History of Samoa who brought the tools necessary to create the art of tatau, or in English tattoo, whence came the traditional Samoan "malofie" (also known as "pe'a" for men and as "malu" for women). The foundation of the cultural tradition of Samoa, or the fa'asamoa came with the rise of the warrior queen Nafanua. Her rule instituted traditions of the fa'amatai or local family and village and regional chiefly systems, a decentralized system. Her niece Salamasina continued under this system and their time is considered a golden age of Samoan cultural traditions. For a long period, a Tongan aristocracy ruled in Samoa.
Marae Marae A (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), (in Tongan), (in Marquesan), and (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term also means "cleared, free of weeds, trees, etc". It generally consists of an area of cleared land roughly rectangular (the marae itself), bordered with stones or wooden posts (called ' in Tahitian and Cook Islands Māori) perhaps with terraces (') which were traditionally used for ceremonial purposes; and in some cases, a central stone ' or "a'u". In the Rapa Nui culture