NiueNiuē

Niue was settled about a thousand years ago, by tradition first from Samoa and later from Tonga, and the two strands can still be heard in the language. The island had no single chief for much of its history; villages and two broad groupings, the Motu in the north and the Tafiti in the south, competed for power, and from the 1700s the island chose a patu-iki (king) at times.

In 1774 James Cook tried to land and was met with hostility, so he named it Savage Island; the reception probably reflected fear of disease from outsiders. Christianity arrived through Niuean and Samoan teachers of the London Missionary Society, above all Peniamina in the 1840s and Paulo in 1849, and within a generation the island was Christian. Peniamina Day is still marked each October.

Britain declared a protectorate in 1900 and the next year transferred Niue to New Zealand, which ran it at first with the Cook Islands and then separately. Colonial rule was paternal and often harsh. In 1953 the resident commissioner, Cecil Larsen, was killed by three young prisoners, an event that exposed resentment and pushed reform.

After the United Nations decolonisation push of the 1960s, Niue chose self-government in free association with New Zealand in 1974 rather than full independence. Niueans kept New Zealand citizenship, while Niue took over its own laws and, over time, its own foreign relations. Robert Rex, the first premier, led the island for almost two decades.

Niue is an uplifted coral atoll, one of the largest raised coral islands in the world. The old lagoon is now the flat interior plateau, and the former reef forms a terrace that ends in cliffs about 20 to 60 metres above the sea. Rain soaks straight into the porous limestone, so there are no rivers, and the fresh water lies in an underground lens.

The same process carved the coast into caves, arches and chasms. Sea tracks, many built and maintained by villages, lead from the ring road down through forest and coral pinnacles to pools and caves: the Limu Pools and Matapa Chasm in the north-west, the Talava Arches beyond them, and on the wilder east side Togo, Anapala and Vaikona.

Because nothing washes off the land, the water around Niue is famously clear, and the reef pools fill and drain with the tide. That also means waves hit the reef edge hard. The rule every host repeats is to go at the right tide in calm weather and to stay out when swells break across the terrace.

The interior keeps patches of old forest. Huvalu Forest Conservation Area on the east side is protected by the villages of Hakupu and Liku and holds trees and birds found nowhere else in such numbers. Fruit bats, pigeons and coconut crabs live there, and customary rules governed its use long before it was a reserve.

Because the island drops steeply into deep water, humpback whales passing north to breed come within metres of the reef, and people often watch them from the cliffs and the wharf. The season runs roughly from July to October. Licensed operators take small groups into the water under rules that limit approach distance and time.

The katuali, a banded sea krait, is everywhere in the reef pools and caves. It is venomous but calm and curious, and divers and snorkellers share the water with it daily. Spinner dolphins, turtles and reef sharks are also common off the west coast.

In 2020 Niue declared about 40% of its waters, some 127,000 km², as the Moana Mahu marine protected area, including the remote Beveridge Reef. The island also became one of the first certified dark-sky nations, with lighting rules that keep the Milky Way visible from almost everywhere.

On land, the uga or coconut crab is both a delicacy and a conservation concern. It is caught for feasts under size and season rules, and visitors should not buy undersized crabs or try to take any off the island.

When the airport opened in 1971, many Niueans moved to New Zealand for work and education, and the resident population fell from about 5,000 in the 1960s to under 2,000. Today some 30,000 people of Niuean descent live in New Zealand, making Niue one of the few countries with far more citizens overseas than at home.

The empty houses seen along the ring road belong to families who left; many are kept for return visits and many family graves stand in the gardens. Keeping the island populated is a constant government priority, with incentives for returning Niueans and workers from Tuvalu, Fiji and elsewhere filling jobs.

Cyclone Heta in January 2004 hit the west coast with waves that overtopped the cliffs, destroying the hospital, the museum and many homes in Alofi. Rebuilding moved key buildings inland and further from the sea. The Huanaki museum's collection was badly damaged, and the rebuilt centre opened years later.

The economy rests on New Zealand support, a small public sector, tourism, fishing and income from the .nu internet domain, which was the subject of a long dispute over who should benefit from it. Tourism is deliberately small scale, tied to Air New Zealand's flights and a handful of lodges.