1813: Rise of the Fijian Chiefdom of Bau due mainly to the projection of its Sea Power through its sea warriors-the Lasakau and Soso Kai Wai

“The rise of the islet of Bau as the pre-eminent state in pre-colonial Fiji was due mainly to the projection of its Sea Power through its sea warriors – the Lasakau and Soso Kai Wai. As quoted by Deryck Scarr …“for Bau relied on levying… and power projected at sea by the Lasakau and Soso sailors”.
Sea power: ” The kings of Bau based their rule not on native cultivators but on native sailors and fishers-which is to say in Fijian categories, as in political strategies, not on the land but on the sea.
Plus guns from Europeans: Added to this naval superiority was the fire power the War Lord Vunivalu of Bau, Naulivou, exploited through the use of musket-bearing European beachcombers. Of notoriety was Naulivou’s white mercenary Charlie Savage who was the terror of Bau’s enemies until his death in 1813 Thus at the time of Naulivou’s death, Bau seemed well on the way to establishing a Fiji-wide political hegemony.
Author: Jonocan 14 July 2008 (UTC).

1760: Bau chief Nailatikau seized Ulu-ni-vuaka, expelled the Butoni; rise of Bau rapid partly to the advantages gained from the first use of firearms

Sea warriors/fishermen of yavusa Nabou of Lasakau, who trace their roots to Delailasakau Naitasiri and the Nakauvadra foothills, were brought to Bau from Beqa by the Vunivalu Ratu Banuve.
Levuka and Butoni people exit Bau: This was after the banishment of the Levuka and Butoni people from Bau around the 1760’s. About 1760, the Bau chief Nailatikau seized Ulu-ni-vuaka and expelled the Butoni, who thenceforth were rovers, wandering to many parts of the Group, and establishing settlements at Lakeba and Somosomo.To briefly capture Baun history and emphasize this ascendency, the following excerpt continues, “The rise of Bau was rapid, and was due partly to the natural ability of her chiefs, and partly to the advantages gained from the first use of firearms.
Kauvadra migration: The Bau chiefs claimed descent from certain elements of the Kauvadra migration, which, having come to Verata, divided and wandered widely; in the final stage of their wanderings they settled, in comparatively recent times, on the coast near their present island, then named Ulu-ni-vuaka (The Pig’s Head).
Butoni depart to wander: The island was occupied at the time by the Butoni, a predatory tribe of sailors and traders. However, they continued to own a degree of allegiance to their conquerors, and their canoes were always at the disposal of the chiefs of Bau for the transport of property and warriors.
Nailatikau was succeeded by Banuve, who, during a period of nearly thirty years, consolidated the young state’s position and carried out an ambitious scheme of improvements to the island. He reclaimed wide areas of the adjacent reef flats, and built stone canoe-docks and sea-walls as a protection against erosion. And since chiefs need lesser men to fetch and carry, he allowed fishermen from Beqa and craftsmen from Kadavu to settle on the island in the areas known as Lasakau and Soso”

Author: Jonocan  14 July 2008 (UTC)
Andrew Thornley, Tauga Vulaono,”Exodus of the Taukei: The Wesleyan Church in Fiji 1848-74 “University of the South Pacific of, Institute of Pacific
Studies,Published 2002.p204.
Deryck Scarr, ‘A History of the Pacific Islands: Passages through Tropical Time’,Richmond, Surrey, UK, Curzon Press, 2001,p 115.
NLC ‘Tukutuku Raraba Lasakau Bau’ Ratu Viliame Kamikamica liuliu ni yavusa Nabou.
David Routledge, ‘Matanitu- the struggle for power in early Fiji 1985’ – published by the Institute of Pacific studies and the University of the South Pacific Fiji,p51,54.
Elinor Mordaunt,The recollections,taken from “The Venture Book”, published by the Bodley Head, London, 1926.
Sahlins, Marshall David, ‘Apologies to Thucydides: Understanding History as Culture’, University of Chicago Press , 2004, p 64.
Thomas William, “Fiji and the Fijians v.I, “The Islands and Their Inhabitants” ,Published in 1858 by Alexander Heylin, Paternoster Row, London. Reprint 1983 by the Fiji Museum, Suva, p 290.301,345-7.