Tuvuca (pronounced ) is a small island off

Vanua Balavu Vanua Balavu (pronounced ) is the third largest island in Fiji's Lau archipelago, and the main island of the Northern Lau Group. Geography and infrastructure This coral and volcanic island has a land area of . Its maximum elevation is . The isl ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Lau Lau or LAU may refer to: People * Lau (surname) * Liu (劉/刘), a common Chinese family name transliterated Lau in Cantonese and Hokkien * Lau clan, one of the Saraswat Brahmin clans of Punjab * LAU (musician): Laura Fares Places * Lebane ...

archipelago. It is a densely wooded and inhabited island and rises above sea level at the highest point. There is only one village on the island. Tuvuca has untapped deposits of phosphate.

Chiefly titles

Tuvuca is part of the Tikina of

Lomaloma Lomaloma (; officially ''Lomaloma Tikina'', ) is a village at the south of the island of Vanua Balavu in the Lau archipelago of Fiji. The settlement is part of the tribal district of Tikina, Lomaloma and consists of 9 villages, 13 Yavusa (tribe ...

and the chiefly title of this island is held by the Tui Tuvuca, which is generally held in

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...

by the reigning

Turaga na Rasau Turaga na Rasau is a traditional Fijian House of Chiefs (Fiji), chiefly title of the Lau Islands. Prior to Fiji's colonial days, Fiji had many different Vanua with their own Paramount Chieftain which exercised no authority over the other; a saying ...

.Ai Vola Ni Kawa Bula The Village Chief of Tuvuca holds the title of Ramasi, it was this chiefs ancestors who gave the title to the Rasau of Lomaloma because he brought peace to Tuvuca and stopped a long-standing feud.Lau Islands, by A.Hocart, P226-227

Notes

References

* ''The Fiji Islands: A Geographical Handbook'' - Page 308, by Ronald Albert Derrick - 1951, ''reference to Tuvuca Island also a sketch of the Island''. * ''Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi'', Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology and Natural History - Page 240, by Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum - 1949. *
The Pacific Way: A Memoir
' - Page 9 and 69, by Kamisese Mara - 1997, ''references to Tuvuca Island''. * Desperate Voyage by John Caldwell page 269 to 311 Islands of Fiji Lau Islands {{Fiji-geo-stub