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Native nations and islands

Inca, Aztec, Maya and Native American nations, Hawaii and the Pacific, and the Caribbean: thrones, lands, remains and trusts.

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What do the native nations and islands estate cases show?

Where the law recognises only heirs born in marriage, a child born outside it has no claim to title or land however close the blood. A trust drafted before a stroke can be rewritten after it, and every rewrite invites a capacity fight.

Stories
51
Years
8600 BCE to 2024
Main regions
Latin America, North America, Oceania
Legal traditions
Royal and church law, Common law
Updated
30 October 2026

Every case in native nations and islands, best-known first

Best-known first: cases from 1900 on, then the United States, then Europe, and the people most read about on English Wikipedia each month. Fiction, scripture and legend come last.

Map of Tonga, marked on the globe2012 · Hong Kong (Kingdom of Tonga)Tonga's constitution lets only children born in marriage inherit the throne or a noble estate, so King George Tupou V's daughter could not succeed himTonga's 1875 constitution says of the throne: "It shall be lawful only for those born in marriage to succeed." The same rule governs land. Under clause 104 the King may grant nobles hereditary estates, and land may not be sold.Wikisource (primary text) and 4 moreIolani Palace in 1885: Iolani Palace in 1885.2022 · Honolulu, Hawaii, USAHawaii's "last princess" was ruled unable to manage her $215 million trust, married her partner during the court fight, and the settlement gave her wife $40 millionAbigail Kawānanakoa was born in 1926.civilbeat.org and 2 moreShiprock, New Mexico uranium mill aerial photo: Aerial photograph of Shiprock, New Mexico uranium mill tailings pile and surrounding area, 2002. The view is looking toward the sout1990 · Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, USANavajo uranium miners died of radiation, and their widows had to prove marriages made by Navajo custom to collect $100,000From 1944 to 1986 nearly 30 million tons of uranium ore were mined on Navajo land under leases with the Navajo Nation. The mines left 523 abandoned sites. On 15 October 1990 President George H. W.Cornell Law School, LII and 4 moreIndian Land for Sale: United States Department of the Interior advertisement offering 'Indian Land for Sale'. The man pictured is a Yankton Sioux named Not Afraid Of Pawnee.1983 · South Dakota, USAA 40-acre allotment had 439 owners, Congress let tiny shares pass to the tribe instead of the heirs, and the Supreme Court struck the law down twiceAllotment divided reservations into parcels held in federal trust for individual Indians. Each death split a parcel among more heirs.Cornell Law School, LII and 3 moreSarah Rector Birth Record: Birth Record (affidavit) of en:Sarah Rector.1967 · Taft, Oklahoma, USAOil on an 11-year-old Creek Freedwoman's allotment brought her $300 a day, a white guardian took charge, and W. E. B. Du Bois wrote to her judge about reports she was being cheatedSarah Rector was born on 3 March 1902 near Taft, in Indian Territory, to a family of Creek Freedmen. As a Freedman child she received an allotment of about 160 acres her father thought nearly worthless.kgou.org and 2 moreMinik Wallace: Minik in New York1898 · New York; Pittsburg, New HampshirePeary brought six Inuit to New York in 1897, and the museum faked a funeral and kept Minik's father's skeleton until 1993In September 1897 Robert Peary brought six Inughuit from northwest Greenland to New York. The American Museum of Natural History studied them, and visitors paid to see them. Peary had promised they could go home within a year.nunatsiaq.com and 3 moreMap of Hawaii, marked on the globe1905 · Kawaihae, Hawaii, USAThe Bishop Museum lent 83 burial objects to a Hawaiian group for one year, the group sealed them in a cave, and a federal judge jailed its leader until they came outIn 1905 David Forbes, a district judge, took 83 objects from a lava burial cave in Honokoa Gulch, Kawaihae, on Hawaiʻi Island. The Bishop Museum acquired them in 1907.archive.archaeology.org and 4 moreTereoboo, King of Owyhee, bringing presents to Captain Cook by John Webber: Kalaniopuu, King of Hawaii, bringing presents to Captain Cook. Shows a Hawaiian canoe with "crab-claw" a1782 · Hōnaunau, Kona, Hawaii, USAKalaniʻōpuʻu left Hawaiʻi Island to his son and the war god to his nephew Kamehameha, and the chiefs who got no land started the war that made Kamehameha kingAbraham Fornander, writing in 1880 from Hawaiian accounts, records that Kalaniʻōpuʻu, ruling chief of Hawaiʻi Island, called a council in Waipiʻo before he died.Internet Archive and 2 moreMap of New Zealand, marked on the globe2024 · Tūrangawaewae Marae, Ngāruawāhia, New ZealandThe Māori King's council passed over the son who had stood in for him and named his youngest child queen at his funeralThe Māori King movement installed Pōtatau Te Wherowhero as the first king in 1858. The role is not automatically inherited, but every monarch since has been a direct descendant of the one before.teaonews.co.nz and 2 moreJackson Barnett and wife: Jackson Barnett, the world's richest Indian, with wife at White House.1934 · Los Angeles, California, USA (allotment in Creek County, OklA woman married "the world's richest Indian", the Interior Secretary gave away $1.1 million of his oil money, and the courts took it backJackson Barnett was a Muscogee Creek man who received a 160-acre allotment in Creek County in 1903. Oil was found on it in 1912. On 17 February 1916 the Gypsy Oil Company brought in his No.Cornell Law School, LII and 2 moreErnest Burkhart and his wife Mollie Kyle: Ernest Burkhart and his wife Mollie née Kyle.1921 · Fairfax, Osage County, Oklahoma, USAOil made each Osage headright worth a fortune, at least 24 Osage were killed in the early 1920s, and Congress stopped non-Osage from inheriting headrights in 1925Under the Osage Allotment Act of 1906 the tribe owned the minerals under its land in common. Each allottee held an equal share of the oil royalties, called a headright, and a headright passed to the holder's heirs.osagenation-nsn.gov and 2 moreU'mista Cultural Centre (9413864866): In the late 1800s this figure currently at the U'mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada, would have welcomed guests to p1921 · 'Mimkwamlis, Village Island, British Columbia, CanadaPolice raided Dan Cranmer's 1921 potlatch, and the masks surrendered to keep people out of prison went to museums, a collector and an official's own collectionThe potlatch is the ceremony at which names are given, marriages made, the dead mourned, and a chief passes his rights and privileges to his eldest son. The Indian Act banned it from 1885 to 1951.umista.ca and 2 moreMap of Australia, marked on the globe1992 · Mer (Murray Island), Torres Strait, Queensland, AustraliaEddie Mabo died five months before the High Court upheld Meriam title to his island, and his grave was defaced the day after his memorialEddie Koiki Mabo was born on Mer in the Torres Strait. His mother died shortly after his birth and his uncle, Benny Mabo, adopted him.slq.qld.gov.au and 4 moreGENERAL VIEW, ca. 1874 (Photocopy made in 1966 from original view in Hawaii State Archives) - Lunalilo's Tomb, Punchbowl: GENERAL VIEW, ca. 1874 (Photocopy made in 1966 from origin1874 · Honolulu, Hawaii, USATwo Hawaiian kings died without naming heirs, the 1874 election ended in a riot that killed a legislator, and King Lunalilo left his lands to a home for poor HawaiiansKamehameha V died on 11 December 1872 without naming a successor.blog.bishopmuseum.org and 3 moreCakobau with son and heir, 1861: Seated portrait of Thakombau, king of the Fijian group and his son (possibly Ratu Epeli Nailatikau). When the British HMS Pelorus was in Fiji in 181989 · Bau Island, FijiThe Vunivalu of Bau title stood empty for 34 years after 1989 because Cakobau's clan could not agree on an heirOn Bau, the Roko Tui Bau were the sacred chiefs and the Vunivalu, "Root of War", were the war and executive chiefs. The Vunivalu Naulivou used musket-armed European beachcombers to extend Bau's power before he died in 1829.fijivillage.com and 2 moreOffering from Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza: Maya Gallery, INAH, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City. Complete indexed photo collection at WorldHistoryPics.com.1935 · Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, MexicoA US consul bought Chichén Itzá for 200 pesos and shipped the Sacred Cenote's offerings to Harvard; his heirs won the land back in Mexico's Supreme CourtThe Maya threw gold, carved jade, pottery and people into the Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itzá. In 1894 Edward H. Thompson, US consul in Yucatán, bought the Hacienda Chichén, which included most of the ruins, for 200 pesos.research.cgu.edu and 4 moreMap of Cuba, marked on the globe1960 · Havana, CubaCuba seized the Havana docks in 1960, a US company won more than $100 million from each of four cruise lines, and the Supreme Court revived its claim in 2026Havana Docks Corporation, a US company, held a concession to run the docks in Havana's port.Cornell Law School, LII and 2 moreDemasduit: Description: Demasduit (1819)DESCRIPTION: Portrait of Demasduit (Mary March) 1819 watercolour on ivory USE/REPRODUCTION: Copyright: Expired Credit: Library and Archives 1820 · Red Indian Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador, CanadaSettlers seized Demasduit to recover stolen property and killed her husband; their remains sat in Edinburgh until 2020In 1818 Beothuk took property belonging to John Peyton Jr. at the mouth of the Exploits River. Governor Sir Charles Hamilton authorized an expedition to recover it and to make friendly contact.Dictionary of Canadian Biography and 2 moreYagan: Yagan Statue 20051833 · Upper Swan, Western Australia, AustraliaSettlers cut off Yagan's head for a £30 reward, it was shown in London and buried in a Liverpool grave, and Noongar elders buried it in the Swan Valley in 2010Yagan was a Noongar warrior near the Swan River Colony. His father Midgegooroo was captured and executed by firing squad on 22 May 1833. The colony offered a reward of £30 for Yagan, dead or alive.abc.net.au and 2 moreKingPhilip 1827 BenjaminChurch SamuelDrake04264001: Description according to the metadata delivered with the image by the John Carter Brown Library: Portrait of King Philip or Meta1676 · Mount Hope (Bristol), Rhode Island, USAPlymouth put Metacom's head on a pole for about 20 years and sold his wife and nine-year-old son into slaveryMassasoit, sachem of the Wampanoag, signed a treaty with Plymouth Colony in 1621 and died in 1661.apps.lib.umich.edu and 3 morePocahontas: Matoaks als Rebecka daughter to the mighty Prince Powhâtan Emperour of Attanoughkomouck als virginia converted and bapti1617 · Gravesend, England (family land on the James River, VirginiaPocahontas's son inherited Virginia land, and Virginia's 1924 race law made an exception that kept families claiming descent from her legally whitePocahontas, called Rebecca in England, fell ill in March 1617 aboard a ship at Gravesend, about to sail home, and died.US National Park Service and 3 moreTakaparawhau & Bastion Rock 1901: Looking east along Biddicks Bay towards Takaparawhau showing Bastion Rock, since demolished, 1901.1873 · Ōrākei and Bastion Point (Takaparawhau), Auckland, New ZealaThe Native Land Court declared Ōrākei inalienable, the Crown took or bought almost all of it, and 800 police and soldiers ended a 506-day occupation with 222 arrestsApihai Te Kawau of Ngāti Whātua signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 20 March 1840. In 1869 he obtained a Crown grant for land at Ōrākei, and in 1873 the Native Land Court ordered that it "shall be inalienable".nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu and 2 moreChaco Canyon Pueblo Bonito digital reconstruction: A digital model of ancient Pueblo Bonito (Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, United States) before it was abandoned.800 · Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USAPueblo Bonito's richest crypt held one maternal line for 330 years, and scientists sequenced it without asking the Pueblo tribesIn 1896 an American Museum of Natural History expedition dug Room 33 at Pueblo Bonito, a crypt of about two by two metres. On a prepared floor lay a man in his 40s who had died from a blow to the head.par.nsf.gov and 2 moreExercierplatz Sans souci Haiti illustration Naturhistorische Reise nach der westindischen Insel Hayti Brasiliensium Ritt: Exercier-Platz in Sans-Souci auf Hayti. Illustration aus N1825 · Port-au-Prince, HaitiFrance made Haiti pay 150 million francs in 1825 to compensate its former slaveholders, and Haitians paid on the debt until 1947Haiti declared independence from France in 1804. On 17 April 1825 King Charles X issued an ordinance recognising Haiti in exchange for 150 million francs, payable in five yearly instalments.csmonitor.com and 3 moreCrown, Henry I of Haiti (Henri Christophe), Haiti, 1820 - Bode-Museum - DSC02719: Exhibit in the Bode-Museum, Berlin, Germany. This work is in the public domain because the artist 1820 · Milot (Sans-Souci Palace), HaitiHaiti's King Henry shot himself, rebels bayoneted his 16-year-old heir ten days later, and the queen took her daughters into exile in PisaHenri Christophe declared the northern Haitian state a kingdom on 28 March 1811 and was crowned King Henry I. He built the Sans-Souci Palace and the Citadelle near Milot. He had married Marie-Louise Coidavid in 1793.ageofrevolutions.com and 4 moreMoctezuma II: Moctezuma Mendoza1520 · TenochtitlanSpain and then Mexico paid Moctezuma's heirs for Tacuba lands until a 1934 decree, and a Spanish dukedom still carries his nameAfter Tenochtitlan fell, Spain granted Moctezuma II's daughter Isabel perpetual ownership of lands that included Tacuba. Chroniclers counted more than 300 towns there.boe.gob.es and 4 moreMound 72 - Cahokia: Photo of Mound 72 at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site taken in May 20241050 · Cahokia, near Collinsville, Illinois, USAAt Cahokia a man and woman were buried on 10,000 shell beads, and the same mound held 53 young women who had been strangledMound 72 lies about 850 metres south of Monks Mound at Cahokia. Melvin Fowler began excavating it in 1967 and recorded about 270 bodies buried in episodes over roughly a century, between about 1000 and 1200.news.illinois.edu and 1 moreHp inka12: Hp_inka12.jpg1527 · Cuzco, PeruAtahualpa's captains hanged Huáscar's wives and children on the Cuzco road, burned a dead king's mummy, and killed Huáscar so Pizarro could not free himHuayna Capac died of smallpox near Quito in 1527. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa records that Cuzco raised his son Huáscar as Inca. Another son, Atahualpa, stayed in the north and said his father had left him poor and dishonoured.Internet Archive and 3 moreSpiro Craig Mound HRoe: The Great Mortuary or Craig Mound( also called "The Spiro Mound") is the second-largest mound on the Spiro site and the only burial mound. It is located abo1250 · Spiro, Le Flore County, Oklahoma, USASix men leased Spiro's burial mound for $300 from the guardian of the heirs, tunnelled in, sold the grave goods worldwide, and tried to blow up the restSpiro was built and used from about AD 850 to 1450.okhistory.org and 2 moreMap of New York, marked on the globe1142 · Onondaga, New York, USAThe Haudenosaunee Great Law vests the chiefs' titles in the women of each family, who can take back the antlersThe Great Law, in the version Arthur C. Parker published in 1916, tells that the Onondaga chief Adodarhoh was a cannibal and sorcerer whose body was bent in seven places and whose hair was full of living serpents.Internet Archive and 2 moreKennewick Man: Fossil - Took the picture at Natural History Museum, Karlsruhe7000 BCE · Kennewick, Washington, USAScientists and five tribes fought for 20 years over a skeleton about 9,000 years old, a court gave it to the scientists, and Congress gave it to the tribesIn July 1996 two men found a skeleton on the bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. Radiocarbon dating put it at 8,340 to 9,200 years old, with a stone projectile point lodged in the hip.law.resource.org and 2 moreSpirit Cave Mummy: Remains of the Spirit Cave mummy still in the wrapping and cloth it was buried in. Spirit Cave is located in Fallon, Nevada. Discovered in 1940. This image was p8600 BCE · Spirit Cave, near Fallon, Nevada, USANevada held Spirit Cave Man for decades against his tribe, a judge called it arbitrary, and the tribe agreed to DNA to prove he was theirsIn 1940 Georgia and Sydney Wheeler found a man of about 40 in Spirit Cave, wrapped in a rabbit-skin blanket and reed mats and wearing moccasins. They thought he was 1,500 to 2,000 years old.scientificamerican.com and 2 moreMaya Jade Mask & Burial Artifacts of Kinich Hanab Pakal, Ruler of Palenque, 615-683 AD: Maya Gallery, INAH, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City. Complete indexed photo col683 · Palenque, Chiapas, MexicoPakal took Palenque's throne at 12 after an enemy sacked the city and the king died, and his son cut three rulers out of the official king listK'inich Janaab Pakal was born on 23 March 603. Palenque's House C stairway records an attack by the Snake kingdom of Kaan in 599. On 4 April 611, when Pakal was eight, Kaan sacked the city again.mesoweb.com and 2 moreCudjoe: CUDJOE MAKING PEACE WITH COLONEL JOHN GUTHRIE1764 · Trelawny Town (later Maroon Town and Flagstaff), St James, JJamaica granted Cudjoe's Maroons 1,500 acres by treaty in 1739, then shipped them to Nova Scotia in 1796 and auctioned the landOn 1 March 1739 Cudjoe, leader of the Leeward Maroons, signed a treaty with the British colony of Jamaica.nlj.gov.jm and 3 morePartida de casamiento de José Gabriel Túpac Amaru y Micaela Bastidas: Registro parroquial que contiene la partida de matrimonio de José Gabriel Túpac Amaru y Micaela Bastidas. Ubic1781 · Cuzco, PeruA Cuzco chief sued for four years to be recognised as the last Inca's heir, then led the 1780 rebellion with the case still undecidedThe Marquisate of Oropesa was created in 1614 for Ana María Lorenza de Loyola, heir of the Inca Sayri Túpac, after she won a lawsuit against the Crown. It covered Yucay, Huayllabamba, Urubamba and Maras.revistas.pucp.edu.pe and 3 moreChristopher Codrington: James Thornhill (1675-1676-1734) (copy after) - Christopher Codrington (1668–1710) - ASC-034 - All Souls College (croppe1710 · BarbadosChristopher Codrington willed his Barbados plantations to a Church of England missionary society, which held enslaved people on them from 1710 to 1836Christopher Codrington was born in Barbados in 1668 and became captain-general of the Leeward Islands in 1697 on his father's death. He died on 7 April 1710.Wikisource (primary text) and 3 moreMatrimonio de Martín de Loyola con doña Beatriz Ñusta, y de Don Juan Borja con Lorenza Ñusta: Matrimonio de Martín García Óñez de Loyola con la princesa inca Beatriz y de Juan de E1560 · Yucay, Cuzco, PeruAn Inca princess was married to the captain who captured her uncle, their daughter got a Spanish marquisate with the Inca estate of Yucay, and Inca claimants fought for it after the line died outSayri Túpac, Inca of Vilcabamba, left his mountain state in 1557 after the viceroy agreed to give him 17,000 castellanos of rent and the valley of Yucay. He died at Yucay in 1560.Boletín Oficial del Estado and 4 moreOztoticpac Lands Aztec 1540 milcocolli tlahuelmantli: Otzoticpac Palace inside of the lands description in a milcocolli tlahuelmantli codex in Texcoco Mexico1539 · Texcoco and Mexico City, MexicoThe Inquisition burned a lord of Texcoco in 1539 after his own relatives testified against him, and the map drawn for the fight over his land is in the Library of CongressDon Carlos Ometochtzin Chichimecatecuhtli belonged to the ruling family of Texcoco, one of the three cities of the Aztec Triple Alliance. In 1539 Juan de Zumárraga, first bishop of Mexico, tried him under his inquisitorial powers.Library of Congress and 4 moreLlullaillaco Volcano in Salta province, Argentina: The summit of South America’s Llullaillaco Volcano has an elevation of 6,739 meters (22,110 feet) above sea level, making it the 1500 · summit of Volcán Llullaillaco, Salta, ArgentinaThe Inca chose a 13-year-old girl for sacrifice a year before her death, fed her elite food, and gave her coca and alcohol until she died on LlullaillacoIn March 1999 Johan Reinhard and Constanza Ceruti found three frozen children near the summit of Llullaillaco at 6,739 metres. The eldest, the Llullaillaco Maiden, was 13; the others, a girl and a boy, were 4 to 5.nationalgeographic.com and 2 moreMural room 1 bonampak: scene of a feast, Bonampak, Maya site.790 · Bonampak, Chiapas, MexicoBonampak's king had his heir presented on the painted walls of his temple, and the heir never ruledBonampak, about 30 km south of Yaxchilan, was its dependency. Structure 1 at Bonampak has three rooms covered with murals. INAH says the ruler Chan Muwan II took power in 776 and governed until about 800.lugares.inah.gob.mx and 2 moreNezahualcoyotl Codex Ixtlilxochitl: Nezahualcoyotl Codex Ixtlilxochitl facsimile 115-1301472 · Texcoco, State of Mexico, MexicoThe chronicles say Nezahualcóyotl had his bride's betrothed killed in battle, executed their son for treason, and named a 7-year-old heir on his deathbedThis is the account of the 17th-century chroniclers Alva Ixtlilxóchitl and Torquemada, as assembled by José Luis Martínez. Nezahualcóyotl ruled Texcoco from 1431.docs.enriquedussel.com and 2 moreInca Mummy: Illustration from the book El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno1471 · Cuzco, Peru (mummies taken to Lima)The dead Inca kings kept their palaces, servants and estates, and the Spanish seized their mummies in 1559 and lost them in a Lima hospitalUnder Inca custom the heir received the throne but not his father's property. The dead king's mummy kept its palaces, lands and servants, run by its descendants.Internet Archive and 5 moreTezozomoc funeral: The funeral for the Tepanec ruler Tezozomoc.1426 · Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, MexicoTezozómoc named one son heir; another son took the throne and killed him, and the cities he had ruled destroyed AzcapotzalcoThis follows the Codex Xolotl and the colonial chronicles. Tezozómoc ruled Azcapotzalco for more than 50 years and made the lake cities pay tribute.isabelbueno.es and 2 moreCodex Zouche-Nuttall - Lord 8 Deer captures Lord 4 Wind of Huachino: Lord 8 Deer captures Lord 4 Wind of Huachino1115 · Tilantongo, Oaxaca, MexicoThe Mixtec codices record that Lord Eight Deer killed his wife's father to take Tilantongo, and that the boy he spared later killed him and married his daughterThe Mixtec painted books are genealogies and histories of royal houses, and they tell the same events from rival sides.famsi.org and 2 moreYaxchilan (Maya) Lintel 24 Depicting Autosacrifice of Lady Xoc (9817545535): Other Yaxchilan lintels on my Maya album from National Anthropology Museum, Mexico City. British Museum742 · Yaxchilan, Chiapas, MexicoYaxchilan had no recorded king for ten years after Shield Jaguar died, and the son of his foreign second wife took the throneItzamnaaj Bahlam, called Shield Jaguar, was Yaxchilan's greatest king. His principal wife, Lady K'abal Xook, had three carved lintels set over the doors of her temple, Structure 23.cambridge.org and 3 moreReconstitution de la Dame de Cao (Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Paris): Reconstitution en taille réelle de la Dame de Cao datation de la tombe : 450 ap. J.-C. Culture Moch450 · Huaca Cao Viejo, El Brujo, Magdalena de Cao, La Libertad, PeThe Lady of Cao was buried with war clubs and a crown, the first Moche woman found with a ruler's emblems, with a teenage girl beside herBefore 2005 archaeologists believed only men held high rank in Moche society. In 2005 a team led by Régulo Franco Jordán, funded by the Wiese Foundation, found a burial chamber in the Huaca Cao Viejo pyramid at El Brujo.andina.pe and 3 moreTomb of the Lord of Sipan: Tomb of the Lord of Sipan250 · Huaca Rajada, Sipán, Lambayeque, PeruLooters emptied a Moche tomb at Sipán in 1987, police shot their leader, and the archaeologist called in found the Lord of Sipán untouched below itIn early 1987 a gang led by Ernil Bernal tunnelled into a mud-brick pyramid at Huaca Rajada near the village of Sipán. On 6 February 1987 they ransacked a tomb and carried gold and silver out in rice sacks, smashing pots and bones.motherjones.com and 3 moreLiloa and Lonoikamakahiki: The two kāʻai (also written kaai): woven sennit burial caskets said to contain the iwi (bones) of the Hawaiʻi island rulers Līloa (left) and LonoikamakahLegend · 1500 · Waipiʻo Valley, Hawaii, USAHawaiian tradition says Līloa left the kingdom to his son Hākau and the gods to his low-born son ʻUmi, and ʻUmi killed Hākau and took the islandThe legends collected by Abraham Fornander say that Līloa, ruling chief of Hawaiʻi Island, kept his court at Waipiʻo. His wife bore him a son, Hākau.Internet Archive and 2 moreEmpiezan las historias(Popol vuh): Title page of oldest known Popol Vuh manuscriptLegend · 1554 · Chichicastenango, Guatemala (where the book was kept)The Popol Vuh says twin boys found their dead father's ballgame gear hidden in the roof, and it led them to the lords of the underworld who had killed himThe Popol Vuh is the sacred book of the K'iche' Maya. Allen Christenson dates it to 1554 to 1558. The original is lost; the text survives in a copy made by the Dominican Francisco Ximénez in Chichicastenango in the early 1700s.mesoweb.com and 1 moreMuisca raft - detail - Museo del Oro, Bogotá: Detail of famous Muisca raft, Museo del Oro (Gold Museum), BogotáLegend · 1537 · Lake Guatavita, Cundinamarca, ColombiaA 1636 chronicle says the heir of Guatavita fasted six years in a cave and was covered in gold dust to take his uncle's lordship, and the rite gave the world El DoradoEl Dorado began as a real succession rite and grew into a legend. Juan Rodríguez Freyle wrote the fullest account in 1636 from what don Juan, lord of Guatavita, told him.biblioteca-antologica.org and 3 moreInca Mummy: Illustration from the book El primer nueva corónica y buen gobiernoLegend · 1438 · Cuzco and Caquia Xaquixahuana, PeruSarmiento records that Inca Viracocha named his illegitimate son Urco heir, fled the Chanca attack, and died stripped of his property after his other sons killed UrcoPedro Sarmiento de Gamboa's 1572 history, compiled from the sworn testimony of Inca lineages, records that the Inca Viracocha had four sons by his wife and two by another woman, Ccuri-chulpa.Internet Archive and 2 more