A history of Rarotonga, 1800-1883

Abstract

[…] Rarotonga was selected as the object of this study for a number of reasons. Despite its small size this island possesses a long and exciting history. It is a community of inter-acting tribes of such number as to represent both the more complex and the more simple societies. As a relatively isolated island whose inhabitants concentrated on the development of their beautiful and productive land rather than the continuance of the extensive Pacific explorations of their ancestors, an opportunity is presented to observe the development of a Polynesian society through six centuries. Rarotonga experienced the inter-relationships of two tribes from divergent backgrounds, more than any of the other Cook Islands. It, also, was the site of the emergence of a third vaka resulting from social changes in the first two. This island was also the site of the major European Mission in the island group. There is a relatively large volume of source material t much of which has not been previously analysed. […] [Extract from Introduction]