History of Niue Island

The history of the Niue Island can be traced back to a 1000 years when the Polynesian settles came here. Traces of Pukapulan dialect are still there in the native language which is based on the Samoan and Tongan language. The Polynesian settlers were raters isolated as there was very little inter island trade and the existence of the limestone island was in itself very difficult due to lack of rivers and cultivable soil.

The modern history of Niue can be traced back to 174 with the arrival of Captain James Cook. Cook described the island as ‘Savage Island’ in his records as the natives were not very welcoming to strangers. This was in complete contrast to the Tongans ‘Friendly Island’. Captain Cook tried to set his foot thrice on the island but was repulsed each of the three times. The natives at that time were quite hostile to strangers. Christianity was brought o the island by Peniamina in the year 1846 when he got converted during his stay at Samoa. The islanders were completely converted to Christianity by the end of the 19th century. Colonization took place thereafter and the island was declared as a part of the British Empire.

No body has any record of how the island became a part of the British Empire and was administered form New Zealand. The island country became independent in 1974 but still have a symbiotic association with New Zealand and many of its citizens have New Zealand citizenship as well. Now the Island country has a democracy and is governed by a legislative assembly consisting of 20 members. Niue is the smallest democracy in the world.

With the good connectivity with New Zealand and Samoa as regular flights operate the links with rest of the world has improved a lot. The fragile economy has the only hope on the tourism industry which it is now developing. The island is the first country in the world to provide free wireless internet connectivity all over the country.
However Cyclone Heta struck the country in 2004 resulting in severe damage. However the country has recovered well and is on its way to become a major tourist spot.