Tautu (chief)
Tautu ( – c. 1675) was a chief of Ra'iātea whose lineage, according to Polynesian genealogical traditions, traces back to Hiro. He is regarded as an ancestor of the royal Tamatoa line of Ra'iātea, the father of Tamatoa I, and a progenitor of the Pōmare dynasty of Tahiti.
James Morrison's account
James Morrison, during his sojourn at Tubuai in 1789, reported meeting the reigning chief Tamatoa, who was said to be the great-great-grandson of a chief blown off course in a fishing canoe and who had landed on Tubuai generations earlier. At that time, the island was sparsely inhabited by groups themselves displaced from other islands, notably Rurutu to the west and Hiva (the Marquesas Islands) to the northeast. The Ra'iātean chief, unable to return home, was accepted as a leader by these settlers. He named three districts after the islands of Ra'iātea, Taha'a, and Huahine, names which persisted into Morrison's time. Upon returning to Tahiti in September 1789, accompanied by Tamatoa, Morrison and his companions received confirmation from the mother of Tu (or Mate and later Pōmare I) that her great-great-grandfather, Tamatoa of Ra'iātea, had been lost at sea in a fishing canoe and never heard from again. The young chief of Tubuai was immediately acknowledged as a relative and adopted as a friend of her son Mate, who wished to voyage to Tubuai to affirm his kinship with Tamatoa. The consistency of these accounts, both oral and material, persuaded Morrison and his companions of their authenticity.
Several individuals were referred to as kings of the island of Tubuai under the name Tamatoa. On 21 October 1826, William Pascoe Crook encountered the King of Tubuai, who bore this name. During the Franco-Tahitian War of 1844–1846, Governor Armand Joseph Bruat likewise mentioned a Tamatoa, King of Tubuai, who was a supporter of the protectorate established in 1842 and who fought against the rebels within the ranks of Tahitians allied to the French troops. Another ruler, known as Tamatoa a Tamatoa, died on 21 February 1885. Born in 1800 on Tubuai, he was the son of Ro'otane a Tamatoa and Tehinah'atapu a Tetuatorono. Although they bore the name Tamatoa, the kinship ties with the figure mentioned by Morrison remain uncertain.
Mare's genealogy of the kings of Ra'iātea
According to Mare (v. denoting vahine or female, and t. denoting tane or male), Tu married Pupauraivaiahu v. and they had Tautu. Tautu married Teunuhaeha'a (v.), and together they had King Tamatoa I. Tamatoa I married Teaoinaia v., and had Ari'ima'o (t.) and the twins Ari'irua t. and Rofai t.. Rofai married Marama v., and among their children was King Tamatoa II. Tamatoa II married Maihea (v.), and they had four children: Tetupai'a (v.), Teri'inavahoroa (t.), Teruria (t.), and Hapaitaha'a (v.). Tetupai'a (v.) married Teu, a chief of Pare, and from this union was born King Pōmare I. The genealogy recorded by Orsmond on 27 November 1846, transmitted by Mare and later published in 1893, closely resembles the version written in Tahitian by Mare on 16 July 1849. On 13 March 1797, James Wilson described Teu as a venerable man of about seventy years, suggesting a birth around 1727, with his wife Tetupai'a likely of similar age. On 13 February 1799, John Jefferson confirmed that Teu, father of Pōmare I, appeared nearly eighty years of age. William Bligh referred to Teu's wife as "Oberee-roah", a name interpretable as OPiri'iroa or Piri'iroa in Tahitian. The Spanish called her Bayere, Fayere (Paiere) or Marorari. Tetupai'a was the elder daughter of U'uru also known as Teri'inavahoroa.
Tautu may be considered the ancestor of the young Tamatoa whom James Morrison encountered at Tubuai; nevertheless, in the absence of sufficient evidence, it is more judicious to regard them as two distinct individuals. According to Mare's writings and the accounts of English and Spanish navigators, Tetupai'a, also called Piri'iroa or Paiere, was born around 1730. Her father Tamatoa II was born circa 1700, her grandfather Rofai around 1675, her great‑grandfather Tamatoa I about 1650, and her great‑great‑grandfather Tautu around 1625. The years indicated are only approximate. The genealogy recorded by Mare underwent deliberate alterations, which were subsequently denounced following the 1928 publication of Ancient Tahiti.
Death
Based on average adult lifespans in the seventeenth century, it is plausible to estimate that he may have died around 1675, at approximately fifty years of age. He was the ancestor of a long lineage of chiefs who encountered the first European navigators and who reigned over the Society Islands during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. One of his descendant Ioata, Ariimate, Teururai a Teururai was coronated as Tamatoa VI on 22 January 1885 in Ra'iātea. His reign name was Tautu.