Amata Kabua is the son of high chiefess Tarjikit of the Eastern (Ratak chain) and rumoured to be a Japanese administrator by his political opponents.

[10][11] Kabua is also known as King John, who, on behalf of his father Iroij Bwio Jiba, led diplomatic relations between Germany and the Marshall Islands in 1885 through the Treaty of Friendship.

[12] Amata Kabua's mother, Leroij Dorothy Tarjikit, was a paramount chieftain of Majuro with royal connections to the Rimwejoor and Raano clans who ruled the entire Ratak (eastern) chain but later lost Mejit.

[17] While Kabua the Great welcomed the Protestant missionaries safely on Ebon by offering his protection in 1850s under the guidance of his uncle Kaibuke thereby solidifying a royal connection to the Protestant faith, Tarjikit helped found the Catholic church in the Capital of the Marshall Islands thereby solidifying a royal connection to the Catholic faith.

[18][19] Tarjikit was also the first indigenous Micronesian of the Trust Territory ever to attend a United Nations Trusteeship Council meeting in 1953 with her son Amata as interpreter.

He had been a principal participant in the negotiations to gain independence for the Marshall Islands and is regarded as the founding father of the modern nation by Marshallese.

(Amata's older brother Joba Kabua also permitted his wife Jauni to be buried in the royal cemetery in Laura.