Editing Rotuma (section)

===Cession to Britain===

[[Methodism|Wesleyan]] missionaries from [[Tonga]] arrived on Rotuma in June 1841, followed by [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Society of Mary (Marists)|Marists]] in 1847. The Roman Catholic missionaries withdrew in 1853 but returned in 1868. Conflicts between the two groups, fuelled by previous political rivalries among the chiefs of Rotuma's seven districts, resulted in hostilities that led the local chiefs in 1879 to ask [[United Kingdom|Britain]] to annex the island group. On 13 May 1881, Rotuma was officially ceded to the [[United Kingdom]], when the British flag was hoisted by [[Hugh Romilly]]. The event is annually celebrated as [[Rotuma Day]].

In 1881, a group of Rotuman chiefs travelled to Levuka, Ovalau, Fiji, to meet Queen Victoria's official representative to complete the process of cession. A memorial to the seven chiefs and their mission is located in the District of [[Itu{{okina}}ti{{okina}}u]]. In response to the cession, Queen Victoria bestowed the name of Albert on the [[paramount chief]] at the time - Gagaj Vaniak - in honour of her beloved husband, Prince Albert, who had died twenty years before. In June 2017, [[Pene Saggers]] (née Enasio) met with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and together they spoke about the links between their ancestral lines and the cession of Rotuma.

After Rotuma was ceded to the United Kingdom, it was governed as part of the Colony of Fiji. Rotuma remained with Fiji after Fiji's independence in 1970 and the military coups of 1987.