Tonga

The name Tonga is composed of to (to plant) andnga (a place). It also means “south.” Recent archaeological findings suggest people arrived in the archipelago or “land lying in the south” about 1500 BCE from Fiji, located northwest of Tonga. These first colonists, seafaring ancestors of the Polynesians, were a culture distinguished by Lapita pottery. The Tongan creation myth explains how Maui fished the islands from the ocean.

Another myth describes the first Tu'i Tonga (king) as son of Tangaloa, a god, and a human female. This sacred line of kings and queens ruled from the 10th century CE to about 1470, when the reigning Tu'i Tonga transferred his temporal powers to his brother under the title of Tu'i Ha'a Takalaua. A similar transfer of power about 1600 resulted in the creation of a third line of monarchs, the Tu'i Kanokupotu.

Many believe Captain James Cook, who called Tonga the “Friendly Islands” when he visited between 1773 and 1777, was the first European to arrive. Actually, Dutch navigators Jakob LeMaire and Abel Janszoon Tasman had been there already, in 1616 and 1645,respectively.

Volcanic undersea mountains form two roughly parallel chains of islands. The western column is higher, having been raised well above sea level by repeated volcanic activity. Four of these islands still erupt. The lower islands in the eastern chain can resist erosion because of caps made of coral rock and limestone reefs. There are 169 islands, 36 of which are inhabited by 110,000 people. The capital is Nuku'alofa, on Tongatapu Island. The total area is 289 square miles.

A nation of paradoxes, Tonga was one of the most centralized and highly stratified societies in the Pacific before proclaiming itself an independent constitutional monarchy in 1875. Even though change of government by constitutional means has occurred in Tonga, as it has in most Pacific nations, under the present constitution it is not likely that the government would yield its emphasis on status, titles, and hegemony following a general election. All land is owned by the king, nobles, and government and leased to citizens who pay tribute, usually with food; foreigners cannot own land. Although there are parliamentarians elected by commoners today, these are outnumbered and outvoted by representatives of nobles who are unlikely to go along with any changes proposed by the former. For the most part, commoners are still excluded from effective participation in government. The current system is undergoing challenge from an active pro-democracy movement that seeks greater accountability. Aristocrats who do not want to change the current system claim monarchy can respond more quickly to the needs of people than democracy [Page 2208]could. They suppress calls for reform and manage to intimidate critics by means of court actions and withdrawal of publishing licenses.

Source: © iStockphoto/Ryan Pratt.

Tongans are a proud people with familial bonds to the land. Social practices grounded in loyalty to kin as well as respect for elders and the “old ways” of telling stories in song and dance; making medicines from plants; raising root crops, maize, watermelons, tomatoes, tropical fruits, fowl, livestock and timber; fishing reefs; weaving baskets; beating bark cloth; celebrating; and drinking kava together have enabled the small nation to survive challenges ranging from battles between chiefs to the arrival of trade ships in the 17th century and exposure to outside commerce in the 20th. Tongans sell fish, handicrafts, coconuts, pumpkins, and vanilla to others, but they are critical of the values of visitors and of the capitalist, individualistic, mass society from which they come. They want to maintain difference between themselves and the rest of the world; yet they covet the West's material wealth and comfort. Many have migrated to New Zealand, Australia, and the United States to find work and send remittances back to family.

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