Makea Takau Ariki

Who is Makea Takau Ariki?

Makea Takau Ariki was the paramount chief (ariki) of the Makea Nui dynasty, one of the three chiefdoms of the Te Au O Tonga tribe on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. She succeeded her uncle, Makea Abera Ariki, in 1871, beginning a reign of forty years that spanned one of the most consequential periods in Cook Islands history. During the 1870s she presided over a period of relative prosperity, proving a skilled negotiator who secured favorable prices for exports while working to reduce debts that had accumulated before her succession. Facing what she believed was a real risk of French annexation, spreading north from France's Pacific territories, she formally petitioned the British government in 1888 to establish a protectorate over Rarotonga, a request that was granted the same year, and she favored eventual annexation to Britain over French rule. The Cook Islands were subsequently annexed to New Zealand in 1900, a transition that took place within her reign. She died in May 1911 at the age of about seventy-two, having named her successor, Rangi Makea, shortly before her death.

Sources: Makea Takau Ariki — Wikipedia biographical summary · Kingdom of Rarotonga — Wikipedia, historical overview of the Rarotongan monarchy · "Remembering Makea Takau Ariki, The Queen of Rarotonga, 1871-1911", The New Zealand Journal of Public History