Tu'i, also spelled more simplistically Tui, is a Polynesian traditional title for
tribal chief
A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribe
The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categori ...
s or princes. In translations, the highest such positions are often rendered as "king". For details, see the links below various polities. Traditionally, a Tui is an equivalent of God title. Origin of Tui is believed to be Tui Manu'a (the title given to the son of the Polynesian God Tagaloa, and therefore Tui were viewed as living Gods).
Tonga
See:
*
Tu'i Tonga
*
Tu'i Ha'atakalaua
*
Tu'i Kanokupolu
*Tui Harris
Fiji
See
House of Chiefs (Fiji)
Samoa
There are several
Samoan polities and titles (several including the term Tui) in the present kingdom. On
American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internatio ...
, the paramount chief is titled
Tu'i Manu'a
The title Tui Manuʻa was the title of the ruler or paramount chief of the Manuʻa Islands in present-day American Samoa.
The Tuʻi Manuʻa Confederacy, or Samoan Empire, are descriptions sometimes given to Samoan expansionism and projecte ...
Wallis and Futuna
On
Futuna island, see Tu`i Agaifo of
Alo. There is also the Chief of
Sigave; however, depending on the family, they carry the specific title of Sau?, Tamolevai, Keletaona, or Tu`i Sigave.
On
`Uvea
Wallis (Wallisian: ''Uvea'') is a Polynesian atoll/island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity ('' collectivité d'outre-mer'', or ''COM'') of Wallis and Futuna. It lies north of Tonga, northeast of Fiji, east-no ...
(Wallis Island), there is only the Tui `Uvea or Hau (translated by the French as king/queen; from 1858 also styled Lavelua¹).
Sources and references
WorldStatesmen- see each present country
Heads of state
Noble titles
Polynesian culture
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