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Tonga (/ ˈ t ɒ ŋ ə / TONG-ə, / ˈ t ɒ ŋ ɡ ə / ⓘ TONG-gə; [a] Tongan:), officially the Kingdom of Tonga (Tongan: Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. [1]
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.
The large navy allowed for Tonga to become wealthy with large amounts of trade and tribute flowing into the Royal Treasury. [11] The Tuʻi Tonga decline began due to numerous wars and internal pressure. In the 13th or 14th century Samoa defeated Tu'i Tonga Talakaifaiki under the lead of the Malietoa family.
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
Tonga has evolved its own version of Western-style clothing, consisting of a long tupenu, or sarong, for women, and a short tupenu for men. Women cover the tupenu with a kofu , or Western-style dress; men top the tupenu either with a T-shirt, a Western casual shirt, or on formal occasions, a dress shirt and a suit coat.
The Tongan Volcanic Arc has been important in supplying the islands on the Tonga ridge with an andesite tephra soil that has resulted in "an extremely rich soil capable of supporting a high-yield, short-fallow agricultural system." Also, the andesite/basalt from the volcanoes were initially used as "hammerstones, weaving weights, cooking stones ...
The first written record for Nukuʻalofa is stated in the first dedicated book for Tonga by George Vason which was published in 1810. George Vason was an English missionary from the London Missionary Society, who arrived in Tonga in 1797. George Vason wrote of their arrival that:
Dame Grand Cross of the Most Devoted Order of the Royal Household Order of Tonga [citation needed] Princess Lātūfuipeka Tukuʻaho : King George Tupou V Royal Family Order of Tonga (1.8.2011) [citation needed] Princess Salote Mafileʻo Pilolevu Tuita : Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Crown of Tonga (31.7.2008) [citation needed]