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The history of Tonga is recorded since the ninth century BC, when seafarers associated with the Lapita diaspora first settled the islands which now make up the Kingdom of Tonga. [1] Along with Fiji and Samoa, the area served as a gateway into the rest of the Pacific region known as Polynesia . [ 2 ]
In many Polynesian languages, including Tongan, the word tonga (Tongan:), [11] [12] [13] comes from fakatonga, which means 'southwards', and the archipelago is so named because it is the southernmost group among the island groups of western Polynesia. [14]
Around 2850 BP, the Lapita people reached Tonga, and carbon dating places their landfall first in Tongatapu and then in Haʻapai soon after. [3] The newcomers were already well adapted to the resource-scarce island life and settled in small communities of a few households [3] on beaches just above high tide line that faced open lagoons or reefs.
Queen Salote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900-1965 (ISBN 1-86940-205-7) Latukefu, S. (1974), Church and State in Tonga, ANU Press, Canberra; Campbell, Ian C; Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient and Modern, 2001, ISBN 0-908812-96-5 "Brief history of the Kingdom of Tonga", on the website of the Tongan Parliament
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Tonga: Tonga is a sovereign island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean . [ 1 ] Tonga comprises the Tonga Archipelago of 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited, stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 mi) in a north–south line.
A regular trade developed that carried Peruvian silver up the coast to Panama where it was carried overland to the Caribbean and part to Spain. Spanish settlement extended as far south as central Chile. In 1557–8, Juan Fernández Ladrillero discovered the Juan Fernandez islands and explored the Chilean coast down to the Strait of Magellan.
The Tuʻi Tonga Empire, or Tongan Empire, are descriptions sometimes given to Tongan expansionism and projected hegemony in Oceania which began around 950 CE, reaching its peak during the period 1200–1500. It was centred in Tonga on the island of Tongatapu, with its capital at Muʻa. Modern researchers and cultural experts attest to ...
[37] [38] The area of Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa served as a gateway into the rest of the Pacific region now known as Polynesia. [39] Ancient Tongan mythologies, as recorded by early European explorers, report the islands of 'Ata and Tongatapu as the first islands hauled to the surface from the deep ocean by Maui. [40] [41]