A View from the West: Samoa in the Culture History of `Uvea (Wallis) and Futuna (Western Polynesia)

Abstract

The traditional connections between Samoa in Western Polynesia and the neighbouring archipelagos of Fiji, Tonga and the Cook islands have long been recognized, through a series of in-depth studies. But surprisingly little has been compiled about the influence of Samoa on some of its closest neighbours to the west, the small islands of 'Uvea (Wallis) and Futuna. This paper proposes to highlight some of the Samoan connections that appear in the oral accounts of the two islands, but also through the archaeological data and linguistics. These information(s) help to disentangle the long influence of Samoa over the northern part of Western Polynesia, before the late-prehistoric influence of the Tongan maritime chiefdom on the region.