had economic motives in destroying the ancient religions so that the islanders were more focused on the copra and coconut oil trade.<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 first Christian missionary came to Tuvalu in 1861 when [[Elekana]], a Christian deacon from [[Manihiki]] in the [[Cook Islands]] became caught in a storm and drifted for 8 weeks before landing at [[Nukulaelae]].<ref name="AB2">{{cite journal |author= Goldsmith, M. and Munro, D. |title= Encountering Elekana Encountering Tuvalu |journal= Rubinstein, D.H. Ed. Pacific History: Papers from the 8th Pacific History Association Conference |year=1992 |pages=25–41}}</ref><ref name="MGDM">{{cite book |author1=Michael Goldsmith |author2=Doug Munro |title= The accidental missionary: tales of Elekana|year= 2002 |publisher= Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury }}</ref> Once there, Elekana began [[proselytism|proselytizing]] Christianity.<ref name="Laumua Kofe 1983"/> He was trained at [[Malua|Malua Theological College]], a [[London Missionary Society]] school in Samoa, before beginning his work in establishing what became the Church of Tuvalu.<ref name="Laumua Kofe 1983"/><ref name="AB1">{{cite journal |author= Goldsmith, M. and Munro, D. |title= Conversion and Church Formation in Tuvalu |journal= Journal of Pacific History |volume=27 |issue= 1|year=1992 |pages=44–54|doi= 10.1080/00223349208572690}}</ref>

In 1865 the Rev. Archibald Wright Murray of the London Missionary Society – a [[Protestant]] [[Congregational churches|congregationalist]] missionary society – arrived as the first European missionary where he too [[proselytism|proselytized]] among the Ellice Islanders.<ref name="MAW">{{cite journal |author= Murray, A.W. |title= Missionary Voyage to the Lagoon Islands |journal= Missionary Magazine |volume= December|year=1865 |pages=335–45}}</ref> The Rev. Samuel James Whitmee visited the islands 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> By 1878 Protestantism was well established with preachers on each island.<ref name="Laumua Kofe 1983"/> In the later 19th century the ministers of what became the [[Church of Tuvalu]] were predominantly Samoans,<ref name="MDKT">{{cite book |last1=Munro |first1= Doug |title= Kirisome and Tema: Samoan Pastors in the Ellice Islands|year= 1978 |publisher= Deryck Scarr (ed.), More Pacific Islands Portraits |location=Canberra }}</ref> who influenced the development of the [[Tuvaluan language]] and the [[music of Tuvalu]].<ref name="MD">{{cite book|first=D. |last= Munro |title = Samoan Pastors in Tuvalu, 1865–1899|year=1996  |publisher= Suva, Fiji, Pacific Theological College and the University of the South Pacific |pages=124–157|chapter= D. Munro & A. Thornley (eds.) The Covenant Makers: Islander Missionaries in the Pacific }}</ref>  Westbrook, a trader on Funafuti, reported that the pastors impose strict rules on all people on the island, including demanding attendance at church and forbidding cooking on a Sunday.<ref name="PIM1931">{{cite web| last = Westbrook, G.E.L.| work= II(5) Pacific Islands Monthly |title= Missions – Good and Bad|date = 18 December 1931|url= https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-310832318/view?partId=nla.obj-310845956#page/n13/mode/1up | access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="PIM1969-4">{{cite web| last =| first =  | work= 40(4) Pacific Islands Monthly |title=Do Ellice pastors have too much influence? |date =1 April 1969|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-327781502/view?sectionId=nla.obj-336031991&partId=nla.obj-327848342#page/n68/mode/1up| access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref>

==Colonial administration==
[[SMS Ariadne (1871)|''SMS Ariadne'']], a [[steam corvette]] of the German {{lang|de|[[Kaiserliche Marine]]}} (Imperial Navy), called at [[Funafuti]] and [[Vaitupu]] in 1878.<ref name="DM87">{{cite journal |author= Munro, Doug|url= https://lir.byuh.edu/index.php/pacific/article/view/2088 |title= The Lives and Times of Resident Traders in Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below |journal= Pacific Studies |volume=10 |year=1987 |issue= 2 |pages=73}}</ref> Captain Werner imposed trade and friendship treaties on the islanders giving Germany most-favored-nation treatment, and he intervened to assist the DHPG trader at Vaitupu, Harry Nitz, in a dispute over land.<ref name="DM87"/> In 1883 [[SMS Hyäne (1878)| ''SMS Hyäne'']], a [[gunboat]], called at Funafuti.<ref name="DM87"/>

In 1886 Britain and Germany [[Anglo-German Declarations about the Western Pacific Ocean|agreed to divide up]] the western and central Pacific, with each claiming a 'sphere of influence'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_between_Great_Britain_and_Germany_relating_to_the_Demarcation_of_the_Spheres_of_Influence |title=Declaration between the Governments of Great Britain and the German Empire relating to the Demarcation of the British and German Spheres of Influence in the Western Pacific, signed at Berlin, April 6, 1886|year=1886 |access-date=22 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="TAHNPT"/> In the previous decade German traders had become active in the [[Solomon Islands]], [[New Guinea]], [[Marshall Islands]] and the [[Caroline Islands]]. In 1877 the Governor of Fiji was given the additional title of High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. However, the claim of a 'sphere of influence' that included the Ellice Islands and the Gilbert Islands did not result in the immediate move to govern those islands.<ref name="TAHNPT"/> 

Ships of the [[Royal Navy]] known to have visited the islands in the 19th century are: 
* {{HMS|Basilisk|1848|3}}, under Captain [[John Moresby]],<ref name="JM">{{cite web| last =  Beale | first = Howard |title= John Moresby (1830–1922) |publisher= Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5 |page=|year =2006|url= https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/moresby-john-4241 | accessdate=21 March 2024}}</ref> visited the islands in July 1872.<ref name="Newton 1967">{{cite book|author= W.F. Newton |title=The Early Population of the Ellice Islands| year= 1967 | publisher= The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 197–204}}</ref> 
* {{HMS|Emerald|1876|3}}, under Captain [[William Henry Maxwell (Royal Navy)| William Maxwell]], visited the islands in 1881.<ref name="Munro 1987">{{cite book| author= Doug Munro| title=The Lives and Times of Resident Traders in Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below| year= 1987 | publisher= 10(2) Pacific Studies 73 }}</ref>
* {{HMS|Miranda|1879|6}}, under Commander [[Sir William Acland, 2nd Baronet|Dyke Acland]],<ref name="YD">{{cite web| last =  S. Ablott|title= Schooner 'Young Dick'|publisher= Burton upon Stather Heritage Group|page=|date = 1 May 2014|url= https://burtonstatherheritage.org/shipping/76-young-dick| accessdate=19 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="WDA">{{cite news| last =| first = |title= Admiral Sir W. A. Dyke Acland (Obituaries)|publisher= The Times (Issue 43820)|page=14|date= 27 November 1924}}</ref> visited many of the islands in 1886.
* {{HMS|Royalist|1883|6}}, under Captain [[Edward H. M. Davis|Edward Davis]], visited each of the Ellice Islands in 1892 and reported on trading activities and traders on each of the islands visited.<ref name="JRCD">{{cite book|first= |last= |title = The proceedings of H.M.S. "Royalist", Captain E.H.M. Davis, R.N., May-August, 1892, in the Gilbert, Ellice and Marshall Islands}}</ref> Captain Davis reported that the islanders wanted him to hoist the British flag on the islands, however Captain Davis did not have any orders regarding such a formal act.<ref name="JRJR">{{cite web|first= Jane|last= Resture|title = ''TUVALU HISTORY'' – 'The Davis Diaries' (''H.M.S. Royalist'', ''1892 visit to Ellice Islands under Captain Davis'')|url= http://www.janeresture.com/tuvalu_davis/index.htm|access-date=20 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830021646/http://www.janeresture.com/tuvalu_davis/index.htm |archive-date=30 August 2011}}</ref>
* {{HMS|Curacoa|1878|6}}, under Captain [[Herbert William Sumner Gibson|Herbert Gibson]], was sent to the Ellice Islands and between 9 and 16 October 1892. Captain Gibson visited each of the islands to make a formal declaration that the islands were to be a British [[protectorate]].<ref name="TAHNPT"/>
* {{HMS|Penguin|1876|6}}, under Captain [[Arthur Mostyn Field]], delivered the Funafuti Coral Reef Boring Expedition of the Royal Society to [[Funafuti]], arriving on 21 May 1896 and returned to [[Sydney]] on 22 August 1896.<ref name="CH-GA">{{cite journal |ref= Hedley |last1= Hedley |first1= Charles |title= General account of the Atoll of Funafuti |url= http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16686/487_complete.pdf |year= 1896 |journal= Australian Museum Memoir |volume= 3 |issue= 2 |pages= 1–72 |doi= 10.3853/j.0067-1967.3.1896.487 |access-date= 28 September 2013 |archive-date= 15 October 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131015112253/http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16686/487_complete.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref> The ''Penguin'' made further voyages to Funafuti to deliver the expeditions of the Royal Society in 1897 and 1898.<ref>[http://collections.rmg.co.uk/archive/objects/477429.html Admiral Sir Arthur Mostyn Field (1855–1950) from Royal Museums Greenwich]</ref> The surveys carried out by the ''Penguin'' resulted in the [[Admiralty chart|Admiralty Nautical Chart]] 2983 for the Ellice Islands.<ref name="ANC">{{cite book |title= Admiralty Nautical Chart 2983|publisher= United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO)}}</ref>
[[File:Tamala of Nukufetau.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Tamala of [[Nukufetau]] atoll, Ellice Islands (circa 1900–1910)]]
From 1892 to 1916 the Ellice Islands were administered as a British protectorate, as part of the [[British Western Pacific Territories]] (BWPT), by a [[Resident Commissioner]] based in the Gilbert Islands. The first Resident Commissioner was [[Charles Richard Swayne]], who collected the ordinances of each island of Tuvalu that had been established by the Samoan pastors of the [[London Missionary Society]]. These ordinances were the basis of the ''Native Laws of the Ellice Islands'' that were issued by Swayne in 1894.<ref name="TAHNPT"/> The Native Laws established and administrative structure for each island and well as prescribing criminal laws. The Native Laws also made it compulsory for children to attend school. On each island the High Chief (''Tupu'') was responsible for maintaining order; with a magistrate and policemen also responsible for maintaining order and enforcing the law. The High Chief was assisted by the councillors (''[[Falekaupule]]'').<ref name="TAHNPT"/> The ''Falekaupule'' on each of the [[Islands of Tuvalu]] is the traditional assembly of elders or ''te sina o fenua'' (literally: "grey-hairs of the land" in the [[Tuvaluan language]]).<ref name="Bennetts">{{cite book |author1=Peter Bennetts |author2=Tony Wheeler | title=Time & Tide: The Islands of Tuvalu | year= 2001 | isbn=1-86450-342-4 | publisher= Lonely Planet }}</ref> The ''Kaupule'' on each island is the executive arm of the ''Falekaupule''. The second Resident Commissioner was [[William Telfer Campbell]] (1895–1909),<ref name="AN">{{cite journal|last= |title = Modern buccaneers in the West Pacific |url= https://dl.lib.brown.edu/pdfs/1140814207532014.pdf |date= 5 June 1913 |journal= The New Age |pages=136–140 }}</ref> who established land registers that would assist in resolving disputes over title to land. [[Arthur William Mahaffy|Arthur Mahaffy]] was a District Officer in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate from 1895 to 1897.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.solomonencyclopaedia.net/biogs/E000776b.htm |title= Mahaffy, Arthur (1869 - 1919)|encyclopedia= Solomon Islands Historical Encyclopaedia|year=2020 |access-date=24 February 2024}}</ref> In 1909, Geoffrey B. W. Smith-Rewse was appointed as the District Officer to administer the Ellice Islands from [[Funafuti]] and remained in that position until 1915.

In 1916 the administration of the BWTP ended and the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]] Colony was established, which existed from 1916 to 1974. In 1917 revised laws were issue, which abolished the office of High Chief and limited the number of members of the ''Kaupule'' on each island. Under the 1917 laws the ''Kaupule'' of each island could issue local regulations. Under the revised rules the magistrate was most important official and the senior person of the ''Kaupule'' was the deputy magistrate.<ref name="TAHES">{{cite book |first1=Enele |last1=Sapoaga |editor-first1=Hugh |editor-last1=Larcy|title=Tuvalu: A History|year= 1983 |publisher= University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu|pages=146–152|chapter= Chapter 19, Post-War Development }}</ref> The Colony continued to be administered by the Resident Commissioner, based in the Gilbert Islands, with a District Officer based on Funafuti.<ref name="TAHNPT"/>

In 1930 the Resident Commissioner, [[Arthur Grimble]], issued revised laws, ''Regulations for the good Order and Cleanliness of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands''. The Regulations removed the ability of the ''Kaupule'' to issue local regulations, and proscribed stringent rules of public and private behaviour. The attempts of the islanders to have the Regulations changed were ignored until [[Henry Evans Maude]], a government officer, sent a copy to a member of the English Parliament.<ref name="TAHNPT"/>

[[Donald Gilbert Kennedy]] arrived in 1923 and took charge of a newly established government school on Funafuti. The following year he transferred ''Elisefou'' school to [[Vaitupu]] as the food supply was better on that island. In 1932 Kennedy was appointed the District officer on Funafuti, which office he held until 1939. [[Vivian Fox-Strangways|Colonel Fox-Strangways]], was the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1941, who was located on Funafuti.<ref name="LNKFK2">{{cite book |last1=Lifuka |first1= Neli  |title= Logs in the current of the sea  |chapter=World War II in Tuvalu: NELI LEFUKA'S WAR YEARS IN FUNAFUTI |year= 1978 |publisher= Australian National University Press/Press of the Langdon Associates |isbn=0708103626 |chapter-url= http://307bg.net/memoirs/WWII_in_Tuvalu.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919022123/https://www.307bg.net/memoirs/WWII_in_Tuvalu.pdf |archive-date=19 September 2021}}</ref>

After World War II,<ref name="LNKFK2"/> Kennedy encouraged [[Neli Lifuka]] in the resettlement proposal that eventually resulted in the purchase of [[Kioa]] island in [[Fiji]].<ref name="TAHNPT"/><ref name="LNKFK2"/><ref name="TPL">{{cite book|last1= Goldsmith |first1= Michael |editor-first1= Brij V. |editor-first2= Vicki |editor-last1= Lal |editor-last2= Luker |title= Telling Pacific Lives: Prisms of Process|year=2008 |publisher= ANU E Press|location= London|chapter=Chapter 8, Telling Lives in Tuvalu |doi= 10.22459/TPL.06.2008 |doi-access= free |isbn= 978-1-921313-81-3 |chapter-url= http://press.anu.edu.au/tpl/mobile_devices/ch08.html }}</ref>

==The Pacific War and Operation Galvanic==
[[File:155mm-gun-M1918-funafuti.jpg|thumb|right|250px| M1918 155mm gun, manned by the [[Marine defense battalions|5th Defense Battalion]] on Funafuti.]]
[[File: 8-28-20 - 40mm on beach covering unloading beach.jpg|250px|thumb| 40mm antiaircraft gun from the [[17th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion|United States Marine Corps' 2d Airdrome Battalion]] defending the LST offload at Nukufetau on August 28, 1943.]]

During the [[Pacific War|Second World War]], as a [[Crown colony|British colony]], the Ellice Islands were aligned with the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. Early in the war, the Japanese invaded and occupied [[Butaritari|Makin]], [[Tarawa]] and other islands in what is now [[Kiribati]], however their further expansion to other islands were delayed by their losses at the [[Battle of the Coral Sea]].

The [[United States Marine Corps]] landed on Funafuti on 2 October 1942<ref name="pacificwrecks1">{{cite web| title=Tuvalu (Ellice Islands) |url= http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/tuvalu.html| access-date=1 June 2012}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|"On 2 October 1942, a Marine and Naval Task Force from Samoa landed on Funafuti, Ellice Islands. It consisting of the Marine Corps 26th and 27th Provisional Companies X and Y, the 4th Detachment, 2nd Naval Construction Battalion and Naval Administrative Group No. 3 plus the Advance Marine Base Depot formed the post. A few days later Motor Torpedo Squadron 3 (2) began operating from the island...The island was reinforced with the arrival of the 5th Marine Defense Battalion less detachments "A" and "B". The Japanese were unaware that the Americans were positioned on their southern flank until sighted by a passing flying boat in March 1943. By that time United States forces were fully entrenched in the Ellice Islands."<ref name="BTI">{{cite web | last = Jersey | first = Stanley C. | work = The Battle for Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll | title = A Japanese Perspective: Operations in the Gilbert Islands by the 4th Fleet and the 6th Base Force | date = 29 February 2004 | url = http://tarawaontheweb.org/stanjersy1.htm | access-date = 8 June 2015 | archive-date = 7 September 2004 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040907215955/http://tarawaontheweb.org/stanjersy1.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref> |group=Note}} and on Nanumea and Nukufetau in August 1943. The Ellice Islands were used as a base to prepare for the subsequent seaborn attacks on the Gilbert Islands ([[Kiribati]]) that were [[Japanese occupation of the Gilbert Islands|occupied by Japanese forces]].<ref name="PMcQ">{{cite book |last1=McQuarrie |first1=Peter |title= Strategic atolls: Tuvalu and the Second World War |year= 1994 |publisher= Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury/ Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific |isbn=0958330050}}</ref>

[[Coastwatchers]] were stationed on some of the islands to identify any Japanese activity, such as [[Neli Lifuka]] on [[Vaitupu]].<ref name="LNKFK2"/> The islanders assisted the American forces to build airfields on [[Funafuti]], [[Nanumea]] and [[Nukufetau]] and to unload supplies from ships.<ref name="LNKFK4">{{cite book |last1=Lifuka, Neli |url=http://307bg.net/memoirs/WWII_in_Tuvalu.pdf |title=War Years in Funafuti |year=1978 |publisher=Australian National University Press/Press of the Langdon Associates |isbn=0708103626 |access-date=27 April 2015 |archive-date=7 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807033725/https://www.307bg.net/memoirs/WWII_in_Tuvalu.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> On Funafuti the islanders were shifted to the smaller islets so as to allow the American forces to build the airfield, a 76-bed hospital and [[Naval Base Funafuti]] on [[Fongafale]] islet.<ref name="BTI"/><ref name="TAHMT">{{cite book |first1= Melei |last1=Telavi |editor-first1=Hugh |editor-last1=Larcy |title=Tuvalu: A History|year= 1983 |publisher= University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu|pages=140–144 |chapter= Chapter 18, War }}</ref>

The construction of the airfields resulted in the loss of coconut trees and gardens, however, the islanders benefited from the food and luxury goods supplied by the American forces. The estimates of the loss of food producing trees was that 55,672 [[coconuts]] trees, 1,633 [[breadfruit]] trees and 797 [[pandanus]] trees were destroyed on those three islands.{{#tag:ref| Impact of Second World War. WPHC 9 1229108 F.10/18/4. WPHCA. Special Collection, University of Auckland Library, p.13.<ref name="SAR">{{cite web |last= Resture |first= Setapu Asenati |title= TE MAAMA PALA: Continuity and change in coping with Tuberculosis in Tuvalu |publisher= A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts in History – The University of Auckland, N.Z. |date= March 2010 |url= http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/webdav/site/arts/shared/Departments/anthropology/documents-publications/Resture%202010.pdf |access-date= 16 March 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131005121343/http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/webdav/site/arts/shared/Departments/anthropology/documents-publications/Resture%202010.pdf |archive-date= 5 October 2013 |url-status= dead }}</ref>|group=Note}} Building the runway at Funafuti involved the loss of land used for growing [[pulaka]] and [[taro]] with extensive excavation of coral from 10 [[borrow pit]]s. {{#tag:ref|In 2015 the New Zealand Government funded a project to fill the borrow pits, with 365,000 sqm of sand dredged from the lagoon. This project increase the usable land space on Fongafale by eight per cent.<ref>{{cite web |title= Coast contractor completes aid project in remote Tuvalu| date =27 November 2015|url= http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/coast-contractor-completes-aid-project-remote-tuva/2855272/|publisher= SunshineCoastDaily|access-date=28 November 2015}}</ref>|group=Note}} 

A detachment of the 2nd Naval Construction Battalion (the [[Seabees]]) built a sea plane ramp on the lagoon side of Fongafale islet for seaplane operations by both short and long range seaplanes and a compacted coral runway was constructed on Fongafale, which was 5,000 feet long and 250 feet wide and was then extended to 6,600 feet long and 600 feet wide.<ref name="NAB">{{cite web | last =McKillop | first =Jack | work =Funafuti, Naval Advance Base | title =Ellice Islands | url =http://www.pacific-war.com/bases/ellice.html | access-date =8 June 2015 | archive-date =18 November 2019 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20191118033036/http://www.pacific-war.com/bases/ellice.html | url-status =dead }}</ref> On 15 December 1942 four VOS float planes ([[Vought OS2U Kingfisher]]) from VS-1-D14 arrived at Funafuti to carry out anti-submarine patrols.<ref name="APW">{{cite book |last1=Hammel |first1= Eric|title= Air War Pacific: Chronology: America's Air War Against Japan in East Asia and the Pacific, 1941 – 1945|year= 2010|publisher= Pacifica Military History|isbn=978-1890988104|page= 115}}</ref> [[PBY Catalina]] [[flying boat]]s of US Navy Patrol Squadrons were stationed at Funafuti for short periods of time, including VP-34, which arrived at Funafuti on 18 August 1943 and VP-33, which arrived on 26 September 1943.<ref name="VP-34">{{cite web| work= The Black Cat PBYs |title=Squadron History: VP-33 & VP-34 |year =2004 |url= http://www.daveswarbirds.com/blackcat/histindx.htm| access-date=16 November 2015}}</ref>

In April 1943, a detachment of the 3rd Battalion constructed an aviation-gasoline tank farm on Fongafale. The 16th Battalion arrived in August 1943 to build [[Nanumea Airfield]] and [[Nukufetau Airfield]].<ref name="NAB"/> The atolls were described as providing "unsinkable aircraft carriers"<ref name="MCA">{{cite web| work= Marine Aviation Western Pacific |title= Marine Corps in WWII Vol IV – Western Pacific Operations |url= https://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/History%20of%20the%20U.S.%20Marine%20Corps%20in%20WWII%20Vol%20IV%20-%20Western%20Pacific%20Operations%20%20PCN%2019000262700_3.pdf| access-date=8 June 2015}}</ref> during the preparation for the [[Battle of Tarawa]] and the [[Battle of Makin]] that commenced on 20 November 1943, which was the implementation of "Operation Galvanic".<ref name="galvanic"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Battle of Tarawa |url=http://www.worldwar2facts.org/battle-of-tarawa.html | work=World War 2 Facts|access-date=3 February 2014}}</ref>

[[Landing Ship, Tank|USS ''LST-203'']] was grounded on the reef at Nanumea on 2 October 1943 in order to land equipment. The rusting hull of the ship remains on the reef.<ref name="BB75">{{cite web|first= Bill |last= Bartsch |title = War Relics in Tuvalu and Kiribati |url=http://www.nanumea.net/PDF%20files%20used%20in%20NEA%20website/Bartsch%20Article%201%20downsized%20using%20xara.pdf |publisher=South Pacific Bulletin (1975) |access-date=7 April 2014}}</ref> The Seabees also blasted an opening in the reef at Nanumea, which became known as the 'American Passage'.<ref name="galvanic">{{cite web| title=To the Central Pacific and Tarawa, August 1943—Background to GALVANIC (Ch 16, p. 622)|year=1969 |url= http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ACTC/actc-16.html | access-date=3 September 2010}}</ref>

The [[Marine defense battalions|5th and 7th Defense Battalions]] were stationed in the Ellice Islands to provide the defense of various naval bases. The [[Marine defense battalions|51st Defense Battalion]] relieved the 7th in February 1944 on Funafuti and Nanumea until they were transferred to [[Eniwetok Atoll]] in the [[Marshall Islands]] in July 1944.<ref name="fdc">{{cite book |last1= deClouet |first1= Fred|title= First Black Marines: Vanguard of a Legacy|year=2000 |publisher= 1st Book Library |page=10}}</ref>

[[File: ZamperiniAndSuperMan.jpg |thumb|right|200px|1st Lt. [[Louis Zamperini]], peers through a hole in his B-24D Liberator 'Super Man' made by a 20mm shell over Nauru, 20 April 1943.]]
The first offensive operation was launched from the airfield at Funafuti on 20 April 1943 when twenty-two [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|B-24]] ''Liberator'' bombers from 371 and 372 Bombardment Squadrons struck [[Nauru]]. The next day the Japanese made a predawn raid on the strip at Funafuti which destroyed one B-24 and caused damage to five other planes. On 22 April 12 B-24 aircraft struck [[Tarawa]].<ref name="AAF">{{cite book |first1 = James C. |last1=Olson |editor-first1=Wesley Frank |editor-last1=Craven  |editor-first2=James Lea |editor-last2=Cate | title= Army Air Forces in World War II: Vol. IV, The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan – August 1942 to July 1944 |chapter= Chapter 9, The Gilberts and Marshalls |url= http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/IV/AAF-IV-9.html| access-date=25 January 2022}}</ref> The airfield at Funafuti became the headquarters of the [[United States Army Air Forces]] [[VII Bomber Command]] in November 1943, directing operations against Japanese forces on Tarawa and other bases in the [[Gilbert Islands]]. USAAF [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|B-24]] ''Liberator'' bombers of the [[11th Wing]], [[30th Bombardment Group]], [[27th Bombardment Squadron]] and [[28th Bombardment Squadron]] operated from [[Funafuti International Airport|Funafuti Airfield]], [[Nanumea Airfield]] and [[Nukufetau Airfield]].<ref name="AAF"/> The [[45th Fighter Squadron]] operated [[Curtiss P-40 Warhawk|P-40Ns]] from Nanumea and Marine Attack Squadron 331 ([[VMA-331]]) operated [[Douglas SBD Dauntless]] dive bombers from Nanumea and Nukufetau.<ref name="USAFmm">{{cite book |last1=Maurer, Maxwell AFB|title= ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II'' |year= 1983 |publisher= Alabama: Office of Air Force History |isbn=0-89201-092-4 }}</ref>

Funafuti suffered air attacks during 1943. Casualties were limited, although tragedy was averted on 23 April 1943, when 10 to 20 people took refuge in the concrete walled, [[pandanus]]-thatched church.<ref name="JL24">{{cite web| last = Latif| first = Justin|title= Te Aso o te Paula: Tuvalu community remember WWII bombing attack | publisher= Pacific Media Network|date =26 April 2024| url=https://pmn.co.nz/read/news/rebulished-te-aso-o-te-paula-tuvaluan-community-remember-wwii-bombing-attack| access-date=26 April 2024}}</ref> Corporal Fonnie Black Ladd, [[United States Marine Corps Reserve|USMCR]], persuaded them to get into [[Dugout (military)|dugouts]], then a bomb struck the church shortly after;<ref name="FBL2">{{cite book |last= Ladd |first= Fonnie Black |author-link= |date= 2001 |title= The Wholesale Rescue |url= |location= Valley Farm Publications (January 1, 1986) |pages= |isbn= }}</ref><ref>Melei Telavi, ''Tuvalu A History'' (1983) Ch. 18 ''War'', U.S.P/Tuvalu, p. 140</ref> in that raid, 2 American soldiers and an elderly Tuvaluan man named Esau were killed.<ref name="JL24"/> Japanese airplanes continued to raided Funafuti, attacking on 12 & 13 November 1943 and again on 17 November 1943.

USN [[PT Boat|Patrol Torpedo Boats]] (PTs) were based at Funafuti from 2 November 1942 to 11 May 1944.<ref name="HLB">{{cite book |last1= Barbin |first1= Harold L. |title= Beachheads Secured Volume II, The History of Patrol Torpedo (PT) Boats, Their Bases, and Tenders of World War II, June 1939–31 August 1945 |year=2010 |pages=549–550 }}</ref> Squadron 1B arrived on 2 November 1942 with {{USS|Hilo|AGP-2|6}} as the support ship, which remained until 25 November 1942.<ref name="Hilo">{{cite web| work= Action Reports Series 3: Report 3-2 – The Cruise of the Hilo |title= WWII PT Boats, Tenders & Bases |url= http://www.ptboats.org/20-07-05-reports-004.html| access-date=8 June 2015}}</ref> On 22 December 1942 [[Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three|Squadron 3 Division 2]] (including PTs 21, 22, 25 & 26) arrived with the combined squadron commanded by Lt. Jonathan Rice. In July 1943 Squadron 11-2 (including PTs 177, 182, 185, and 186) under the command of Lt. John H. Stillman relieved Squadron 3–2. The PT Boats operated from Funafuti against Japanese shipping in the [[Kiribati|Gilbert Islands]];<ref name="HLB"/> although they were primarily involved in patrol and rescue duty.<ref name="RJB">{{cite book|last1= Bulkley|first1= Robert J. |title= At Close Quarters: PT Boats in the United States Navy |year=2003 |publisher= Naval Institute Press }}</ref> A ''Kingfisher'' float plane rescued [[Eddie Rickenbacker#Adrift at sea|Captain Eddie Rickenbacker]] and aircrew from life-rafts near [[Nukufetau]], with PT 26 from Funafuti completing the rescue.<ref name="Hilo"/><ref name="Rick">{{cite web| work= Nukufetau – Rickenbacker crash |title= Pacific Memoirs – World War II|url= http://b-24-thegreenhornet.weebly.com/nukufetau---rickenbacker-crash.html| access-date=8 June 2015}}</ref><ref name="ARS3">{{cite book |title= Action Reports Series 3: Southwest Pacific – Conquest of New Guinea|url= http://www.ptboats.org/20-07-05-reports-004.html }}</ref> Motor Torpedo Boat operations ceased at Funafuti in May 1944 and Squadron 11-2 was transferred to [[Emirau Island]], [[New Guinea]].<ref name="galvanic"/>

The {{USS|Alabama|BB-60|3}} reached Funafuti on 21 January 1944. The ''Alabama'' left the Ellice Islands on 25 January to participate in "[[Operation Flintlock (World War II)|Operation Flintlock]]" in the [[Marshall Islands]]. By the middle of 1944, as the fighting moved further north towards Japan, the Americans forces were redeployed. By the time the war ended in 1945 nearly all of them had departed, together with their equipment. After the war the military airfield on Funafuti was developed into [[Funafuti International Airport]].

==Transition to self-government==
The formation of the [[United Nations Organisation]] after World War II resulted in the [[United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization]] committing to a process of decolonization; as a consequence the British colonies in the Pacific started on a path to [[self-determination]].<ref name="TAHES"/><ref name="MG2">{{cite journal|last1= Goldsmith |first1=Michael|title= The Colonial and Postcolonial Roots of Ethnonationalism in Tuvalu |jstor= 41705922|year= 2012 |journal= The Journal of the Polynesian Society|volume=121|issue=2|pages=129–150|doi=10.15286/jps.121.2.129-150|doi-access=free}}</ref> The initial focus was on the development of the administration of the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]]. In 1947 [[Tarawa]], in the [[Gilbert Islands]], was made the administrative capital. This development included establishing the King George V Secondary School for boys and the Elaine Bernacchi Secondary School for girls.<ref name="TAHES"/>

A Colony Conference was organised at [[Marakei]] in 1956, which was attended by officials and representatives from each island in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, conferences were held every 2 years until 1962. The development of administration continued with the creation in 1963 of an Advisory Council of 5 officials and 12 representatives who were appointed by the Resident Commissioner.<ref name="TAHES"/><ref name="TAHTI">{{cite book |first1=Tito |last1=Isala |editor-first1=Hugh |editor-last1=Larcy |title=Tuvalu: A History |year= 1983 |publisher= University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu|pages=153–177|chapter= Chapter 20, Secession and Independence}}</ref> In 1964 an Executive Council was established with 8 officials and 8 representatives. The Resident Commissioner was now required to consult the Executive Council regarding the creation of laws to making decisions that affected the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.<ref name="TAHTI"/>

The system of local government on each island established in the colonial era continued until 1965 when Island Councils were established with the islanders electing the councillors who then choose the President of the council. The Executive Officer of each Local Council was appointed by the central government.<ref name="TAHES"/>

A constitution was introduced in 1967, which created a House of Representatives for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony that comprised 7 appointed officials and 23 members elected by the islanders. Tuvalu elected 4 members of the House of Representatives. The 1967 constitution also established the Governing Council. The House of Representatives only had the authority to recommend laws; the Governing Council had the authority to enact laws following a recommendation from the House of Representatives.<ref name="TAHTI"/>

A select committee of the House of Representatives was established to consider whether the constitution should be changes to give legislative power to the House of Representatives. The proposal was that Ellice Islanders would be allocated 4 seats out of a 24-member parliament, which reflected the differences in populations between Elice Islanders and Gilbertese.<ref name="PIM1966-8">{{cite web| last =| first =  | work= 37(8) Pacific Islands Monthly |title=Gilbertese Unmoved By British Plan For "Ellice In Wonderland"|date =1 August 1966|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-331794735/view?sectionId=nla.obj-337321157&partId=nla.obj-331829698#page/n13/mode/1up| access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref> It became apparent that the Tuvaluans were concerned about their minority status in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and the Tuvaluans wanted equal representation to that of the I-Kiribati. A new constitution was introduced in 1971, which provided that each of the islands of Tuvalu (except [[Niulakita]]) elected one representative. However, that did not end the Tuvaluan movement for independence.<ref name="PIM1972-11">{{cite web| last =| first =  | work= 43(11) Pacific Islands Monthly |title=The Ellice Islanders Say They Want To Secede From GEIC|date =1 November 1972|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-334879361/view?sectionId=nla.obj-356546224&partId=nla.obj-334976693#page/n10/mode/1up| access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref>

In 1974 ministerial government was introduced to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony through a change to the Constitution.<ref name="TAHTI"/> In that year a general election was held;<ref name="E1974">{{cite book |title= General election, 1974: report / Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony |year=1974|publisher= Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony. Tarawa: Central Government Office }}</ref> and a [[1974 Ellice Islands self-determination referendum|referendum was held in 1974]] to determine whether the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands should each have their own administration.<ref name="PIM174-8"/><ref name=N>Nohlen, D, Grotz, F & Hartmann, C (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p831 {{ISBN|0-19-924959-8}}</ref> The result of the referendum, was that 3,799 Elliceans voted for separation from the Gilbert Islands and continuance of British rule as a separate colony, and 293 Elliceans voted to remain as the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]] colony. There were 40 spoilt papers.<ref name="PIM1974-11">{{cite web| last =| first =  | work= 45(11) Pacific Islands Monthly |title=Ellice votes the 'E' out of the GEIC |date =1 November 1974|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-333519384/view?sectionId=nla.obj-338557955&partId=nla.obj-333573184#page/n9/mode/1up| access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref>

As a consequence of the referendum, separation occurred in two stages. The Tuvaluan Order 1975, which took effect on 1 October 1975, recognised Tuvalu as a separate British dependency with its own government.<ref name="PIM175-5"/> The second stage occurred on 1 January 1976 when separate administrations were created out of the civil service of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony.<ref name="TAHTito">{{cite book |first1=Tito |last1=Isala |editor-first1=Hugh |editor-last1=Larcy|title=Tuvalu: A History|year= 1983 |publisher= University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu|pages=169|chapter= Chapter 20, Secession and Independence}}</ref>

Elections to the House of Assembly of the British Colony of Tuvalu were held on 27 August 1977; with [[Toaripi Lauti]] being appointed Chief Minister in the House of Assembly of the Colony of Tuvalu on 1 October 1977. The House of Assembly was dissolved in July 1978 with the government of Toaripi Lauti continuing as a [[caretaker government]] until the 1981 elections were held.<ref name="IPU81">{{cite web| work=Inter-Parliamentary Union|title=Palamene o Tuvalu (Parliament of Tuvalu) |year =1981|url= http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/TUVALU_1981_E.PDF| access-date=7 March 2013}}</ref> 
 
Toaripi Lauti became the first [[Prime Minister of Tuvalu|Prime Minister]] of the [[Parliament of Tuvalu]] or ''Palamene o Tuvalu'' on 1 October 1978 when Tuvalu became an independent nation.<ref name="TAHES"/><ref name="TAHTI"/>

The place at which the parliament sits is called the ''Vaiaku maneapa''.<ref name="TT96-1">{{cite web| last = Taafaki | first =Tauaasa |title= South Pacific – Governance in the Pacific: the dismissal of Tuvalu's Governor-General |publisher= Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, ANU (No 96/5)  |page=|year = 1996|url= https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/210296/1/b1967241x.pdf| access-date=28 August 2021}}</ref>

{{see also| 1974 Ellice Islands self-determination referendum|Constitution of Tuvalu}}

==Local government of each island by the Falekaupule and Kaupule==
[[File:Interior of a maneapa in Funafuti, Tuvalu.jpg|thumb|Interior of a maneapa on Funafuti, Tuvalu.]]
The ''[[Falekaupule]]'' on each of the [[Islands of Tuvalu]] is the traditional assembly of elders or ''te sina o fenua'' (literally: "grey-hairs of the land" in the [[Tuvaluan language]]).<ref name="Bennetts"/> Under the Falekaupule Act (1997),<ref name="pacliiF">{{cite web| work=PACLII|title= Falekaupule Act (1997)|url=http://www.paclii.org/tv/legis/consol_act_2008/fa121/ | access-date=6 April 2014}}</ref> the powers and functions of the ''Falekaupule'' are now shared with the ''Kaupule'' on each island, which is the executive arm of the ''Falekaupule'', whose members are elected. The ''Kaupule'' has an elected president – ''pule o kaupule''; an appointed treasurer – ''ofisa ten tupe''; and is managed by a committee appointed by the ''Kaupule''.<ref name="pacliiF"/>

The Falekaupule Act (1997) defines the ''Falekaupule'' to mean the "traditional assembly in each island ... composed in accordance with the Aganu of each island". ''Aganu'' means traditional customs and culture.<ref name="pacliiF"/> The ''Falekaupule'' on each island has existed from time immemorial and continue to act as the local government of each island.<ref name=TKII>{{cite web|url= http://www.sprep.org/att/IRC/eCOPIES/Countries/Tuvalu/42.pdf |title=Te Kakeega II – National Strategies for Sustainable Development 2005–2015| year =2005|publisher= Government of Tuvalu |access-date=14 October 2011}}</ref>

The ''maneapa'' on each island is traditionally an open meeting place where the chiefs and elders deliberate and make decisions.<ref name="TT96-1"/> In modern times a ''maneapa'' is a building in which people meet for community meetings or celebrations. The ''maneapa'' system is the rule of the traditional chiefs and elders.<ref name="TT96-1"/>

==Broadcasting and news media==
{{Main|Tuvalu Media Corporation}}
{{see also|List of newspapers in Tuvalu}}
Following independence the only newspaper publisher and [[public broadcasting]] organisation in Tuvalu was the '''Broadcasting and Information Office''' (BIO) of Tuvalu.<ref name="NBP">{{cite book| last = Robie | first = David | title= Nius Bilong Pasifik: Mass Media in the Pacific |year=1995 |publisher = University of Papua New Guinea Press |isbn= 9980840528 }}</ref><ref name="LRD">{{cite web |author1=Lee Duffield |author2=Amanda Watson |author3=Mark Hayes | work= Queensland University of Technology |title=Media and Communication Capacities in the Pacific region |year =2008|url= http://eprints.qut.edu.au/13322/1/13322.pdf | access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref> The '''Tuvalu Media Corporation''' (TMC) was a government-owned corporation established in 1999 to take over the radio and print based publications of the BIO. However, in 2008 operating as a corporation was determined not to be commercial viable and the Tuvalu Media Corporation then became the '''Tuvalu Media Department''' (TMD) under the Office of the Prime Minister.<ref name="pacmas">{{cite web |author1=Jo Tacchi |author2=Heather Horst |author3=Evangelia Papoutsaki |author4=Verena Thomas |author5=Joys Eggins | work= Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS) |title=State of Media & Communication Report – Tuvalu |date = 6 October 2013 |url= http://www.pacmas.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06.-PACMAS_Tuvalu-Country-Report_FINAL.pdf| access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref>

==Health services==
{{Main|Princess Margaret Hospital (Funafuti)}}
A hospital was established at Funafuti in 1913 at the direction of Geoffrey 
B. W. Smith-Rewse, during his tenure as the District Officer at Funafuti from 1909 to 1915.<ref name="CR1">{{cite book |last1= Teo|first1= Noati P.|title= Tuvalu: A History |year= 1983 |publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu |page=132 |chapter=Chapter 17 – Colonial Rule }}</ref> At this time Tuvalu was known as the Ellice Islands and was administered as a British protectorate as part of the [[British Western Pacific Territories]]. In 1916 the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]] Colony was established. From 1916 to 1919 the hospital was under the supervision of Dr J. G. McNaughton, when he resigned the position remained vacant until 1930, when Dr D. C. Macpherson was appointed the medical doctor at the hospital. He remain in the position until 1933, when he was appointed to a position in Suva, Fiji.<ref name="SAR"/>

During the time of the colonial administration, Tuvaluans provided medical services at the hospital after receiving training to become doctors or nurses (the male nurses were known as 'Dressers') at the Suva Medical School, which changed its name to Central Medical School in 1928 and which later became the [[Fiji School of Medicine]].<ref name="CR2">{{cite book |last1= Teo|first1= Noati P. |title= Tuvalu: A History |year= 1983 |publisher= Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu |pages=132–133|chapter=Chapter 17 – Colonial Rule }}</ref> Training was provided to Tuvaluans who graduated with the title Native Medical Practitioners. The medical staff on each island were assisted by women's committees which, from about 1930, played an important role in health, hygiene and sanitation.<ref name="SAR"/>

During World War II the hospital on [[Fongafale]] atoll was dismantled as the American forces built an airfield on this atoll. The hospital was shifted to [[Funafala]] atoll under the responsibility of Dr Ka, while Dr Simeona Peni provided medical services to the American forces at the 76-bed hospital on Fongafale that was built by the Americans at Vailele. After the war the hospital returned to Fongafale and used the American hospital until 1947 when a new hospital was built. However, the hospital built in 1947 was incomplete because of problems in the supply of building materials. [[Cyclone Bebe]] struck Funafuti in late October 1972 and caused extensive damage to the hospital.<ref name="SAR"/>

In 1974 [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]] Colony was dissolved and the Colony of Tuvalu was established. Tuvalu regained independence on 1 October 1978. A new 38-bed central hospital was built at Fakaifou on Fongafale atoll, with New Zealand aid grant. It was completed in 1975 and officially opened on 29 September 1978 by [[Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon|Princess Margaret]] after whom the hospital was named.<ref name="TAHES"/> The building now occupied by the [[Princess Margaret Hospital (Funafuti)|Princess Margaret Hospital]] was completed in 2003 with the building financed by the Japanese government.<ref name="Saga">{{cite web|title= 2007 University Student Exchange Programme- Fiji and Tuvalu |publisher= Saga University-Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU)|date =9–25 March 2008|url= http://www.accu.or.jp/jp/activity/person/data/2007_SagaUniversity.pdf | access-date=16 March 2013}}</ref> The Department of Health also employ nine or ten nurses on the outer islands to provide general nursing and midwifery services.<ref name="TP"/><ref name="SAR"/>

Non-government organizations provide health services, such as the Tuvalu Red Cross Society; Fusi Alofa Association Tuvalu (which is an association for persons with disabilities);<ref name="FAA">{{cite web|title= Submission to the 16th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group (Second Cycle)|publisher= Fusi Alofa Association Tuvalu (FAA – Tuvalu)|url= http://www.upr-info.org/IMG/pdf/faa_upr_tuv_s16_2013_fusialofaassociation_e.pdf|access-date= 22 March 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140323134347/http://www.upr-info.org/IMG/pdf/faa_upr_tuv_s16_2013_fusialofaassociation_e.pdf|archive-date= 23 March 2014|url-status= dead}}</ref> the Tuvalu Family Health Association (which provides training and support on sexual and reproductive health); and the Tuvalu Diabetics Association (which provides training and support on diabetes).<ref name="ADB02">{{cite book|author1=Bruce Knapman |author2=Malcolm Ponton |author3=Colin Hunt |title= TUVALU 2002 Economic and Public Sector Review |publisher=Asian Development Bank|pages=134–136|year =2002|isbn=978-971-561-459-7 |url= http://www.adb.org/publications/tuvalu-2002-economic-and-public-sector-review | access-date=16 March 2013}}</ref>

Tuvaluans have consulted, and continue to consult, a herbal medicine practitioner (''Tufuga'' or ''tofuga''). Tuvaluans would see a ''Tufuga'' both as a substitute for treatment from a trained doctor of medicine and as an additional source of medical assistance while also accessing orthodox medical treatment. On the island of [[Nanumea]] in 1951, Malele Tauila, was a well-known ''Tufuga''.<ref name="SAR"/> An example of a herbal medicine derived from local flora, is a treatment for ear ache made out of a [[pandanus]] (''pandanus tectorius'') tree's root.<ref name="TP"/> ''Tufuga'' also provide a form of massage.<ref name="TP"/>

==Education in Tuvalu==

===The development of the education system===
The [[London Missionary Society]] (LMS) established a mission school at Papaelise on Funafuti; [[Sarah Jolliffe]] was the teacher for some years.<ref name="EFHA"/> The LMS established a primary school at Motufoua on [[Vaitupu]] in 1905. The purpose was to prepare young men for entry into the LMS seminary in [[Samoa]]. This school evolved into the [[Motufoua Secondary School]].<ref name="mapia">{{cite web| title= Motufoua Secondary School |url=http://wikimapia.org/4492759/Motufoua-Secondary-School |access-date=20 November 2012}}</ref> There was also a school called Elisefou (New Ellice) on Vaitupu. The school was established in [[Funafuti]] in 1923 and moved to Vaitupu in 1924. It closed in 1953. Its first headmaster, [[Donald Gilbert Kennedy]] (1923–1932), was a known disciplinarian who would not hesitate to discipline his students. He was succeeded as headmaster by Melitiana of Nukulaelae.<ref name="LH1"/> In 1953 government schools were established on Nui, Nukufetau and Vaitupu and in the following year on the other islands. These schools replace the existing primary schools. However, the schools did not have capacity for all children until 1963, when the government improved educational standards.<ref name="HoT">{{cite book |first1= Enele |last1=Sapoaga |editor-first1=Hugh |editor-last1=Laracy |title=Tuvalu, A History, Chapter 19 – Post-War Development|year= 1976|publisher= University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu}}</ref>

From 1953 until 1975 Tuvaluan students could sit the selection tests for admission to the [[King George V School (Gilbert and Ellice Islands)|King George V Secondary School]] for boys (which opened in 1953) and the Elaine Bernacchi Secondary School for girls. These schools were located on [[Tarawa]] in the Gilbert Islands (now [[Kiribati]]), which was the administrative centre of the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]] colony. In 1965 [[King George V and Elaine Bernacchi School]] were merged.<ref name=Talup242>Talu, Alaima. "Towards Quality in Education" (Chapter 21, in Part IV: Social Issues). In: Van Trease, Howard (editor). ''Atoll Politics: The Republic of Kiribati''. [[University of Canterbury]] MacMillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies and [[University of the South Pacific]] Institute of Pacific Studies, 1993. {{ISBN|095833000X}}, 9780958330008. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=7rg-swcHq9QC&pg=PA242 242]</ref> Tarawa was also the location for training institutions such as the teachers college and the nursing centre.<ref name="HoT"/>

The activities of the LMS were taken over by the [[Church of Tuvalu]]. From 1905 to 1963 Motufoua only admitted students from LMS church schools. In 1963 the LMS and the government of Tuvalu began to co-operate in providing education and students were enrolled from government schools. In 1970 a secondary school for girls was opened at Motufoua.<ref name="HoT"/> In 1974, the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert Islands which became Kiribati. The following year the students that attended school on Tawara were transferred to Motufoua. From 1975 the Church of Tuvalu and the government jointly administer the School.<ref name="HoT"/> Eventually administration of [[Motufoua Secondary School]] became the sole responsibility of the Department of Education of Tuvalu.

[[Fetuvalu Secondary School]], a day school operated by the Church of Tuvalu, is located on [[Funafuti]].<ref name="WEF">{{cite web| title= Education for All 2015 National Review: Tuvalu| publisher= World Education Forum |date=22 May 2015 |url= http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002331/233123e.pdf|access-date=15 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="ESR">{{cite web| title= Education Statistical Report | publisher= Tuvalu Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports |year= 2012|url= https://prism.spc.int/component/advlisting/?view=download&format=raw&fileId=62|access-date=15 July 2017}}</ref> The school re-opened in 2003 having been closed for 5 years.<ref name="SPE">{{cite web| title= Part 2: Services and Opportunities| publisher= UNICEF| url= http://www.unicef.org/pacificislands/Tuvalu_Sitan_Part_3.pdf| access-date= 15 July 2017| archive-date= 30 May 2013| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130530205921/http://www.unicef.org/pacificislands/Tuvalu_Sitan_Part_3.pdf| url-status= dead}}</ref><ref name="PM">{{cite book |last1= Turner |first1=Barry |title= The Statesman's Yearbook 2015: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World|year= 2014|publisher= Palgrave Macmillan }}</ref>

In 2011, Fusi Alofa Association Tuvalu (FAA – Tuvalu) established a school for children with special needs.<ref name="FAA"/>

Community Training Centres (CTCs) have been established within the primary schools on each atoll. The CTSs provide vocational training to students that do not progress beyond Class 8. The CTCs offer training in basic carpentry, gardening and farming, sewing and cooking. At the end of their studies the graduates of CTC can apply to continue studies either at [[Motufoua Secondary School]] or the [[Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute]] (TMTI). Adults can also attend courses at the CTCs.<ref name="SB">{{cite web |last1= Salanieta Bakalevu (Project Coordinator) |first1= David Manuella, Tuvalu USP Campus |title= Open Schooling as a Strategy for Second-chance Education in the Pacific: A desk study report |pages= 96–100 |date= June 2011 |publisher= Commonwealth of Learning (COL) / University of the South Pacific |url= http://dspace.col.org/bitstream/123456789/435/1/Open-Schooling-Strategy-for-Second-Chance-Education-Pacific-Report.pdf |access-date= 20 November 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130513082239/http://dspace.col.org/bitstream/123456789/435/1/Open-Schooling-Strategy-for-Second-Chance-Education-Pacific-Report.pdf |archive-date= 13 May 2013 |url-status= dead}}</ref>

===Education in the 21st century===
The [[University of the South Pacific]] (USP) operates an Extension Centre in [[Funafuti]].<ref name="USPt1">{{cite web| work= Welcome to the Tuvalu Campus|title=  University of the South Pacific – Tuvalu Campus|year =2019 |url= https://www.usp.ac.fj/index.php?id=3666|access-date=28 August 2019}}</ref> The USP organised a seminar in June 1997 for the purposes of the Tuvalu community informing USP of their requirements for future tertiary education and training, and to assist in the development of the Tuvaluan educational policy.<ref name="USP1997">{{cite web| title= Tuvalu Education for the 21st Century: Priorities and Needs | publisher=Report of the Tuvalu Strategic Planning Seminar in Education, Funafuti 10–12 June 1997 (University of the South Pacific)|year=1997 |url= http://www.paddle.usp.ac.fj/cgi-bin/paddle?e=d-0paddle--00-1-0---0-10-TX--4------0-11l--1-en-50---20-home---00031-000-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=file&d=usp006|access-date=20 November 2012}}</ref> The Government of Tuvalu, with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank, developed a draft master plan to develop the educational sector, with the draft plan being discussed at a workshop in June 2004.<ref name="MP">{{cite web| title= Tuvalu Education and Training Sector Master Plan (Draft)| publisher= Asian Development Bank, Manila (TA No. TUV-4306)|year=2004 |url= http://www.paddle.usp.ac.fj/cgi-bin/paddle?e=d-0paddle--00-1-0---0-10-TX--4------0-11l--1-en-50---20-copyright---00031-000-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=file&d=tuv004|access-date=20 November 2012}}</ref>

Education in Tuvalu has been the subject of reviews including in Tuvalu-Australia Education Support Program (TAESP) reports beginning in 1997, the Westover Report (AusAID 2000), the report on Quality in Education and Training by the Ministry of Education and Sport, Tuvalu (MOES 2002), the Tuvalu Technical and Vocational Education and Training Study (NZAID 2003), the report on Tuvalu Curriculum Framework (AusAID 2003)<ref name="MP"/> with further development of the National Curriculum (AusAID 2004).<ref name="RTRR">{{cite web|author1=Ron Toomey |author2=Rejieli Racule | title= A Tuvalu National Curriculum in its Educational and Administrative Contexts | publisher= RMIT International Pty Ltd |date=12 May 2004 |url= http://www.paddle.usp.ac.fj/cgi-bin/paddle?e=d-0paddle--00-1-0---0-10-TX--4------0-11l--1-en-50---20-preferences---00031-000-1-0utfZz-8-00&a=file&d=tuv001 |access-date=20 November 2012}}</ref>

The priorities of the Education Department in 2012–2015 include providing the equipment for elearning at Motufoua Secondary School and setting up a multimedia unit in the department to develop and deliver content in all areas of the curriculum across all level of education.<ref name=KT>{{cite web| last= Taloka| first= Katalina| title= Guidelines from Commonwealth of Learning| publisher= Commonwealth of Learning (COL)| year= 2011| url= http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/Country-Presentations2011/CP_TUVALU_2011.pdf| access-date= 20 November 2012| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130531095655/http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/Country-Presentations2011/CP_TUVALU_2011.pdf| archive-date= 31 May 2013| url-status= dead}}</ref>

Atufenua Maui and educators from Japan have worked on the implementation of an e-learning pilot system at Motufoua Secondary School that applies the Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment ([[Moodle]]).<ref name="MA">{{cite web|last=Maui|first=Atufenua|title=Motufoua e-learning|url=http://elearning.motufoua.info/Home_Page.html|access-date=20 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108000709/http://elearning.motufoua.info/Home_Page.html|archive-date=8 January 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> The e-learning system is intended to benefit students at Motufoua Secondary School and to provide computer skills to students who will enter the tertiary level of education outside Tuvalu.<ref name="elearn">{{cite book |author1=Atufenua Maui |author2=Tony Kwato’o |author3=Ronald Vetter |author4=Yoshifumi Chisaki |author5=Tsuyoshi Usagawa |title= Preliminary Use of an E-learning Pilot System for Secondary Educational Institutions in Tuvalu: The Initial Implementation |date= June 2012 |publisher= The Initial Implementation. International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning, Vol. 2, No. 3 |url= http://www.ijeeee.org/Papers/119-CZ02028.pdf }}</ref>

In 2010, there were 1,918 students who were taught by 109 teachers (98 certified and 11 uncertified). The teacher-pupil ratio for primary schools in Tuvalu is around 1:18 for all schools with the exception of Nauti school, which has a student-teacher ratio of 1:27. Nauti School on Funafuti is the largest primary in Tuvalu with more than 900 students (45 percent of the total primary school enrolment). The pupil-teacher ratio for Tuvalu is low compared to the Pacific region, which has a ratio of 1:29.<ref name="MDG">{{cite web | work= Ministry of Education and Sports, and Ministry of Finance and Economic Development from the Government of Tuvalu; and the United Nations System in the Pacific Islands | title= Tuvalu: Millennium Development Goal Acceleration Framework – Improving Quality of Education | date= April 2013 | url= http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/MDG%20Acceleration%20Framework/MAF%20Reports/RBAP/MAF%20Tuvalu-FINAL-%20April%204.pdf | access-date= 13 October 2013 | archive-date= 13 February 2014 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140213133607/http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/MDG%20Acceleration%20Framework/MAF%20Reports/RBAP/MAF%20Tuvalu-FINAL-%20April%204.pdf | url-status= dead }}</ref>

Four tertiary institutions offer technical and vocational courses.  [[Tuvalu Maritime Training Institute]] (TMTI), [[Tuvalu Atoll Science Technology Training Institute]] (TASTII), Australian Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) and [[University of the South Pacific]] (USP) Extension Centre.<ref name="USP2020-7">{{cite web|url= https://www.usp.ac.fj/news/story.php?id=3268|title= Tuvalu Theory of Change Coalition Consultation|publisher= The University of the South Pacific|date= 6 July 2020|access-date= 10 January 2021|archive-date= 11 January 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210111230331/https://www.usp.ac.fj/news/story.php?id=3268|url-status= dead}}</ref> The services provided at the USP campus include career counselling, Student Learning Support, IT Support (Moodle, React, Computer Lab and Wi Fi) and library services (IRS).<ref name="USP2020-6">{{cite web |url= https://www.usp.ac.fj/news/story.php?id=3262 |title= Career Counseling Begins at USP Tuvalu Campus  |publisher=  The University of the South Pacific|date= 23 June 2020|access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref>

===Education and the national strategy plans: ''Te Kakeega III'' and ''Te Kete''===
The education strategy is described in ''Te Kakeega II'' (Tuvalu National Strategy for Sustainable Development 2005–2015)<ref name=TKII/> and ''Te Kakeega III – National Strategy for Sustainable Development-2016–2020''.<ref name="TK III">{{cite web| work= Government of Tuvalu |title= Te Kakeega III – National Strategy for Sustainable Development-2016-2020 |year =2016|url= http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/linked-documents/cobp-tuv-2017-2019-ld-02.pdf| access-date=5 February 2017}}</ref>

''Te Kakeega II'' has identified the following key objectives in regards the development of the education system: (i) Curriculum and Assessment Improvement, (ii) Increased student participation by ensuring access and equity for students with special needs, (iii) Improved quality and efficiency of management, (iv) Human Resource Development, (v) Strengthened community partnerships and develop a culture of working together.<ref name=TKII/>
In 2011 meetings were held to review ''Te Kakeega II'' and the Tuvalu Education Strategic Plan (TESP) II; Tuvalu Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report.<ref name="TP"/> In 2013 a report was published on improving the quality of education as part of the Millennium Development Goal Acceleration Framework.<ref name="MDG"/>

''Te Kakeega III'' describes the education strategy as being:

{{cquote|Most TK II goals in education continue in TK III – in broad terms to continue to equip people with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve a higher degree of self-reliance in a changing world. TKII strategies targeted improvements in teaching quality/overall education standards through teacher training, better and well-maintained school facilities, more school equipment and supplies, and the introduction of a stronger, consistent and more appropriate curriculum. The expansion and improvement of technical and vocational training was another objective, as was serving the special needs of students with disabilities and preschoolers."<ref name="TK III"/>}}

In the national strategy plan for 2021–2030,<ref name="TK21-30">{{cite web| work= Government of Tuvalu |title= Te Kete - National Strategy for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 |date =2020|url= https://australiaawardsfijiandtuvalu.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Te-Kete-2021-2030-National-Development-Strategy.pdf| access-date=27 April 2021}}</ref> the name ”Kakeega” was replaced by “Te Kete” which is the name of a domestic traditional basket woven from green or brown coconut leaves.<ref name="TK2020">{{cite web | last = Tausi | first = Kitiona | title = Minister Announces New Name For National Strategy For Sustainable Development | date = 30 November 2020 | publisher = Tuvalu Paradise | url = https://tuvaluparadise.tv/2020/11/30/minister-announces-new-name-for-national-strategy-for-sustainable-development/ | access-date = 15 January 2021 | archive-date = 24 January 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210124072109/https://tuvaluparadise.tv/2020/11/30/minister-announces-new-name-for-national-strategy-for-sustainable-development/ | url-status = dead }}</ref> Symbolically, “Te Kete”  has biblical significance for [[Religion in Tuvalu|Tuvaluan Christian traditions]] by referencing to the basket or the cradle that saved the life of [[Moses]].<ref name="TK2020"/>

==Heritage and culture==

{{see also|Tuvaluan mythology}}

===Architecture===
The traditional buildings of Tuvalu used plants and trees from the native broadleaf forest,<ref name="CHF1">{{cite book |last1= Hedley |first1= Charles |title= General account of the Atoll of Funafuti |url= http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16686/487_complete.pdf |year= 1896 |publisher= Australian Museum Memoir 3(2): 1–72 |pages= 40–41 |access-date= 28 September 2013 |archive-date= 15 October 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131015112253/http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16686/487_complete.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref> including timber from ''pouka'' (''[[Hernandia]] peltata''); ''ngia'' or ''ingia'' bush (''[[Pemphis]] acidula''); ''miro'' (''[[Thespesia populnea]]''); ''tonga'' (''[[Rhizophora mucronata]]''); ''fau'' or ''fo fafini'', or woman's fibre tree (''[[Hibiscus tiliaceus]]'').<ref name="CHF1"/> Fibre is from [[coconut]]; ''ferra'', native fig (''[[Ficus]] aspem''); ''fala'', screw pine or ''[[Pandanus]]''.<ref name="CHF1"/> The buildings were constructed without nails and were lashed together with a plaited [[sennit]] rope that was handmade from dried coconut fibre.<ref name="MG">{{cite book |last1=Goldsmith |first1=Michael. |title=Transformations of the Meeting-House in Tuvalu |year=1985 |publisher=Antony Hooper and Judith Huntsman, eds., ‘Transformations of Polynesian Culture’ Polynesian Society}}</ref>

Following contact with Europeans, iron products were used including nails and corrugated roofing material. Modern buildings in Tuvalu are constructed from imported building materials, including imported timber and concrete.<ref name="MG"/>

[[File:Interior of a maneapa in Funafuti, Tuvalu.jpg|thumb|Interior of a maneapa on Funafuti, Tuvalu]]
Church and community buildings ([[Maneaba|''maneapa'']]) are usually coated with white paint that is known as ''lase'', which is made by burning a large amount of dead coral with firewood. The whitish powder that is the result is mixed with water and painted on the buildings.<ref name="TP2">{{cite web |last=Panapa |first=Tufoua |title=Ethnographic Research on Meanings and Practices of Health in Tuvalu: A Community Report |publisher=Report to the Tuvaluan Ministries of Health and Education: Ph D Candidate Centre for Development Studies – "Transnational Pacific Health through the Lens of Tuberculosis" Research Group. Department of Anthropology, The University of Auckland, N.Z. |pages=39–41 |year=2012 |url=http://cdn.auckland.ac.nz/assets/arts/Departments/anthropology/documents-publications/Tufoua%20Ethnographic%20Research%20on%20Meanings%20and%20Practices%20of%20Health%20in%20Tuvalu%20final.pdf |access-date=6 January 2018}}</ref>

===Art of Tuvalu===
{{Main|Art of Tuvalu}}
The women of Tuvalu use [[cowrie]] and other shells in traditional [[handicrafts]].<ref name="ATP"/> The artistic traditions of Tuvalu have traditionally been expressed in the design of clothing and traditional handicrafts such as the decoration of [[mat]]s and [[Fan (machine)|fan]]s.<ref name="ATP">{{cite web |last=Tiraa-Passfield |first=Anna |title=The uses of shells in traditional Tuvaluan handicrafts |publisher=SPC Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Information Bulletin No. 7 |date=September 1996 |url=http://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/Doc/FAME/InfoBull/TRAD/7/TRAD7_02_Tiraa.pdf |access-date=8 February 2014}}</ref> [[Crochet]] (''kolose'') is one of the art forms practised by Tuvaluan women.<ref name="UNDP1">{{cite web |work=aucklandcouncil. |title=Kolose: The art of Tuvalu crochet |date=March 2015 |url=http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/newseventsculture/Arts/artscentretheatresgalleries/Documents/kolosecatalogue.pdf |access-date=12 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="TPwa">{{cite web |last=Mallon |first=Sean |title=Wearable art: Tuvalu style |publisher=Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa) blog |date=2 October 2013 |url=http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2013/10/02/wearable-art-tuvalu-style/ |access-date=10 April 2014}}</ref> The [[material culture]] of Tuvalu uses traditional design elements in artefacts used in everyday life such as the design of [[canoe]]s and [[fish hook]]s made from traditional materials.<ref name="K1931">{{cite book |last1= Kennedy |first1= Donald |title= The Ellice Islands Canoe |url= http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Memoirs_%28Additional%29/No._9%3A_Field_Notes_on_the_Culture_of_Vaitupu%2C_Ellice_Islands%2C_by_D._G._Kennedy/The_Ellice_Islands_Canoe%2C_p_71-100/p1 |year= 1931 |publisher= Journal of the Polynesian Society, Memoir no. 9 |pages= 71–100 |access-date= 10 April 2019 |archive-date= 6 October 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221006034408/https://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Memoirs_%28Additional%29/No._9%3A_Field_Notes_on_the_Culture_of_Vaitupu%2C_Ellice_Islands%2C_by_D._G._Kennedy/The_Ellice_Islands_Canoe%2C_p_71-100/p1 |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref name="GKTGS1">{{cite book |last1= Gerd Koch (translated by Guy Slater)|title=The Material Culture of Tuvalu|year=1981 |publisher= University of the South Pacific|location=Suva |id=ASIN B0000EE805 }}</ref>

===Traditional uses of material from the native broadleaf forest===
[[Charles Hedley]] (1896) identified the uses of plants and trees from the native broadleaf forest as including:<ref name="CHF1"/>
* '''Food plants''': [[Coconut]]; and ''Ferra'', native fig (''[[Ficus]] aspem'').<ref name="CHF1"/>
* '''Fibre''': Coconut; ''Ferra''; ''Fala'', Screw Pine, ''[[Pandanus]]''; ''Fau'' or ''Fo fafini'', or woman's fibre tree (''[[Hibiscus tiliaceus]]'').<ref name="CHF1"/>
* '''Timber''': ''Fau'' or ''Fo fafini''; ''Pouka'', (''[[Hernandia]] peltata''); ''Ngia'' or ''Ingia'', (''[[Pemphis]] acidula''); ''Miro'', (''[[Thespesia populnea]]''); and ''Tonga'' (''Tongo''), (''[[Rhizophora mucronata]]'').<ref name="CHF1"/>
* '''Dye''': ''Valla valla'', (''[[Premna tahitensis]]''); ''Tonga'' (''Tongo''), (''[[Rhizophora mucronata]]''); and ''Nonou'' (''Nonu''), (''[[Morinda citrifolia]]'').<ref name="CHF1"/>
* '''Scent''': ''Fetau'', (''[[Calophyllum inophyllum]]''); ''Jiali'', (''[[Gardenia taitensis]]''); and ''Boua'' (''[[Guettarda speciosa]]''); ''Valla valla'', (''[[Premna tahitensis]]''); and [[Crinum]].<ref name="CHF1"/>
* '''Medicinal''': ''Tulla tulla'', (''[[Triumfetta]] procumbens''); ''Nonou'' (''Nonu''), (''[[Morinda citrifolia]]''); ''Tausoun'', (''[[Heliotropium foertherianum]]''); ''Valla valla'', (''[[Premna tahitensis]]''); ''Talla talla gemoa'', (''[[Psilotum]] triquetrum''); ''Lou'', (''[[Cardamine]] sarmentosa''); and ''Lakoumonong'', (''[[Wedelia]] strigulosa'').<ref name="CHF1"/>

These plants and trees are still used in the [[Art of Tuvalu]] to make traditional artwork and handicraft. Tuvaluan women continue to make ''Te titi tao'', which is a traditional skirt made of dried [[pandanus]] leaves that are dyed using ''Tongo'' (''[[Rhizophora mucronata]]'') and ''Nonu'' (''[[Morinda citrifolia]]'').<ref name="AoT">{{cite web |last =Takemoto| first =Shoko |title= The Art of Tuvalu – Climate Change through the eyes of artists in Tuvalu| publisher= exposure.co |date=4 November 2015|url= https://shoko.exposure.co/the-art-of-tuvalu |access-date=23 December 2015}}</ref> The art of making a titi tao is passed down from Fafinematua (elder women) to the Tamaliki Fafine (young women) who are preparing for their first [[Fatele]].<ref name="AoT"/>

===Traditional fishing canoes (''paopao'')===
The people of Tuvalu construct traditional outrigger canoes. A 1996 survey conducted on Nanumea found some 80 canoes. In 2020 there are about 50 canoes with up to five households practicing traditional canoe building. However, the availability of mature {{Lang|sm|fetau}} trees (''[[Calophyllum inophyllum]]'') on the island is declining.<ref name="TCAP-NN97">{{cite report|first= |last= FCG ANZDEC Ltd |title = Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Nanumaga and Nanumea |date= 7 August 2020 |publisher= The Pacific Community |pages=92 & 97|chapter= |url= https://www.adaptation-undp.org/Tuvalu-Coastal-Adaptation-Project-TCAP-ESIA-Nanumaga-Nanumea |access-date=6 February 2021}}</ref>

An outrigger canoe would be constructed by a skilled woodworker ({{Lang|sm|tofuga}} or {{Lang|sm|tufunga}}) of the family, on whose land was a suitable tree. The canoe builder would call on the assistance of the {{Lang|sm|tufunga}} of other families.<ref name="K1931"/> The ideal shape the canoe was that of the body of a [[List of mammals of Tuvalu|whale]] ({{Lang|sm|tafola}}), while some {{Lang|sm|tufunga}} shaped the canoe to reflect the body of a [[bonito]] ({{Lang|sm|atu}}). Before steel tools became available, the {{Lang|sm|tufunga}} or used shell and stone [[adze]]s, which were rapidly blunted when used. With a group of up to ten {{Lang|sm|tufunga}} building a canoe, one or two would work on the canoe, while others were engaged in sharpening the edge of one adze after another. Each morning, the {{Lang|sm|tufunga}} would conduct a religious ceremony ({{Lang|sm|lotu-a-toki}}) over the adzes before the commencement of work. When steel tools became available, two {{Lang|sm|tufunga}} would be sufficient to build a canoe.<ref name="K1931"/>

[[Donald Gilbert Kennedy]] described the construction of traditional outrigger canoes ([[Paopao (canoe)|''paopao'']]) and of the variations of single-outrigger canoes that had been developed on [[Vaitupu]] and [[Nanumea]].<ref name="K1931"/> [[Gerd Koch]], an anthropologist, Koch visited the atolls of [[Nanumaga]], [[Nukufetau]] and [[Niutao]], in 1960–61, and published a book on the material culture of the Ellice Islands, which also described the canoes of those islands.<ref name="GKTGS1"/>

The variations of single-outrigger canoes that had been developed on [[Vaitupu]] and [[Nanumea]] were reef-type or paddled canoe; that is, they were designed for carrying over the reef and paddled, rather than sailed. The traditional outrigger canoes from [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]] were constructed with an indirect type of outrigger attachment and the hull is double-ended, with no distinct bow and stern. These canoes were designed to be sailed over the Nui lagoon.<ref name="PcM">{{cite journal|author= McQuarrie, Peter|url= http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_85_1976/Volume_85%2C_No._4/Nui_Island_sailing_canoes%2C_by_Peter_McQuarrie%2C_p_543-548/p1?page=0&action=searchresult&target=|title= Nui Island sailing canoes|journal= Journal of the Polynesian Society|volume= 85|issue= 4|year= 1976|pages= 543–548|access-date= 10 April 2019|archive-date= 13 August 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220813162429/https://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_85_1976/Volume_85%2C_No._4/Nui_Island_sailing_canoes%2C_by_Peter_McQuarrie%2C_p_543-548/p1?page=0&action=searchresult&target=|url-status= dead}}</ref> The booms of the outrigger are longer than those found in other designs of canoes from the other islands.<ref name="K1931"/> This made the Nui canoe more stable when used with a sail than the other designs.<ref name="PcM"/>

===Dance and music===
{{Main|Music of Tuvalu}}
[[File:Dancer, Tuvalu stage, 2011 Pasifika festival.jpg|thumb|upright|A Tuvaluan dancer at Auckland's [[Pasifika Festival]].]]
The traditional music of Tuvalu consists of a number of dances, including ''[[fakaseasea]]'', ''[[fakanau]]'' and ''[[fatele]]''.<ref name="RG">{{cite book |last1=Linkels |first1=Ad |title=The Real Music of Paradise |year=2000 |publisher=Rough Guides, Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.)|isbn= 1-85828-636-0 |page=221}}</ref>

===Heritage===
The&nbsp;''aliki''&nbsp;were the leaders of traditional Tuvaluan society.<ref name="JR-aliki">{{cite web| last =Resture| first =Jane|title=Tuvalu the Traditional Social Structure| publisher= Janeresture.com|date =14 October 2022| url=https://www.janeresture.com/tuvalu-the-traditional-social-structure/| access-date=3 December 2023}}</ref> The&nbsp;''aliki''&nbsp;had the&nbsp;''tao aliki'', or assistant chiefs who were the mediators between the islanders and the&nbsp;''aliki'', who were responsible for the administration and supervision of daily activities on the island, such as arranging fishing expeditions and communal works.<ref name="JR-aliki"/> The role of the sisters and daughters of the&nbsp;''aliki''&nbsp;was to ensure that the women were engaged in activities that were traditionally done by the women, such as weaving baskets, mats, baskets, string, clothing and other materials.<ref name="JR-aliki"/> The elders of the community were male heads of each family (''sologa'').<ref name="JR-aliki"/>  Each family would have a task (''pologa'') to perform for the community, such as being a skilled&nbsp;builder of canoes or houses ({{Lang|sm|tofuga}} or {{Lang|sm|tufunga}}), or being skilled at fishing, farming, or as a warrior to defend the island.<ref name="JR-aliki"/> The skills of a family are passed on from parents to children.

An important building is the ''falekaupule'' or [[Maneaba|''maneapa'']], the traditional island [[meeting hall]],<ref name=TKII/> where important matters are discussed and which is also used for wedding celebrations and community activities such as a ''fatele'' involving music, singing and dancing.<ref name="Bennetts"/>  ''[[Falekaupule]]'' is also used as the name of the council of elders – the traditional decision-making body on each island. Under the Falekaupule Act, ''Falekaupule'' means "traditional assembly in each island&nbsp;... composed in accordance with the Aganu of each island". ''Aganu'' means traditional customs and culture.<ref name=TKII/>

Tuvalu does not have any museums, however the creation of a [[Tuvalu National Cultural Centre and Museum]] is part of the government's strategic plan for 2018–24.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tuvalu national culture policy strategic plan, 2018–2024|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000265528|access-date=15 April 2021|publisher=UNESCO}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Bennoune|first=Karima|date=24 September 2019|title=Preliminary findings and observations on visit to Tuvalu by UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25035&LangID=E}}</ref>

==Land ownership==
[[Donald Gilbert Kennedy]], the resident District Officer in the administration of the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]] Colony from 1932 to 1938, described the ''[[Pulaka]]'' pits as usually being shared between different families, with their total area providing an average of about 40 square yards (36.576 square metres) per head of population, although the area of pits varied from island to island depending on the extent of the [[Lens (hydrology)|freshwater lens]] that is located under each island.<ref name="DGK53">{{ cite journal|last= Kennedy|first= Donald Gilbert |title= Land tenure in the Ellice Islands |url= http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_62_1953/Volume_62%2C_No._4/Land_tenure_in_the_Ellice_Islands_by_Donald_Gilbert_Kennedy%2C_p_348-358/p1?page=0&action=searchresult&target=|year= 1953|volume= 62|issue=4 |journal= Journal of the Polynesian Society|pages= 348–358 }}</ref> Kennedy also describe the land ownership as having evolved from the pre-European contact system known as ''Kaitasi'' (lit. “eat-as-one”), in which the land held by family groups under the control of the senior male member of the [[clan]] – a system of land based on kinship-based bonds, which changed over time to become a land ownership system where the land was held by individual owners -  known as  ''Vaevae'' (“to divide”).<ref name="DGK53"/>  Under the ''Vaevae'' system, a pit may contain numerous small individual holdings with boundaries marked by small stones or with each holding divided by imaginary lines between trees on the edge of the pits. The custom of inheritance of land, and the resolution of disputes over the boundaries of holdings, land ownership and inheritance was traditionally determined by the elders of each island.<ref name="DGK53"/><ref name="PIM1954-12">{{cite web| last =| first =  | work= XXV(5) Pacific Islands Monthly |title=Conflict of Old And New In Ellice Islands  |date =1 December 1954|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-319422396/view?sectionId=nla.obj-373938314&partId=nla.obj-319511443#page/n121/mode/1up| access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref>

==Tsunami & Cyclones==
{{Main|Geography of Tuvalu}}

The low level of islands makes them very exposed to the effects of a tsunami or cyclone. [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]] was struck by a giant wave on 16 February 1882;<ref name="TAH10">{{cite book |first1=Sotaga |last1=Pape |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 |pages=76|chapter=Chapter 10 – Nui }}</ref> earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occurring in the basin of the Pacific Ocean – the Pacific [[Ring of Fire]] – are possible causes of a [[tsunami]]. Tuvalu experienced an average of three [[tropical cyclone]]s per decade between the 1940s and 1970s, however eight occurred in the 1980s.<ref name="JCon">{{cite journal| last=Connell |first=John |url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/38764/1/v27n1-1-36.pdf |title=Vulnerable Islands: Climate Change, Techonic Change, and Changing Livelihoods in the Western Pacific  |journal=The Contemporary Pacific|volume=27|issue=1 |year=2015|pages=1–36|doi=10.1353/cp.2015.0014 |hdl=10125/38764|s2cid=162562633 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> The impact of individual cyclones is subject to variables including the force of the winds and also whether a cyclone coincides with high tides.

George Westbrook recorded a cyclone that struck [[Funafuti]] in 1883.<ref name="BKE">{{cite journal |author= McLean, R.F. and Munro, D. |url= http://uspaquatic.library.usp.ac.fj/gsdl/collect/spjnas/index/assoc/HASH0199.dir/doc.pdf |title= Late 19th century Tropical Storms and Hurricanes in Tuvalu |journal= South Pacific Journal of Natural History |volume= 11 |year= 1991 |pages= 213–219 |access-date= 10 April 2019 |archive-date= 10 April 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190410113306/http://uspaquatic.library.usp.ac.fj/gsdl/collect/spjnas/index/assoc/HASH0199.dir/doc.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref> A cyclone struck Nukulaelae on 17–18 March 1886.<ref name="BKE"/> Captain [[Edward H. M. Davis|Edward Davis]] of HMS ''Royalist'', who visited the Ellice Group in 1892, recorded in the ship's diary that in February 1891 the Ellice Group was devastated by a severe cyclone. A cyclone caused severe damage to the islands in 1894.<ref name="TAH2">{{cite book |first1=Pasoni |last1=Taafaki |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 |pages=27 |chapter=Chapter 2 – The Old Order}}</ref> In 1972 [[Cyclone Bebe]] caused severe damage to Funafuti.<ref name="HB72">{{cite book |last1=Pasefika Falani (Pacific Frank)|title= The Hurricane in Funafuti, Tuvalu |date=5 October 2009}}</ref> [[Cyclone Ofa]] had a major impact on Tuvalu in late January and early February 1990. During the 1996–97 cyclone season, [[Cyclone Gavin]], [[Cyclone Hina|Hina]] and [[Cyclone Keli|Keli]] passed through the islands of Tuvalu.<ref name="STD">{{cite report|author=Koop, Neville L|author2=Fiji Meteorological Service|type=Mariners Weather Log|date=Winter 1991|title=Samoa Depression|oclc=648466886|volume=35|issue=1|publisher=United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Oceanographic Data Service|issn=0025-3367|page=53|editor=DeAngellis, Richard M}}</ref><ref name="Tuv Disaster">{{cite report|publisher=Australian Overseas Disaster Response Organisation|url=http://www.pacificdisaster.net/pdnadmin/data/original/JB-DM_148_TUV_1991_disaster_workshop_report.pdf|title=Report on the disaster preparedness workshop held in Funafuti, Tuvalu, 14 – 17 October, 1991|isbn=1875405054|pages=2–3, 6|date=April 1992|access-date=19 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201231448/http://www.pacificdisaster.net/pdnadmin/data/original/JB-DM_148_TUV_1991_disaster_workshop_report.pdf|archive-date=1 February 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Cyclone of 1883===
George Westbrook,<ref name="PIM1931"/> a trader on Funafuti, recorded a cyclone that struck on 23–24 December 1883. At the time the cyclone struck he was the sole inhabitant of Funafuti as Tema, the Samoan missionary, had taken everyone else to [[Funafala]] to work on erecting a church. The buildings on Funafuti were destroyed, including the church and the trade stores of George Westbrook and [[Alfred Restieaux]]. Little damage had occurred at Funafala and the people returned to rebuild at Funafuti.<ref name="BKE"/><ref name="H83"/>

===Cyclone Bebe 1972===
[[File:Ocean side Funafuti.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Ocean side of [[Funafuti]] atoll showing the storm dunes, the highest point on the atoll.]]
In 1972 Funafuti was in the path of [[Cyclone Bebe]] during the [[1972–73 South Pacific cyclone season]]. Cyclone Bebe was a pre-season [[tropical cyclone]] that impacted the [[Gilbert Islands|Gilbert]], [[Ellice Islands]], and [[Fiji]] island groups.<ref name="BOM1975">Bureau of Meteorology (1975) ''Tropical Cyclones in the Northern Australian Regions 1971–1972'' Australian Government Publishing Service</ref> First spotted on 20 October, the system intensified and grew in size through 22 October. At about 4 p.m. on Saturday 21 October sea water was bubbling through the coral on the airfield with the water reaching a height of about 4–5 feet high. Cyclone Bebe continued through Sunday 22 October. The Ellice Islands Colony's ship ''Moanaraoi'' was in the lagoon and survived, however 3 tuna boats were wrecked. Waves broke over the atoll. Five people died, two adults and a 3-month-old child were swept away by waves, and two sailors from the tuna boats were drowned.<ref name="HB72"/> Cyclone Bebe knocked down 95% of the houses and trees.<ref name="JRBebe">{{cite web| last =Resture| first =Jane|title=Hurricane Bebe Left 19 People Dead And Thousands Misplaced In Fiji and Tuvalu| publisher= Janeresture.com|date =14 October 2022| url=https://www.janeresture.com/hurricane-bebe/| access-date=3 December 2023}}</ref> The storm surge created a wall of coral rubble along the ocean side of Funafuti and [[Funafala]] that was about {{convert|10|mi}} long, and about {{convert|10|to|20|ft|m}} thick at the bottom.<ref name="HB72"/><ref name="MJE">{{cite journal |author= Maragos J.E., Baines G.B., Beveridge P.J.|title= Tropical Cyclone creates a New Land Formation on Funafuti |journal= Science  |volume= 181|year= 1973 |issue= 4105 |pages=1161–4|doi= 10.1126/science.181.4105.1161|pmid= 17744290 |s2cid= 35546293 }}</ref><ref name="BGBKE">{{cite journal |author= Baines, G.B.K., Beveridge, P.J. & Maragos, J.E.|title= Storms and island building at Funafuti Atoll, Ellice Islands |journal= Proceedings of the 2nd Int. Coral Reef Symposium |year= 1974 }}</ref><ref name="NG15">{{cite web| last = Warne | first = Kennedy | work= National Geographic |title= Will Pacific Island Nations Disappear as Seas Rise? Maybe Not – Reef islands can grow and change shape as sediments shift, studies show |date=13 February 2015|url= http://news-beta.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/150213-tuvalu-sopoaga-kench-kiribati-maldives-cyclone-marshall-islands/|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150214031223/http://news-beta.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/150213-tuvalu-sopoaga-kench-kiribati-maldives-cyclone-marshall-islands/|url-status= dead|archive-date= 14 February 2015| access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref> The cyclone submerged Funafuti and sources of drinking water were contaminated as a result of the system's storm surge and fresh water flooding; with severe damages to houses and installations.<ref name="PIM1973-5">{{cite web| last =| first =  | work= 44(5) Pacific Islands Monthly |title=Life bounces back in the Ellice|date =1 May 1966|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-336976092/view?sectionId=nla.obj-340950828&partId=nla.obj-337014010#page/n22/mode/1up| access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref>

===Cyclone Pam 2015===
Prior to the formation of [[Cyclone Pam]], flooding from [[king tide]]s, which peaked at {{convert|3.4|m|ft|abbr=on}} on 19 February 2015, caused considerable road damage across the multi-island nation of Tuvalu.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Radio New Zealand]] |date=24 February 2015|access-date=17 March 2015|title=Tuvalu surveys road damage after king tides|url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/266995/tuvalu-surveys-road-damage-after-king-tides}}</ref> Between 10 and 11 March, tidal surges estimated to be {{convert|3|–|5|m|ft|abbr=on}} associated with the cyclone swept across the low-lying islands of [[Tuvalu]]. The [[atoll]]s of [[Nanumea]], [[Nanumanga]], [[Niutao]], [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]], [[Nukufetau]], [[Nukulaelae]], and [[Vaitupu]] were affected.<ref name="TuvaluReport">{{cite report|work=International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies|publisher=ReliefWeb|date=16 March 2015|access-date=17 March 2015|title=Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) Tuvalu: Tropical Cyclone Pam|url=http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/MDRTV001dref.pdf}}</ref><ref name="RNZI191">{{cite web| work= Radio New Zealand International |title= One Tuvalu island evacuated after flooding from Pam|date =18 March 2015|url= http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/268988/one-tuvalu-island-evacuated-after-flooding-from-pam| access-date=18 March 2015}}</ref> Significant damage to agriculture and infrastructure occurred.<ref name="TuvaluRNZ1"/> The outermost islands were hardest hit, with one flooded in its entirety.<ref name="TuvaluFJMarch16">{{cite news|agency=[[Radio New Zealand]] |newspaper=The Fiji Times|date=16 March 2015|access-date=17 March 2015|title=Emergency supplies being mobilised for Tuvalu|url=http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=298438|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402092423/http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=298438|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> A state of emergency was subsequently declared on 13 March.<ref name="FenS15">{{cite web |title=Press Release issued by the Office of the Prime Minister |publisher=Fenui News |date=13 March 2015 |url=https://www.un.int/tuvalu/sites/www.un.int/files/Tuvalu/Documents/GA/fenui_mar_13_2015_special_edition.pdf |access-date=17 November 2018}}</ref><ref name="TuvaluRNZ1">{{cite web|publisher=Radio New Zealand International|date=14 March 2015|access-date=15 March 2015|title=State of emergency in Tuvalu|url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/268612/state-of-emergency-in-tuvalu}}</ref> Water supplies on Nui were contaminated by seawater and rendered undrinkable.<ref name="TuvaluReport"/> An estimated 45&nbsp;percent of the nation's nearly 10,000&nbsp;people were displaced, according to [[Prime Minister of Tuvalu|Prime Minister]] [[Enele Sopoaga]].<ref name=rnzi>{{cite news|title=45 percent of Tuvalu population displaced – PM |url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/268686/45-percent-of-tuvalu-population-displaced-pm |work=[[Radio New Zealand International]] |date=15 March 2015|access-date=15 March 2015}}</ref>

New Zealand started providing aid to [[Tuvalu]] on 14 March.<ref name="RW1">{{cite web|author=Joshua Kuku|agency=Agence France-Presse|publisher=ReliefWeb|date=14 March 2015|access-date=15 March 2015|title=Aid effort stepped up after monster Vanuatu cyclone|location=Suva, Fiji|url=http://reliefweb.int/report/tuvalu/aid-effort-stepped-after-monster-vanuatu-cyclone}}</ref><ref name="RNZI17">{{cite web| work= Radio New Zealand International |title= International assistance due today in Tuvalu|date =17 March 2015|url= http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/268866/international-assistance-due-today-in-tuvalu| access-date=17 March 2015}}</ref> Owing to the severity of damage in the nation, the local chapter of the Red Cross enacted an emergency operation plan on 16 March which would focus on the needs of 3,000&nbsp;people. The focus on the 81,873&nbsp;[[Swiss franc|CHF]] operation was to provide essential non-food items and shelter.<ref name="TuvaluReport"/> Flights carrying these supplies from Fiji began on 17 March.<ref name="RNZI191"/> Prime Minister Sopoaga stated that Tuvalu appeared capable of handling the disaster on its own and urged that international relief be focused on Vanuatu.<ref name="RNZI191"/><ref name="TuvaluFJMarch16"/> Tuvalu's Disaster Coordinator, Suneo Silu, said the priority island is [[Nui (atoll)|Nui]] as sources of fresh water were contaminated.<ref name="RNZI191"/> On 17 March, the [[Taiwan]]ese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a donation of US$61,000 in aid to Tuvalu.<ref>{{cite web|agency=[[Central News Agency (Republic of China)|Central News Agency]] |publisher=Focus Taiwan |date=17 March 2015 |title=Taiwan donates US$61,000 to cyclone-hit Tuvalu |location=Taipei, Taiwan |url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201503170033.aspx |access-date=5 April 2017}}</ref> UNICEF and Australia also delivered aid to Tuvalu.<ref name="UNNC19">{{cite web| work= UN News Centre |title= UNICEF rushes emergency supplies for cyclone-affected Tuvalu |date =19 March 2015|url= https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=50368 | access-date=22 March 2015}}</ref><ref name="AAPy">{{cite web| agency=Australian Associated Press| title=Aust sends cyclone aid to Tuvalu| date=19 March 2015| url=https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/26729475/aust-sends-cyclone-aid-to-tuvalu/| access-date=22 March 2015| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402191527/https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/26729475/aust-sends-cyclone-aid-to-tuvalu/| archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref>

As of 22 March, 71 families (40 percent of the population) of Nui were displaced and were living in 3 evacuation centres or with other families and on Nukufetau, 76 people (13 percent of the population) were displaced and were living in 2 evacuation centres.<ref name=RW22>{{cite web|url= http://reliefweb.int/report/tuvalu/tuvalu-tropical-cyclone-pam-situation-report-no-1-22-march-2015 |title=Tuvalu: Tropical Cyclone Pam Situation Report No. 1 (as of 22 March 2015)| date =22 March 2015|publisher= Relief Web |access-date= 25 March 2015}}</ref> The Situation Report published on 30 March reported that on Nukufetau all the displaced people had returned to their homes.<ref name=RW30>{{cite web|url= http://reliefweb.int/report/tuvalu/tuvalu-tropical-cyclone-pam-situation-report-no-2-30-march-2015 |title=Tuvalu: Tropical Cyclone Pam Situation Report No. 2 (as of 30 March 2015)| date =30 March 2015|publisher= Relief Web |access-date= 30 March 2015}}</ref> Nui suffered the most damage of the three central islands (Nui, Nukufetau and Vaitupu);<ref name="UNDP">{{cite web| work= United Nations Development Programme|title= Forgotten paradise under water|date =1 May 2015 |url= https://undp.exposure.co/forgotten-paradise-under-water| access-date=8 June 2015}}</ref> with both Nui and Nukufetau suffering the loss of 90% of the crops.<ref name=RW30/> Of the three northern islands (Nanumanga, Niutao, Nanumea), Nanumanga suffered the most damage, with 60–100 houses flooded and damage to the health facility.<ref name=RW30/>

==Tuvalu and climate change==
{{Main|Global warming in Tuvalu}}

[[Tuvalu]] became the 189th member of the [[United Nations]] in September 2000,<ref>[http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2000/sg2648.html "Secretary-General Welcomes Tuvalu as New Member of United Nations Family"], United Nations Information Service, 6 September 2000</ref><ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E1D81131F93BA25751C0A9669C8B63 "Tuvalu, Distrusted by China, Worried by Sea, Can Join U.N."], ''The New York Times'', 18 February 2000</ref> and appoints a [[List of Permanent Representatives to the United Nations|Permanent Representative]] to the United Nations.

Tuvalu, one of the world's [[List of countries and outlying territories by total area|smallest countries]], has indicated that its priority within the United Nations is to emphasise "[[climate change]] and the unique vulnerabilities of Tuvalu to its adverse impacts". Other priorities are obtaining "additional development assistance from potential donor countries", widening the scope of Tuvalu's bilateral diplomatic relations, and, more generally, expressing "Tuvalu's interests and concerns".<ref>[http://www.un.int/wcm/content/site/tuvalu Official website of the Permanent Mission of Tuvalu to the United Nations] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091107024501/http://www.un.int/wcm/content/site/tuvalu |date=7 November 2009 }}</ref> The issue of [[climate change in Tuvalu]] has featured prominently in Tuvalu's interventions at the UN and at other international fora.

In 2002, [[Governor-General of Tuvalu|Governor-General]] [[Tomasi Puapua]] concluded his address to the [[United Nations General Assembly]] by saying:
{{cquote| Finally, Mr. President, efforts to ensure sustainable development, peace, security and longterm livelihood for the world will have no meaning to us in Tuvalu in the absence of serious actions to address the adverse and devastating effects of global warming. At no more than three meters above sea level, Tuvalu is particularly exposed to these effects. Indeed our people are already migrating to escape, and are already suffering from the consequences of what world authorities on climate change have consistently been warning us. Only two weeks ago, a period when the weather was normal and calm and at low tide, unusually big waves suddenly crashed ashore and flooded most part of the capital island. In the event that the situation is not reversed, where does the international community think the Tuvalu people are to hide from the onslaught of sea level rise? Taking us as [[environmental refugee]]s, is not what Tuvalu is after in the long run. We want the islands of Tuvalu and our nation to remain permanently and not be submerged as a result of greed and uncontrolled consumption of industrialized countries. We want our children to grow up the way my wife and I did in our own islands and in our own culture. We once again appeal to the industrialized countries, particularly those who have not done so, to urgently ratify and fully implement the [[Kyoto Protocol]], and to provide concrete support in all our adaptation efforts to cope with the [[effects of climate change]] and sea level rise. Tuvalu, having little or nothing to do with the causes, cannot be left on its own to pay the price. We must work together. May God Bless you all. May God Bless the United Nations.<ref>[https://www.un.org/webcast/ga/57/statements/020914tuvaluE.htm Governor-General Tomasi Puapua's address to the 57th session of the United Nations General Assembly], 14 September 2002</ref>}}

Addressing the Special Session of the [[United Nations Security Council|Security Council]] on Energy, Climate and Security in April 2007, Ambassador Pita stated:
{{cquote|We face many threats associated with climate change. Ocean warming is changing the very nature of our island nation. Slowly our coral reefs are dying through coral bleaching, we are witnessing changes to fish stocks, and we face the increasing threat of more severe cyclones. With the highest point of four metres above sea level, the threat of severe cyclones is extremely disturbing, and severe water shortages will further threaten the livelihoods of people in many islands. Madam President, our livelihood is already threatened by sea level rise, and the implications for our long term security are very disturbing. Many have spoken about the possibility of migrating from our homeland. If this becomes a reality, then we are faced with an unprecedented threat to our nationhood. This would be an infringement on our fundamental rights to nationality and statehood as constituted under the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] and other international conventions.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/transcripts/10950375 NPR report of Pita's address to the Special Session of the Security Council on Energy, Climate and Security], 12 June 2007</ref>}}

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September 2008, Prime Minister [[Apisai Ielemia]] stated:
{{cquote|Climate change is, without doubt, the most serious threat to the global security and survival of mankind. It is an issue of enormous concern to a highly vulnerable [[small island State]] like Tuvalu. Here in this Great House, we now know both the science and [[Economic analysis of climate change|economics of climate change]]. We also know the cause of climate change, and that human actions by ALL countries are urgently needed to address it. The central message of both the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change|IPCC]] reports and the Sir [[Nicholas Stern]] reports to us, world leaders, is crystal clear: ''unless urgent actions are done to curb greenhouses gasses emissions by shifting to a new global [[energy mix]] based on renewable energy sources, and unless timely adaptation is done, the adverse impact of climate change on all communities, will be catastrophic.''<ref>[https://www.un.org/ga/63/generaldebate/pdf/tuvalu_en.pdf Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia's address to the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly], 26 September 2008</ref> <small>(italics in original submission)</small>}}

In November 2011, Tuvalu was one of the eight founding members of [[Polynesian Leaders Group]], a regional grouping intended to cooperate on a variety of issues including culture and language, education, responses to climate change, and trade and investment.<ref>[http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2011/09/nz-may-be-invited-to-join-proposed-polynesian-triangle-ginger-group/ "NZ may be invited to join proposed ‘Polynesian Triangle’ ginger group"], Pacific Scoop, 19 September 2011</ref><ref>[http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=64516 "New Polynesian Leaders Group formed in Samoa"], Radio New Zealand International, 18 November 2011</ref> Tuvalu participates in the [[Alliance of Small Island States]] (AOSIS), which is a coalition of small island and low-lying coastal countries that have concerns about their vulnerability to the adverse effects of global climate change. The [[Sopoaga Ministry]] led by [[Enele Sopoaga]] made a commitment under the [[Majuro Declaration]], which was signed on 5 September 2013, to implement power generation of [[100% renewable energy]] (between 2013 and 2020). This commitment is proposed to be implemented using Solar PV (95% of demand) and biodiesel (5% of demand). The feasibility of wind power generation will be considered as part of the commitment to increase the use of [[renewable energy in Tuvalu]].<ref name="MD050913">{{cite web| work= Pacific Islands Forum|title= Majuro Declaration: For Climate Leadership |date =5 September 2013|url=http://www.majurodeclaration.org/the_declaration| access-date=7 September 2013}}</ref>

In September 2013 Enele Sopoaga said that relocating Tuvaluans to avoid the impact of sea level rise "should never be an option because it is self defeating in itself. For Tuvalu I think we really need to mobilise public opinion in the Pacific as well as in the [rest of] world to really talk to their lawmakers to please have some sort of moral obligation and things like that to do the right thing."<ref name="RNZI030913">{{cite web| work=Radio New Zealand International |title = Relocation for climate change victims is no answer, says Tuvalu PM|date =3 September 2013|url= http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=78795| access-date=3 September 2013}}</ref>

Marshall Islands President [[Christopher Loeak]] presented the [[Majuro Declaration]] to the UN [[Secretary-General]] [[Ban Ki-moon]] during General Assembly Leaders' week from 23 September 2013. The Majuro Declaration is offered as a "Pacific gift" to the UN Secretary-General in order to catalyze more ambitious climate action by world leaders beyond that achieved at the December [[2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference]] ([[COP15]]). On 29 September 2013 the Deputy Prime Minister [[Vete Sakaio]] concluded his speech to the General Debate of the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly with an appeal to the world, "please save Tuvalu against climate change. Save Tuvalu in order to save yourself, the world".<ref name="VPSUN">{{cite web|url= https://gadebate.un.org/68/tuvalu |title= Statement Presented by Deputy Prime Minister Honourable Vete Palakua Sakaio |date =28 September 2013|publisher=68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly – General Debate |access-date= 4 November 2013}}</ref>

Prime Minister [[Enele Sopoaga]] said at the [[2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference]] (COP21) that the goal for COP21 should a global temperature goal of below 1.5 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels, which is the position of the [[Alliance of Small Island States]].<ref name=ASI>{{cite web| last =Sims | first =Alexandra | title=Pacific Island Tuvalu calls for 1.5 degrees global warming limit or faces 'total demise'|work=The Independent |date=2 December 2015|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/pacific-island-tuvalu-calls-for-15-degrees-global-warming-limit-or-face-total-demise-a6756941.html|access-date=5 December 2015}}</ref>
Prime Minister Sopoaga said in his speech to the meeting of heads of state and government:
{{cquote|Tuvalu's future at current warming, is already bleak, any further temperature increase will spell the total demise of Tuvalu…. For Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries and many others, setting a global temperature goal of below 1.5 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels is critical. I call on the people of Europe to think carefully about their obsession with 2 degrees. Surely, we must aim for the best future we can deliver and not a weak compromise.<ref name=COP21ESS>{{cite web| last = Sopoaga | first = Enele S.| title= Keynote statement delivered by the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, the Honourable Enele S. Sopoaga, at the leaders events for heads of state and government at the opening of the COP21| work=Government of Tuvalu |date=30 November 2015|url= http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/paris_nov_2015/application/pdf/cop21cmp11_leaders_event_tuvalu.pdf |access-date=5 December 2015}}</ref>}}
His speech concluded with the plea:
{{cquote|Let's do it for Tuvalu. For if we save Tuvalu we save the world.<ref name=COP21ESS/>}}

Enele Sopoaga described the important outcomes of COP21 as including the stand-alone provision for assistance to small island states and some of the least developed countries for loss and damage resulting from climate change and the ambition of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century.<ref name=RNZI1515>{{cite web| title= Tuvalu PM praises COP 21 agreement| work=Radio New Zealand International |date=16 December 2015|url= http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/292296/tuvalu-pm-praises-cop-21-agreement |access-date=16 December 2015}}</ref>

In November 2022, [[Simon Kofe]], [[Minister for Justice, Communication & Foreign Affairs]], proclaimed that in response to rising sea levels and the perceived failures by the outside world to combat global warming, the country would be uploading itself to [[Meta Platforms|the metaverse]] in an effort to preserve itself and allow it to function as a country even in the event of it being underwater.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Craymer |first=Lucy |date=2022-11-15 |title=Tuvalu turns to the metaverse as rising seas threaten existence |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/tuvalu-turns-metaverse-rising-seas-threaten-existence-2022-11-15/ |access-date=2022-11-17}}</ref>

On 10 November 2023, Tuvalu signed the Falepili Union, a [[Australia–Tuvalu relations|bilateral diplomatic relationship with Australia]], under which Australia will provide a pathway for citizens of Tuvalu to migrate to Australia, to enable [[Climate migration|climate-related mobility]] for Tuvaluans.<ref name=FalepiliTreaty1>{{cite web|url= https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/tuvalu/australia-tuvalu-falepili-union-treaty|title=Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty|publisher=Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade|access-date= 12 November 2023}}</ref><ref name="AUTFU1">{{cite web| last = | first = |title= Joint Statement on the Falepili Union between Tuvalu and Australia |publisher= Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet|page=|date = 10 November 2023|url= https://www.pm.gov.au/media/joint-statement-falepili-union-between-tuvalu-and-australia | accessdate=13 November 2023}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* [http://www.hawaii.edu/cpis/psi/bibliography/tuvalu.pdf Bibliography of Tuvalu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924025700/http://www.hawaii.edu/cpis/psi/bibliography/tuvalu.pdf |date=24 September 2015 }}.

==Filmography==
Documentary films about Tuvalu:
* ''Tu Toko Tasi'' (Stand by Yourself) (2000) Conrad Mill, a Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) production.<ref name="Mill">{{cite web| last=Phelan| first=Erin| title=Tuvalu in World TV Festival| publisher=Pacific Islands Report| date=15 May 2000| url=http://www.pireport.org/articles/2000/05/15/tuvalu-world-tv-festival| access-date=30 September 2017| archive-date=30 September 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930131207/http://www.pireport.org/articles/2000/05/15/tuvalu-world-tv-festival| url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [http://article.wn.com/view/2015/03/15/Tuvalu_battered_by_Cyclone_Pam/ ''Paradise Domain – Tuvalu''] (Director: Joost De Haas, Bullfrog Films/TVE 2001) 25:52 minutes – YouTube video.<ref name="MKM">{{cite web| last=Mason|first=Moya K. |title = Tuvalu: Flooding, Global Warming, and Media Coverage|publisher=Moya K. Mason|year = 2017 | url= http://www.moyak.com/papers/tuvalu-climate-change.html | access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref>
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQlrPm-VyE4 ''Tuvalu island tales (A Tale of two Islands'')] (Director: Michel Lippitsch) 34 minutes – YouTube video 
* ''The Disappearing of Tuvalu: Trouble in Paradise'' (2004) by Christopher Horner and Gilliane Le Gallic.<ref name="HG">{{cite web|title = DER Documentary: ''The Disappearing of Tuvalu: Trouble in Paradise'' |publisher=DER Documentary|year = 2004 | url=http://www.der.org/films/the-disappearing-of-tuvalu.html | access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref>
* ''Paradise Drowned: Tuvalu, the Disappearing Nation'' (2004) Written and produced by Wayne Tourell. Directed by Mike O'Connor, Savana Jones-Middleton and Wayne Tourell.<ref name="WT">{{cite web|title = Documentary: Paradise Drowned|publisher=NZ Geographic|year = 2004 | url= http://www.nzgeo.com/video/paradise-drowned/| access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref>
* ''Going Under'' (2004) by Franny Armstrong, Spanner Films.<ref name="MKM"/>
* ''Before the Flood: Tuvalu'' (2005) by Paul Lindsay (Storyville/BBC Four).<ref name="MKM"/>
* ''Time and Tide'' (2005) by Julie Bayer and Josh Salzman, Wavecrest Films.<ref name="TAT">{{cite web|title = Time and Tide |publisher=Wavecrest Films|year = 2005 | url= http://wavecrestfilms.com/ | access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref>
* [https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2005/12/tuvalu_that_sin_1.html ''Tuvalu: That Sinking Feeling''] (2005) by Elizabeth Pollock from [[PBS]] ''[[Rough Cuts (TV series)|Rough Cut]]''
* ''Atlantis Approaching'' (2006) by Elizabeth Pollock, Blue Marble Productions.<ref name="BMP">{{cite web |title = ''Atlantis Approaching'': The Movie |publisher = Blue Marble Productions |year = 2006 |url = http://www.blue-marble.tv/7.html |access-date = 30 September 2017 |archive-date = 30 September 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170930131231/http://www.blue-marble.tv/7.html |url-status = dead }}</ref>
* [http://www.thesinkingoftuvalu.com/ ''King Tide | The Sinking of Tuvalu''] (2007) by Juriaan Booij.<ref name="JB">{{cite web|title = King Tide – The Sinking of Tuvalu|publisher= Juriaan Booij |year = 2007 | url= http://www.thesinkingoftuvalu.com/| access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref>
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSmN8Eq4qEg ''Tuvalu''] (Director: Aaron Smith, 'Hungry Beast' program, ABC June 2011) 6:40 minutes – YouTube video
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7GI7zeHOxQ ''Tuvalu: Renewable Energy in the Pacific Islands Series''] (2012) a production of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and [[Pacific Regional Environment Programme|SPREP]] 10 minutes – YouTube video.
* ''Mission Tuvalu'' (Missie Tuvalu) (2013) feature documentary directed by Jeroen van den Kroonenberg.<ref name="MTT">{{cite web|title = Missie Tuvalu / Mission Tuvalu documentary|publisher=Omroep Brabant|year = 2013 | url= http://www.omroepbrabant.nl/?news/1988061113/Documentaire+over+hoe+een+Eindhovenaar+het+eiland+Tuvalu+op+de+FIFA-ranglijst+probeert+te+krijgen.aspx| access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref>
* ''ThuleTuvalu'' (2014) by Matthias von Gunten, HesseGreutert Film/OdysseyFilm.<ref name="TTT">{{cite web|title = ThuleTuvalu|publisher= HesseGreutert Film/OdysseyFilm |year = 2014 | url= http://www.thuletuvalu.com/| access-date=30 September 2017}}</ref>

==External sources - photographs==
{{Portal|Tuvalu|Geography|Oceania|Politics}}
* {{cite web| last =Andrew | first =Thomas |title= Washing Hole Funafuti. From the album: Views in the Pacific Islands|publisher= Collection of Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa)|year =1886 |url= https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1238498?page=1&rtp=1&ros=1&asr=1&assoc=all&mb=c| access-date=10 April 2014}}
* {{cite web| last =Andrew | first =Thomas |title= Mission House Nui. From the album: Views in the Pacific Islands|publisher= Collection of Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa)|year =1886 |url= https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1238504?page=1&rtp=1&ros=1&asr=1&assoc=all&mb=c| access-date=10 April 2014}}
* {{cite web| last =Andrew | first =Thomas |title= Bread fruit tree Nui. From the album: Views in the Pacific Islands|publisher= Collection of Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa)|year =1886 |url= https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1238500?page=1&rtp=1&ros=1&asr=1&assoc=all&mb=c| access-date=10 April 2014}}
*{{cite web| last =Lambert | first =Sylvester M.| work= Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego |title= Young woman, member of the O'Brien family, Funafuti, Tuvalu |url= http://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb13661628| access-date=18 November 2017}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Brady Ivan, ''Kinship Reciprocity in the Ellice Islands'', Journal of the Polynesian Society 81:3 (1972), 290–316
* Brady Ivan, ''Land Tenure in the Ellice Islands'', in Henry P. Lundsaarde (ed). Land Tenure in Oceania, Honolulu, University Press of Hawaii (1974) {{ISBN|0824803213}} {{ISBN|9780824803216}}
* Chambers, Keith & Anne Chambers ''Unity of Heart: Culture and Change in a Polynesian Atoll Society'' (January 2001) Waveland Pr Inc. {{ISBN|1577661664}} {{ISBN|978-1577661665}}
* Christensen, Dieter, ''Old Musical Styles in the Ellice Islands'', Western Polynesia, Ethnomusicology, 8:1 (1964), 34–40.
* Christensen, Dieter and [[Gerd Koch]], ''Die Musik der Ellice-Inseln'', Berlin: Museum fur Volkerkunde, (1964)
*{{cite journal |ref= Hedley |last1= Hedley |first1= Charles |title= General account of the Atoll of Funafuti |url= http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16686/487_complete.pdf |year= 1896 |journal= Australian Museum Memoir |volume= 3 |issue= 2 |pages= 1–72 |doi= 10.3853/j.0067-1967.3.1896.487 |access-date= 28 September 2013 |archive-date= 15 October 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131015112253/http://australianmuseum.net.au/Uploads/Journals/16686/487_complete.pdf |url-status= dead }}
* [[Gerd Koch]], ''Die Materielle Kulture der Ellice-Inseln'', Berlin: Museum fur Volkerkunde (1961); The English translation by Guy Slatter, was published as ''The Material Culture of Tuvalu'', University of the South Pacific in Suva (1981) ASIN B0000EE805.
* Gerd Koch, ''Songs of Tuvalu'' (translated by Guy Slatter), Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific (2000) {{ISBN|9789820203143}}
* [[Donald Gilbert Kennedy|Kennedy, Donald Gilbert]], ''Field notes on the culture of Vaitupu, Ellice Islands'' (1931): Thomas Avery & Sons, New Plymouth, NZ
* Kennedy, Donald Gilbert, ''Te ngangana a te Tuvalu – Handbook on the language of the Ellice Islands'' (1946) Websdale, Shoosmith, Sydney, NSW
* Kennedy, Donald Gilbert, ''Land tenure in the Ellice Islands'', Journal of the Polynesian Society., Vol. 64, no. 4 (Dec. 1953):348–358.
* Macdonald, Barrie, ''Cinderellas of the Empire: towards a history of Kiribati and Tuvalu'', Institute of Pacific Studies, [[University of the South Pacific]], Suva, Fiji, 2001. {{ISBN|982-02-0335-X}} (Australian National University Press, first published 1982)
* Simati Faaniu, et al., ''Tuvalu: A History'' (1983) Hugh Laracy (editor), Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific and Government of Tuvalu
* Suamalie N.T. Iosefa, Doug Munro, Niko Besnier, ''Tala O Niuoku, Te: the German Plantation on Nukulaelae Atoll 1865–1890'' (1991) Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. {{ISBN|9820200733}}
* Pulekai A. Sogivalu, ''A Brief History of Niutao'', (1992) Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies. {{ISBN|982020058X}}
* {{cite web| last = Thaman | first =R.R. |title= Batiri Kei Baravi: The Ethnobotany of Pacific Island Coastal Plants | publisher= Atoll Research Bulletin, No. 361, National Museum of Natural History, [[Smithsonian Institution]]|date = May 1992|url= http://repository.si.edu/bitstream/10088/5070/1/00361.pdf| access-date=8 February 2014}}
* {{cite web|author= Randy Thaman, Feagaiga Penivao, Faoliu Teakau, Semese Alefaio, Lamese Saamu, Moe Saitala, Mataio Tekinene and Mile Fonua| work= Rapid Biodiversity Assessment of the Conservation Status of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) In Tuvalu|title= Report on the 2016 Funafuti Community-Based Ridge-To-Reef (R2R) |year = 2017|url= https://www.sprep.org/attachments/VirLib/Tuvalu/r2r-biorap.pdf| access-date=25 May 2019}}

{{Tuvalu topics}}
{{History of Oceania}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Tuvalu}}
[[Category:History of Tuvalu| ]]