[2] Located along one edge of the so-called Polynesian triangle, Nanumea lies just south of the Gilbert Islands, which are Micronesian in language and culture.

Nanumea is a classic atoll, a series of low islets sitting on a coral reef shelf surrounding a lagoon.

There are scattered households across the lagoon from Nanumea village at Matagi and on Motu Foliki, and on the southeastern tip of Lakena islet.

Aside from Nanumea and Lakena there are three much smaller islets, Motu Foliki, Lafogaki and Te Afua-a-Taepoa spread around the encircling reef flat.

[10] In March 2015 Nanumea suffered damage to houses, crops and infrastructure as the result of storm surges caused by Cyclone Pam.

Tefolaha, traditional accounts say, found the island of Nanumea populated by two women, Pai and Vau, whom it was believed had formed it from baskets of sand.

Today's population also traces descent from crew members who arrived with Tefolaha, and from later visitors from the far distant and more recent past.

Nanumean traditions describe the islets, Motu Foliki, Lafogaki and Te Afua-a-Taepoa, as being formed when sand spilled from the baskets of two women, Pai and Vau, when they were forced off Nanumea by Tefolaha.

[23][24] In 1809, Captain Patterson in the brig Elizabeth sighted Nanumea while passing through the northern Tuvalu waters on a trading voyage from Port Jackson, Sydney, Australia to China.

[32] During World War II the American forces built Nanumea Airfield and the people moved to live on Lakena.

[33] On Nanumea, tender boats, which go out to the inter-island ships, run through the 'American Passage' and offload passengers and cargo at a small wharf within the protected lagoon.

These expatriate populations are well-organized, have active elected leadership councils, and keep in close touch with doings in Nanumea itself.

[36][37] Nanumean identity and pride is demonstrated in many ways, from the distinctive intonation pattern and vocabulary of its version of Tuvaluan to celebrations including its unique Po o Tefolaha, part of a long holiday covering Christmas, New Year and some weeks beyond.

These "Big Days" (Po Lahi) celebrations, marked with noon feasts in the island's community hall, the aahiga or maneapa,[38] feature a marathon round of the competitive ball game Te ano, pitting the two village sides, Haumaefa and Lolua, against each other.

Po Lahi is celebrated in Nanumea itself and by many Nanumean communities overseas, including those in Funafuti, Fiji, Auckland, Wellington, Tarawa, Australia and other locations.

[45] Willy Telavi (born 28 January 1954) was first elected to parliament in 2006 and was appointed Home Affairs Minister in the Government of Apisai Ielemia.

Canberra: Australian National University, Development Studies Centre (ISBN 0-86784-457-4) Chambers, Keith S. 1984 Heirs of Tefolaha: Tradition and Social Organization in Nanumea, a Polynesian Atoll Community.