Tonga Islands History

Tonga’s history is one of divine kings and ferocious warriors. However, no-one knows where the people came from who established Polynesia’s first settlement — older than ancient Greece and Rome.

Popular theory suggests they were Asian, which is backed by pottery remnants dating from 1100 BC. Some historians assert South American roots, given the central role of a sun god named Tangaloa in Tongan folklore.

Wherever they originated, the first Tongans were maritime people, with men harvesting the sea and women tending vegetables, pigs and chickens.

A class system developed with time — a king, descended from Tangaloa and a pretty maiden, was supreme ruler, while chieftains controlled masses of toiling serfs. Meanwhile, warriors paddled through the Pacific, wreaking havoc and extending an empire to Fiji and Samoa.

Thanks to a division of power in the monarchy, civil war raged in Tonga when Dutch navigators appeared in 1616. However, ample time remained for plots against outsiders. In 1773, Captain James Cook named Tonga the “Friendly Islands”, unaware of squabbling over who would kill him and loot his ship!

Tonga’s modern Christian era came with English missionaries in 1797. Taufa’ahau, chief of Ha’apai was converted and changed his name to George on becoming king. He also ended civil war, abolished serfdom, and founded a written constitution and laws.

In 1900, his great-grandson signed the kingdom over to British protection, which lasted until 1970.

Contemporary Tonga is welcoming, yet conservative. Its future as the Pacific’s only constitutional monarchy is under question, with increasing demands for democracy.