Samoan society evolved largely uninterrupted in the small, isolated but well-endowed group of islands for 3,500 years until the late 18^th century. The central feature of Samoan social organisation was kinship (Kramer 1994). Society consisted of clusters of localised, co-resident kin corporations or āiga. Rights over land and sea were vested in the various, usually related, āiga which lived in villages in an area (Gilson 1963). A chief, or matai, selected by senior members of the āiga, held the corporation’s chiefly title and managed its resources on behalf and for the benefit of its members. Effective matai used the resources of their āiga to enhance its material and socio-political wealth; ineffective matai squandered āiga resources. At any time, the size and power of āiga varied according to the quality of leadership: well-led āiga attracted members and poorly-led ones tended to lose them (Macpherson 1997). Over time, certain āiga consolidated gains and came to control more land and to enjoy more permanent social prestige and political influence. This led to more or less fixed relations between āiga of villages and districts, and to the emergence of relatively stable local polities.^[1]

Samoans had links with the āiga of four grandparents. Of these, the most significant were links with the āiga with which they resided at a given time and which became their ‘strong side’ or itu malosi. For individuals, āiga membership established social location and significance, conferred rights to use agricultural land and a house site, and to protection by the āiga. These rights were offset by a number of parallel obligations, including the requirement to serve (tautua) one’s matai, to protect the land and to defend the honour of the āiga. The rewards for service were a degree of psychological and material security, and, for males at least, the prospect of eventual leadership and power.^[2]