Apparently, this week is Niue language week at the Te Papa National Museum of New Zealand. The theme is ‘Fakaako, Fakaaoga, Fakamau-Kia Mauokafua e Vagahau Niue – Learn, Use, Retain – Maintain our Vagahau Niue’. Te Papa’s Pacific Cultures collections have around 290 artifacts associated with Niue.
Here is a little information about Niue:
Niue is a self-governing island state in free association with New Zealand since 1974. Alofi is the main port, and the island has a small airport as well. The population is mostly Polynesian. English is widely spoken, and a large number of people speak both English and Niuean, a Polynesian language akin to Tongan and Samoan; a small proportion speak only Niuean. The inhabitants are predominantly Christian. Most people live in villages on the fertile coastal strip, which is intensively cultivated.
Captain Jame Cook landed on Niue in 1774 and, because of hostility from the Niueans, named it Savage Island. London Missionary Society members began to arrive in the 1830s, and by the 1850s the islanders had been converted to Christianity. In 1900 Great Britain established a protectorate over Niue. The following year the island was annexed to New Zealand as part of the Cook Islands, but in 1903 it was separated and given its own resident commissioner and island council.
Take a quiz about this tiny island nation, and keep checking the blog for more information regarding Niue.
Island Time 