Malietoa Mōli [Semoanaifea] (“Lamp Oil” or “Illumination”) was a Samoan king who died in 1860.

[3] Unlike his uncle Taimalelagi and half-brother Talavou, Mōlī was a steadfast devotee of the London Missionary Society and consequently enjoyed the support of the increasingly powerful church.

Mōlī’s short term as titleholder “was notable for his humiliation by foreign consuls”[4] and Robert Louis Stevenson recounts several examples of the dishonor and embarrassment suffered at the hands of western politicians.

He was “seized on several occasions by captains of warships of various nations as a hostage to secure the capture of Samoans who had offended European settlers”.

[4] The judicial settlement of this incident took place in November 1858[6] while Taimalelagi lay dying and the bulk of administrative duties were already vested in Mōlī.