Tuimalealiʻifano is one of the four paramount chiefly titles of Samoa, known as the tama a ʻāiga. Samoa's other three paramount chiefs are Malietoa, Mataʻafa and Tupua Tamasese. The seat of the Tuimalealiʻifano title is at Falelatai in the Aʻana district.
The current title-holder is Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II, who has held the title since 1977[1] and currently serves as the head of state of Samoa (O le Ao o le Malo).[2] [3]
The title is the most recent of the tama a ʻāiga, originating in the mid-nineteenth century with Tuiaana Sualauvi, a nephew of Malietoa Fitisemanu I. Sualauvi was appointed Tui Aʻana in 1848.[4] By the early 1860s he had also been appointed to the pāpā titles of Gatoaitele and Vaetamasoalii.[5] In 1869, he obtained the support of Fuataga and Tafua of Aleipata and Moeono and Tusa of Falefa and Lufilufi and was appointed Tui Ātua, briefly ascending to the position of Tupu Tafaʻifa.[5] His reign would only last a year until his death on 25 August 1870. After Sualauvi's death, his youngest son Faʻaoloiʻi succeeded,[5] and was referred to by the name Tuimalealiʻifano, a contraction of Tui, from Tuitaʻalili, and Lealiʻifano, whose origins are disputed.[4]
Tuimalealiʻifano Faʻaoloiʻi Siʻuaʻana I lived until 1937, surviving the civil war and colonial rule by Germany and New Zealand.[6] Following his death the title was disputed, and in 1949 the Land and Titles Court of Samoa ruled that it belonged to the descendants of Tuiaana Sualauvi.[4] The title was again contested following the death of Tuiaana Tuimalealiʻifano Suatipatipa II.[1]