Tuimalealiûifano is one of the four paramount chiefly titles of Samoa, known as the tama a ûÃÂiga. Samoa's other three paramount chiefs are Malietoa, Mataûafa and Tupua Tamasese. The seat of the Tuimalealiûifano title is at Falelatai in the Aûana district.
The current title-holder is Tuimalealiûifano Vaûaletoûa Sualauvi II, who has held the title since 1977 and currently serves as the head of state of Samoa (O le Ao o le Malo).
The title is the most recent of the tama a ûÃÂiga, originating in the mid-nineteenth century with Tuiaana Sualauvi, a nephew of Malietoa Fitisemanu I. Sualauvi was appointed Tui Aûana in 1848. By the early 1860s he had also been appointed to the pÃÂpàtitles of Gatoaitele and Vaetamasoalii. In 1869, he obtained the support of Fuataga and Tafua of Aleipata and Moeono and Tusa of Falefa and Lufilufi and was appointed Tui ÃÂtua, briefly ascending to the position of Tupu Tafaûifa. His reign would only last a year until his death on 25 August 1870. After Sualauvi's death, his youngest son Faûaoloiûi succeeded, and was referred to by the name Tuimalealiûifano, a contraction of Tui, from Tuitaûalili, and Lealiûifano, whose origins are disputed.
Tuimalealiûifano Faûaoloiûi Siûuaûana I lived until 1937, surviving the civil war and colonial rule by Germany and New Zealand. 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. The title was again contested following the death of Tuiaana Tuimalealiûifano Suatipatipa II.