Back on Easter Island, the penultimate King Atamu Tekena ceded the island to Chile (represented by Captain Policarpo Toro) on 9 September 1888. However, the treaty of annexation was never ratified by Chile and Toro's colony failed. The Chilean government abandoned the settlement in 1892 due to political troubles on the mainland, which was embroiled in civil war, and this prompted the Rapa Nui to reassert their independence. The Miru clan representative, Siméon Riro Kāinga, was elected the position of ‘Ariki or King of Rapa Nui left vacant by the death of Atamu Tekena in August 1892.