People and History

Based on such historical details as are known, particularly the records of inter-island wars, it appears that two peoples settled in the Tokelau Islands. The Fakaofu people are a later intrusive group who, once established on their island, drove out the people whom they found on the other islands of the group. The fighting may have been caused by the aggression of the newcomers or, more probably, by the militant self-defence of the earlier settlers who resented intruders into their islands, and waged a long but losing fight to drive them back to the islands whence they had come.