King Aweida of Nauru ( Nauruan: ''Aweijeda'' ''Jim'' ''Naoero'') ( 1850 – 1921) or formally King Aweida was the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

and later Head Chief of

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

from 1875 until his death in 1921. He was succeeded by his son Moses Ballarat.

Biography

Aweida was born Aweijeda in 1850(?) at

Boe Boe, BOE or BoE may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment * Bastards of Evil, a comic book supervillain team * '' Blades of Exile'', a computer role-playing game * ''Boletín Oficial del Estado'', official gazette of the Spanish government Org ...

, Nauru. Before Nauru came under European rule, it was governed by a head chief who made laws that were enforced by local chiefs. After his father's death in 1911, he gained the title of head chief and would hold the title until his death. Aweijeda was born to Chief Jim. His first marriage was to a chieftain's daughter, Eibinua of the Eamwit tribe from Bush village. They had several children. Aweida was known to wear western attire on special occasions, which was, back then, a very rare practice amongst Nauruans. When

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

annexed Nauru into the Marshall Islands Protectorate, and later

German New Guinea German New Guinea () consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups, and was part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , became a German protectorate in 188 ...

, Aweida retained his

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

as king of Nauru and remained the head chief of the

Nauruan people Nauruans are a nation and an ethnic group indigenous to the Pacific island country of Nauru. They are most likely a blend of Micronesian, Melanesian and Polynesian ancestry. The origin of the Nauruan people has not yet been finally determined ...

. He reigned as King and Head Chief from 1875 until his death in 1921. Very little his known about him due to the lack of documentation about him and his family. After Eibinua died, Aweida remarried, this time to Eidukiri, also of the Eamwit tribe, but they had no children.Professor Paul Hambruch Documents Aweida was the de-facto king during the

Nauruan Civil War The Nauruan Civil War was fought from 1878 to 1888, between forces loyal to incumbent King Aweida of Nauru and those seeking to depose him in favour of a rival claimant. The war was preceded by the introduction of Firearm, firearms to the island a ...

from 1878–1888. After Australia invaded the island in World War I, he retained his position, still having the loyalty of most local chiefs. On October 7th, 1921, Aweida drowned near the Gabab Channel. He was brought to shore by the natives of Nauru and was put near a fire, but he collapsed and was declared dead. One of Aweida's sons, Moses Ballarat (King Moses), was proclaimed as King of Nauru after Aweida's death.

References

1850s births 1921 deaths Nauruan royalty Head Chiefs of Nauru People from Boe District 19th-century monarchs in Oceania 19th-century Nauruan people {{royal-stub

Biography

See also

References