Far East Kingdoms

Modern Tuvalu (Polynesia) (Oceania)
AD 1978 - Present Day
Incorporating Heads of State (1978-2024)

All Modern States Early Cultures Africa Americas British Isles Europe Far East Near East Oceania Ancient Mesopotamia Native Americans Special Indices

Considered in some quarters to be a watery continent in its own right, Oceania starts where South-East Asia ends, to the south-east of Indonesia and East Timor. Its territory is somewhat debatable but generally consists of the waters of the Pacific Ocean dotted with some two thousand islands, some of which are independent states and others either parts of countries or colonies.

Polynesia, of which Tuvalu is a part, is the vast easternmost stretch of a thousand islands. Northern Polynesia consists of the long chain of Hawaiian islands which reach from the Midway Islands in the west, just east of the international date line, to the island of Hawaii in the east. All of these islands are located in the North Pacific. Progressing from west to east, southern Polynesia in the South Pacific consists of Tuvalu, Wallis & Futuna, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, the Pitcairn Islands, and Easter Island.

Tuvalu, formerly the Ellice Islands, is an independent island state in the South Pacific which consists of nine small coral islands. To the south-west lie the Santa Cruz Islands, a group which forms part of the Solomon Islands. To the north are Nauru and Kiribati. Tokelau sits to the east of Tuvalu. To the south-east are Samoa and the French islands of Wallis & Futuna. Funafuti, the capital, is a tiny coral atoll.

Samoans first settled the islands in the fourteenth century AD. Some migrants from Tonga, the Cook Islands, and the Gilbert Islands came later. Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, a Spanish explorer, was the first European to encounter the islands and effectively end the Neolithic Oceania period. No outsiders attempted to settle the place until whalers and traders came in the 1820s.

When Christian missionaries arrived in the 1860s they were welcomed as a bastion against human predators who had been kidnapping or otherwise recruiting natives for work in Peru, Australia, and other Pacific islands. The islands came under the authority of the Victorian British 'Western Pacific High Commission' in 1877. The Ellice Islands, as they were known then, became a British protectorate in 1892, and the islands were joined to the Gilbert Islands in 1916 as part of a unified colony.

Please note that the History Files does not regularly monitor changes in modern heads of state or their representatives. Get in touch here if this section requires updating.

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by John De Cleene and the John De Cleene Archive, with additional information from Times Atlas of World History, Geoffrey Barraclough (Ed, Maplewood, New Jersey, 1979), and from External Links: Timeless Tuvalu, and Tuvalu (Encyclopaedia Britannica), and Tuvalu (Rulers.org), and Tuvalu (BBC Country Profiles), and Tuvalu's pro-Taiwan leader loses seat (Reuters).)

1978 - 1986

Governor-general for the United Kingdom.

1978

Tuvalu, a British possession, becomes an independent parliamentary constitutional monarchy on the British model, with the monarch of the United Kingdom as the head of state. The monarch is represented in Tuvalu by a governor-general. A prime minister heads the government.

1986 - 1990

Governor-general for the United Kingdom.

1987

Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand establish the 'Tuvalu Trust Fund' to help furnish aid for development. Later, South Korea and Japan both invest in the fund.

1989

The United Nations selects to list Tuvalu as one of a number of island groups which are counted as being most likely to disappear beneath the sea in the twenty-first century due to global warming.

This mangrove-planting project in Nanumea atoll is part of Tuvalu's most important resource, with such projects enhancing local fisheries, providing material for handicrafts and firewood, and protecting the islands from tidal and storm surges

1990 - 1993

Governor-general. Former prime minister (1978-1981).

1993 - 1994

Governor-general for the United Kingdom.

1998 - 2003

Governor-general. Former prime minister (1981-1989).

2000

Eighteen schoolgirls and their supervisor are killed in a fire in a school dormitory on Vaitupu island. It is Tuvalu's worst disaster since it had achieved full independence in 1978.

2003 - 2005

Governor-general. Former prime minister (2001).

2005 - 2010

Governor-general for the United Kingdom.

2010

Acting governor-general.

2010 - 2019

Governor-general for the United Kingdom.

2011

At a summit in Perth in Australia, the heads of the sixteen Commonwealth countries of which Queen Elizabeth II is head of state unanimously approve changes to the royal succession. Sons and daughters of any future monarch of the United Kingdom will have equal right to the throne, bringing to an end the use of three hundred year-old succession laws.

Queen Elizabeth is pictured here at the Commonwealth summit of 2011 with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh on the left, and on the right Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Perhaps equally momentous, the ban on the monarch being married to a Roman Catholic is also lifted. The succession changes require a raft of historic legislation to be amended, including the 1701 Act of Settlement, the 1689 Bill of Rights, and the Royal Marriages Act 1772.

2013

The governor-general, Sir Iakoba Taeia Italeli, dismisses Prime Minister Willy Telavi, who has not convened parliament for eight months. The governor-general then appoints Enele Sopoaga to replace Telavi.

2015

Cyclone Pam, one of the most damaging cyclones in history, strikes Tuvalu and other countries, including New Zealand. Worst hit of all is Vanuatu. Around one hundred and sixty-six thousand people across twenty-two islands need food, especially in areas in which livestock has been killed. Forty-five percent of Tuvalu's population is displaced.

'The Dominion of New Zealand', Simpson & Williams Ltd, Christchurch, release on 4 November 1927 as a colourful booklet, having been created for the 'Department of Tourist and Health Resorts' to advertise New Zealand for holidays (External Link: Creative Commons Licence 2.0 Deed)

2017

Acting governor-general on 14 Aug.

2019 - 2021

Acting governor-general. First female governor-general.

2021

Acting governor-general for the United Kingdom.

2021 - On

Governor-general for the United Kingdom.

2022

In the growing regional rivalry between China and Taiwan over influence in the Pacific, Tuvalu reaffirms its recognition of Taiwan. Prime Minister Kausea Natano visits Taipei to underline his commitment (although he loses his parliamentary seat in the 2024 elections).