Roi Mata

Roi Mata was a powerful chief of Efate in present-day Vanuatu, remembered in oral tradition and associated with a UNESCO-listed cultural landscape and chiefly burial site.

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Chief Roi Mata’s Domain: A cultural landscape on Efate and nearby islands in Vanuatu, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008. This World Heritage property brings together sites associated with Roi Mata’s life, death, and legacy.
Roi Mata Oral Tradition: A body of oral accounts about Roi Mata, his authority, death, and the social settlement that followed. These accounts are the principal source for the chief’s remembered life and influence.
Chiefly System of Vanuatu: A diverse set of customary leadership structures through which chiefs hold social and ceremonial authority in Vanuatu. Roi Mata is remembered as a chief whose authority reshaped relations among communities.
Customary Law in Vanuatu: Rules and practices grounded in local custom that shape social life and dispute resolution in Vanuatu. Customary institutions help explain how chiefly authority operated beyond formal state structures.
World Heritage Site: A place recognized by UNESCO for outstanding cultural or natural value to humanity. Roi Mata’s domain is protected and interpreted through this international heritage framework.
Mangaas: An archaeological site on Efate, Vanuatu, associated with Roi Mata and the region’s chiefly past. Tradition identifies this as Roi Mata’s residence and the place where he died.
Oral Tradition in Vanuatu: The transmission of histories, genealogies, laws, and cultural knowledge through spoken forms in Vanuatu. Roi Mata’s story belongs to a living tradition rather than a surviving contemporary written biography.
Ralph Regenvanu: A Vanuatuan anthropologist, politician, and cultural heritage advocate. His heritage work helped bring Roi Mata’s domain to international recognition.
Taboo: A customary prohibition restricting particular actions, people, or places in a society. Traditions about Roi Mata connect social order with restrictions and obligations tied to place.
UNESCO World Heritage Convention: An international treaty adopted in 1972 to identify and protect cultural and natural heritage of outstanding universal value. The convention provides the basis for the domain’s international listing.