Kingdom of Rarotonga

Cook Islands Māori: Mātāmuatanga Rarotonga Konogano) named after the island of Rarotonga, was an independent kingdom established in the present-day Cook Islands in 1858. In 1888 it became a protectorate of the United Kingdom at its own request. In 1893 the name was changed to the Cook Islands Federation.^[1]

Hervey Islands, as the Southern Group was then known.^[2]

Northern Group islands should be annexed for possible future use as trans-Pacific cable stations.^[2]

British Resident, Frederick Moss, persuaded the ariki of Rarotonga to form a provisional Rarotongan legislature or General Council, the first government for the entire island. The following year representatives of the ariki from Rarotonga and the Southern Group islands agreed to form the first federal legislature in the islands.^[3] However, the path through the last decade of the 19th century was far from smooth and the numerous changes that took place were not well accepted by some ariki and members of the nobility.^[2]