Seru Epenisa Cakobau

Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau
King of Fiji 6th Vunivalu of Bau King of Bau
King of Fiji
Reign	5 June 1871 – 10 October 1874
Successor	Victoria
Born	circa 1815 Natauloa, Nairai, Lomaiviti, growing up on Vanuaso, Gau, Lomaiviti before returning to Bau.
Died	1 February 1883 (aged 67–68)
Spouse	Adi Litia Samanunu Adi Salote Qalirea Kaunilotuna
Issue	Children by Adi Litia Samanunu: Adi Arieta Koila Ratu Epeli Nailatikau I Adi Asenaca Kakua Vuikaba Ratu Timoci Tavanavanua Ratu Josefa Celua Children by Adi Salote Qalirea Kaunilotuna: Ratu Sukuna Vana Ratu Viliame Bulu Adi Lusiana Qolikoro
Father	Tanoa Visawaqa
Mother	Adi Savusavu
Religion	Methodist
Signature

The Vunivalu of Bau, lithograph portrait in the possession of Henry Mangles Denham, c. 1858.

Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau (pronounced [ˈseru epeˈniːsa ðakomˈbau]; occasionally spelled Cacobau or phonetically Thakombau) (c.1815 – 1 February 1883)^[1] was a Fijian chief, monarch, and warlord (Vunivalu) who united part of Fiji's warring tribes under his leadership, establishing a united Fijian kingdom. He was born on Natauloa, Nairai Island in Lomaiviti but spent his youth on Vanuaso, Gau, Lomaiviti, later returning to Bau to re-establish his Father's Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa reign. Ratu Epenisa Seru Visawaqa was given the name "Cakobau" meaning destroyer of Bau, in reference to his grandfathers' (Nailatikau) effort to first claim the tile from the people of Butoni and Lovoni, returned with most of his warriors from Vanuaso, Gau, Lomaiviti to coup the leadership in Bau then and later takeover his father's title; known after his father as the 6th "Vunivalu" or Warlord of Bau.^[2]

Background

He was born to Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa on Nairai Island, Lomaiviti, and one of his nine wives, Adi Savusavu.

The Vunivalu and the Roko Tui Bau (sacred chieftain) had had many power struggles during the course of nearly a century. These struggles led to the death of Seru's paternal uncle, the Vunivalu of Bau, Naulivou Ramatenikutu and the installation of Tanoa as Vunivalu. However, after he killed the Roko Tui Bau, Ratu Raiwalui, near Vanua Balavu, amongst other murders and reprisals, Tanoa was exiled in 1832.

He married two sisters, Litia (Lydia) Samanunu and Salote (Charlotte) Qalirea Kaunilotuna (daughters of the Roko Tui Bau).^[1]

Mary Wallis provided a description of him after meeting with him on 7 December 1844: "He is tall, rather good looking, appears fully aware of his consequence, and is not destitute of dignity. He wore an enormous quantity of hair on his head and several yards of native cloth around his body..." ^[3]

Seru was given the name Cikinovu ("Centipede"),^[2] "because he moved silently and struck painfully". Later, he was called Cakobau ("destroyer of Bau"), because he had destroyed what was Bau; but Seru also built a new Bau, under the supremacy of the Vunivalu.^[4] After he converted to Christianity, he also took the additional name of Epenisa (Ebenezer).^[5]

Rise to power

On 8 December 1852, Cakobau succeeded as Vunivalu of Bau.

Cakobau, a former cannibal, was converted to Christianity by the missionary James Calvert^[6] and renounced cannibalism in 1854.

Claiming that Bau had suzerainty over the remainder of Fiji, he asserted that he was the King of Fiji. However, Cakobau's claim was not accepted by other chiefs, who regarded him, at best, as the first among equals. Cakobau consequently engaged in constant warfare for almost nineteen years to unify the islands under his authority.

The last, brief rebellion of chiefs against Cakobau's rule culminated in the Battle of Kaba (a village in Bau Tikina, next to Bau Island). Cakobau crushed the rebellion with the aid of the King of Tonga. Having converted to Christianity, on the battlefield he pardoned all the captives; in accordance with pagan Fijian customs, the defeated men would have been ceremonially humiliated, killed and eaten.

Royal Standard of Cakobau as King of Fiji, 1871-1874.

On 8 May 1865,^[7] a Confederacy of Independent Kingdoms of Viti was established (comprising Bau, Bua, Cakaudrove, Lakeba, Macuata, Naduri), with Cakobau as Chairman of the General Assembly. Two years later, however, the confederacy split into the Kingdom of Bau and the Confederation of Lau (comprising Bua, Cakaudrove, Lau), with Cakobau assuming kingship of the former.^[8]

Supported by foreign settlers, he finally succeeded in creating a united Fijian kingdom in 1871, and established Levuka as his capital. He decided to set up a constitutional monarchy, and the first legislative assembly met in November of that year. Both the legislature and the Cabinet were dominated by foreigners. He gave his war club to Queen Victoria on 10 October 1874 when the Deed of Cession by which the sovereignty of Fiji passed to the British Crown was signed. In October 1932, King Cakobau’s war club was presented, on behalf of King George V, for ceremonial use as the Ceremonial mace of the Legislative Council of Fiji.^[9]

Cession of power

Portrait of Seru Epenisa Cakobau, Fiji, ca. 1875, by Francis Herbert Dufty

The United States government had recognised Cakobau's claim to kingship over a united Fijian nation, long before his claims were accepted by his fellow chiefs. In the long term, however, this was not to count in his favour. The American government held him responsible for an arson attack against the Nukulau Island home of John Brown William, the American Consul, in 1849 (before Cakobau was even the Vunivalu, let alone King), and demanded $44,000 compensation. Unable to pay the debt caused by the Rewan Chiefs, and fearing an American invasion and annexation, Cakobau decided to cede the islands to the United Kingdom.^[10] He and his diplomatic party sailed to Sydney to celebrate the annexation, where they contracted measles. Their return triggered an epidemic.^[11]

Cakobau retained his position as Fiji's second most senior chief the title of Vunivalu of Bau, and formally ceded the highest and most precedent Chiefly title of Tui Viti or Paramount Chief of Fiji to the person of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. This title continued to be held by her descendants, until the de-establishment of the Great Council of Chiefs on 14 March 2012, making Elizabeth II the last Paramount Chief. He lived quietly until his death on 1 February 1883.^[2]

Legacy

Memorial statue to Ratu Epenisa Seru Cakobau in Suva

Several of Fiji's leading figures were direct descendants of Cakobau. His great-grandson, Ratu Sir George Cakobau who descended from Cakobau's third son, served as Fiji's first native-born Governor-General from 1973 to 1983, while Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, modern Fiji's first Prime Minister and second President descended from Cakobau's second daughter, Adi Asenaca Kakua Vuikaba. Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, who became President of Fiji in 2009 and currently the speaker of Fiji's House of Representatives, is a grandson of Cakobau's granddaughter, Adi Litia Cakobau. Ratu Epeli is also a cousin of parliamentarian and former leader of opposition Ro Teimumu Kepa, who descends from Adi Teimumu Vuikaba, the younger sister of Adi Litia Cakobau. A number of other political figures are also descendants of Cakobau, including Roko Tupou Draunidalo, former President of the National Federation Party and a former Member of Parliament.

Titles

Preceded by Tanoa Visawaqa	Vunivalu of Bau 8 December 1852 – 1 February 1883	Succeeded by Epeli Nailatikau I
Preceded by none (new office)	Chairman, Viti Confederacy 8 May 1865 – 2 May 1867	Succeeded by none (office abolished)
Preceded by none (new throne)	Tui Bau (King of Bau) 2 May 1867 – 1869	Succeeded by none (throne abolished)
Preceded by none (new throne)	Tui Viti (King of Fiji) 5 June 1871 – 10 October 1874	Succeeded by Queen Victoria

See also

• Fiji during the time of Cakobau
• First Fiji Expedition
• Second Fiji Expedition

References

1. "Vunivalu of Bau (Chiefly Title)". Archived from the original on 2 October 2019.
2. Mennell, Philip (1892). "Thakombau" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
3. Wallis), a lady (Mary (2002). Life in Feejee : five years among the cannibals, a woman's account of voyaging the Fiji Islands aboard the "Zotoff" (1844-49). Santa Barbara, Calif.: Narrative Press. p. 16. ISBN 1-58976-208-8.
4. "Cakobau, Rex!". VII(4) Pacific Islands Monthly. 24 November 1936. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
5. Thornley, Andrew (2002). Exodus of the I Taukei: The Wesleyan Church in Fiji, 1848-74. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific. p. 176. ISBN 978-982-02-0340-2.
6. Mennell, Philip (1892). "Calvert, Rev. James" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co – via Wikisource.
7. Worldstatesmen
8. "When Cakobau Was Crowned". XVI(10) Pacific Islands Monthly. 16 May 1946. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
9. "King Cakobau's Club". III(3) Pacific Islands Monthly. 19 October 1932. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
10. Lawrence, David Russell (October 2014). "Chapter 5 Liberalism, Imperialism and colonial expansion" (PDF). The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific. ANU Press. pp. 139–140. ISBN 9781925022032.
11. "Mass grave found in Fiji sparks a mystery: cannibalism or contagion?". National Geographic. 15 April 2024.

• Eddie Dean; Stan Ritova (June 1988). Rabuka: no other way. Doubleday. pp. 32, 36, 71. ISBN 978-0-86824-372-6. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
• Kathleen Hancock (2003). Men of mana. Steele Roberts. ISBN 978-1-877228-62-9. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
• David Routledge; University of the South Pacific. Fiji Centre; University of the South Pacific. Institute of Pacific Studies (1985). "Chapter 2 Struggle between the Chiefs 1760 to 1842". Matanitu: The Struggle for Power in Early Fiji. Institute of Pacific Studies in assoc. with the Fiji Centre Extension Services, Univ. of the South Pacific. pp. 40, 56. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
• Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara; Pacific Islands Development Program (East-West Center) (1997). The Pacific way: a memoir. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1893-7. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
• Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown; Raymond William Firth; Adolphus Peter Elkin (1977). Oceania: a journal devoted to the study of the native peoples of Australia, New Guinea, and the islands of the Pacific Ocean. University of Sydney. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
• Marshall David Sahlins (2004). Apologies to Thucydides: understanding history as culture and vice versa. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-73400-2. Retrieved 25 June 2011. Reference to the sanctity of the Roko Tui Bau and also the battle near Vanua Balavu. Also the continued friction between the Roko Tui Bau and The Vunivalu.
• Lewis F. Petrinovich (2000). The cannibal within. Aldine de Gruyter. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-202-02048-8. Retrieved 25 June 2011. Includes details on cannibalism in Fiji.
• Thomas Williams; James Calvert (1858). Fiji and the Fijians. A. Heylin. pp. 213–214. Retrieved 25 June 2011. Includes details on cannibalism in Fiji.