Mata’uvave was the name given to a dynasty of male chiefs presiding over the Ha’apai Island Group of Tonga from the 15th century until the mid-1980s.
They were relegated to a line of nobility called ‘eiki si’i, or “a minor chief without importance.” The Mata’uvave dynasty was created out of the drastic political restructuring of the Tongan elite following the assassination of the 23rd Tu’i Tonga, Takalaua, in the late 14th or early 15th century.
Historians are unsure of the veracity of the revenge story, but it describes a known reassertion of control of the Tongatapu chiefs over the island groups within the Tu’i Tonga empire at that time.
[1] The colorful early history of the Mata’uvave dynasty is based only on oral tradition and interpretation of place names, but archaeologist David V. Burley has found corroborating evidence in remnants of ceremonial mounds and fortresses.
[1] The Mata’uvave and his supporters initially settled in Hihifo on Lifuka island, where they forced Ha’apaians to build the large fortress of Velata.
In the morning the mound (sea) would be already made.”[1] The Mata’uvave ordered the people of Lifuka to build many monuments either for himself of for other chiefs to project status and power.
Tradition tells that it was constructed either from the clay used to wash hair as people walked from ‘Uoleva to Lifuka (after building the pigeon mounds) or that it was carried from nearby in baskets.
[1] The Mata’uvave was stripped of much of his power and forced out of Uoleva and onto a small tract of land near the southern tip of Lifuka called Lakifue.