Empires maritimes préhistoriques dans le Pacifique : Ga'asialili et la mise en place d'une colonie tongienne à Uvea (Wallis, Polynésie occidentale)

Abstract

This article attempts to put into a local and regional historical context, the conditions under which, in the 15th-16th centuries, a Tongan colony was established on the island of Uvea (Wallis Island). In the middle of the second millenium AD the expansionism of the Tui Tonga dynasty from the island of Tongatapu led to the progressive occupation of the majority of the islands of Western Polynesia, with the installation of Tongan « Governors » and of new chiefs. The outstanding figure of this period on Uvea was Ga'asialili, who is presented in oral traditions as the person mainly responsable for setting up a Tongan political system on the island. The chronological position of this « Governor » has been localy doubtful up to now and the present article tries, by putting events into their regional context — in particular by using Tongan traditional data — , to place Ga'asialili in a satisfactory historical frame.

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