Sawana is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 on the Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

an island of Vanua Balavu

Vanua Balavu

Vanua Balavu is the second largest island in Fiji's Lau archipelago , and the main island of the Northern Lau Group.-Geography and infrastructure:...

, in the Lau

Lau Islands

The Lau Islands of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about one hundred islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited...

 archipelago and is part of the Tikina of Lomaloma

Lomaloma

Lomaloma is a village on the Fiji island of Vanua Balavu in the Lau archipelago. It is part of the Tikina of Lomaloma which comprises 9 villages, which is further made up of 13 Yavusa which are further broken down into 42 Mataqali and 54 Tokatoka from early records first documented in 1881 by...

.

Sawana is separated from the main village of Lomaloma

Lomaloma

Lomaloma is a village on the Fiji island of Vanua Balavu in the Lau archipelago. It is part of the Tikina of Lomaloma which comprises 9 villages, which is further made up of 13 Yavusa which are further broken down into 42 Mataqali and 54 Tokatoka from early records first documented in 1881 by...

 only by a large ditch. As the population is predominantly of Tonga

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...

n origin, church services are conducted in Tongan

Tongan language

Tongan is an Austronesian language spoken in Tonga. It has around 200,000 speakers and is a national language of Tonga. It is a VSO language.-Related languages:...

, as well as Fijian

Fijian language

Fijian is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Polynesian family spoken in Fiji. It has 450,000 first-language speakers, which is less than half the population of Fiji, but another 200,000 speak it as a second language...

.

The selection of a High Chieftain

The nomination for the title of the Tui Lau

Tui Lau

Tui Lau is a Fijian chiefly title of recent history which was created during the time of Ma'afu and his conquests after Ma'afu was disclaimed as a Tongan Prince by his cousin King George Tupou I. Since the Vuanirewa consider Ma'afu as their own they therefore installed him as the 1st Tui Lau...

comes from the Tongan community in Sawana and is then handed to the Vuanirewa

Vuanirewa

The Vuanirewa is the ruling tribe of the Lau Islands, a scattered group of more than a hundred islands and reefs along the eastern edge of Fiji.- Origins :...

 clan on the island of Lakeba

Lakeba

Lakeba is an island in Fiji's Southern Lau Archipelago; the provincial capital of Lau is located here. The island is the tenth largest in Fiji, with a land area of nearly 60 square kilometers. It is fertile and well watered, and encircled by a 29-kilometer road. Its closest neighbors are Aiwa...

 for a final decision.

Strengthening tribal ties

Viliame Fonolahi and Setaita Miller, who though Fiji-born, were related to Tongan royalty (Setiata's mother was the sister of the King of Tonga) and were a senior family of Sawana, Their daughters married into chiefly families uniting tribes and creating a strong Vasu connection or maternal tie to Sawana and Vanuabalavu.

Viliame's daughter Lusiana Qolikoro was mother to the late Ratu Sir Kamisese Kapaiwai Tuimacilai Mara

Kamisese Mara

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG, KBE is considered the founding father of the modern nation of Fiji. He was Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992...

, who served for decades as Prime Minister and President. Ratu Mara's father being Ratu

Ratu

Ratu is a title used by Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, Adi is used by females of chiefly rank.-Etymology:Ra is a prefix in many titles and Tu is simply "chief"...

Tevita Uluilakeba III, who held the title of Turaga na Tui Nayau

Tui Nayau

Tui Nayau is the title held by the Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands in Fiji and is synonymous with the title holders over lordship of these islands. When translated Tui Nayau means Lord of Nayau, an island north of Lakeba, the latter accepted by many to be the chiefly island in the Lauan...

.

The youngest of Viliame's children was Laisa Kaukiono, who had issue with Ratu Sir Edward Tuivanuavou Tugi Cakobau

Edward Cakobau

Ratu Sir Edward Tuivanuavou Tugi Cakobau, KBE, MC was a Fijian chief and statesman.-Life:He was born on 21 December 1908 as the son of King George Tupou II of Tonga and his Fijian "trial wife", Adi Litia Cakobau, who was a granddaughter of Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the King who forged the first...

 (1908-1973), also known as Ratu Tui. Their child, Ratu Tui's first, was Ratu Viliame Dreunimisimisi of Bau Island

Bau Island

Bau is a small island in Fiji, off the east coast of the main island of Viti Levu.-History:With the aid of Charlie Savage, who brought firearms to Bau Island, the Bauan people quickly established themselves as an undefeatable military force...

. Ratu Tui himself was the son of King George Tupou II of Tonga

George Tupou II of Tonga

Siaosi Tupou II, King of Tonga was the King of Tonga from February 18, 1893 until his death. He was officially crowned at Nukualofa, on 17 March 1893. He was also the 20th Tui Kanokupolu...

 and Adi Litia Cakobau

Litia Cakobau

Adi Litia Qalirea Cakobau is a Bau high Fijian Chief and political leader. Cakobau, the daughter of the late Ratu Sir George Cakobau, who was Fiji's Governor-General from 1973 to 1983, was appointed to the Senate in 2001 as one of nine nominees of the Fijian government...

, a granddaughter of Turaga Na Tui Kaba Na Vunivalu

Vunivalu of Bau

Turaga na Vunivalu ni Bau is the Paramount Chief of the Kubuna Confederacy, loosely translated the title means Warlord of Bau or Root of War. The succession to the title does not follow primogeniture, but the candidate must be a high ranking member of the Tui Kaba clan.-A brief history:The...

, Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau

Seru Epenisa Cakobau

Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau was a Fijian Ratu and warlord who united part of Fiji's warring tribes under his leadership, establishing a united Fijian kingdom.-Background:...

, who forged the first Fijian nation state

Nation-state

The nation state is a state that self-identifies as deriving its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...

 in 1871 before ceding it to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in 1874.

Finally Mere Tuisalalo (1910 - 1982) married and became the first wife of the Turaga na Rasau

Turaga na Rasau

Turaga Na Rasau is a traditional Fijian chiefly title of the Lau Islands.Prior to Fiji's colonial days, Fiji had many different Vanua with their own Paramount Chieftain which exercised no authority over the other; a saying from the island of Kadavu aptly summarises it “Nomu Turaga o sega na noqu...

, Ratu Keni Naulumatua the Chieftan for Lomaloma

Lomaloma

Lomaloma is a village on the Fiji island of Vanua Balavu in the Lau archipelago. It is part of the Tikina of Lomaloma which comprises 9 villages, which is further made up of 13 Yavusa which are further broken down into 42 Mataqali and 54 Tokatoka from early records first documented in 1881 by...

Tikina.