Rangatira (Cook Islands)
Encyclopedia
A rangatira was the title given to a minor chief in the Cook Islands
- often someone who was closely related to an ariki
or mataiapo
, now usually by the younger brothers or sisters; the head of a branch of a rangatira or mataiapo family.
A rangatira title was usually inherited within a family. It was associated with a tapere
- the land on which the people of a village belonged. The rangatira could expect contributions of goods and services from the people of his village. The majority of his village population of which he was the head, would have come from his descent group.
A rangatira could only be created by the ariki who delegated authority to the rangatira in order to create a structure of support from within the tapere for the ariki. This tapere support mechanism was stronger than that of the mataiapo because its population was larger.
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...
- often someone who was closely related to an ariki
Ariki
An Ariki , ‘Ariki , Aliki , Ali‘i , Ari'i or ‘Eiki is or was a member of a hereditary chiefly or noble rank in Polynesia.-Aotearoa Ariki:Political leadership or governance in Māori society has traditionally come from two...
or mataiapo
Mataiapo
A mataiapo or mata'iapo is a hereditary chiefly title in the Cook Islands. The head of a sub-tribe, subject to the ariki as far as the whole tribe is concerned and owing him traditional allegiance, but otherwise largely independent as head of his own family group and owning land in his own...
, now usually by the younger brothers or sisters; the head of a branch of a rangatira or mataiapo family.
A rangatira title was usually inherited within a family. It was associated with a tapere
Tapere
A tapere or sub-district is a low level of traditional land subdivision on five of the Lower Cook Islands , comparable to the ahupua'a of the main Hawaiian Islands. Among the populated raised islands, only Mitiaro is not subdivided into tapere...
- the land on which the people of a village belonged. The rangatira could expect contributions of goods and services from the people of his village. The majority of his village population of which he was the head, would have come from his descent group.
A rangatira could only be created by the ariki who delegated authority to the rangatira in order to create a structure of support from within the tapere for the ariki. This tapere support mechanism was stronger than that of the mataiapo because its population was larger.