Tonga

Lapita voyagers reached Tongatapu around 900 BC, and Tonga is one of the places where Polynesian culture took shape. Over the following centuries a line of sacred rulers, the Tu'i Tonga, built a maritime chiefdom whose influence reached into Samoa, 'Uvea and eastern Fiji. Their terraced stone tombs, the langi at Lapaha near Mu'a, and the trilithon of Ha'amonga 'a Maui are the physical record of that era.

Over time sacred and political power split. The Tu'i Tonga kept religious status while new lines, the Tu'i Ha'atakalaua and then the Tu'i Kanokupolu, ran everyday government. When Europeans arrived, Tasman in 1643 and Cook in the 1770s, they met a complex, ranked society; Cook's name 'Friendly Islands' stuck even though, by some accounts, a plot against him was discussed.

Civil wars followed in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Methodist missionaries arrived in the 1820s, and Tāufa'āhau, a chief from Ha'apai who converted and took the name George, united the islands by 1845 as King George Tupou I. He issued a law code, freed commoners from forced service to chiefs in 1862, and in 1875 granted a written constitution that is still the basis of the state.

To keep out colonial powers Tonga signed a treaty of friendship with Britain in 1900, becoming a protected state that handled its own internal affairs. Queen Sālote Tupou III, who ruled from 1918 to 1965, became famous abroad when she rode in an open carriage through the rain at Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation. Full independence came in 1970 under her son, Tāufa'āhau Tupou IV.

Clause 6 of the 1875 constitution declares the Sabbath sacred and forbids work, trade and games on that day. In practice this means no flights land or leave, ferries stay tied up, shops and markets close and most tours stop. The law is not simply old paper: churches, families and the state all keep it, and visitors who ignore it stand out at once.

The Free Wesleyan Church, descended from the Methodist mission, is the largest, and the monarch is its head. Catholic, Latter-day Saint, Anglican and other churches are also strong, and Mormon chapels with their sports fields appear in almost every village. Sunday morning services are long, the singing in parts is powerful, and visitors are welcome if they dress modestly.

After church comes the Sunday lunch cooked in the 'umu: pork, lu pulu, fish and root crops. Afternoons are for sleeping and family, and evening services follow. A few bakeries open after dark and resorts look after their guests, but travellers should shop on Saturday.

Dress rules are part of the same moral order. Men must not go shirtless in public, and both sexes cover shoulders and knees. On formal occasions and in government offices Tongans wear the ta'ovala, a woven mat wrapped around the waist, over a skirt or tupenu.

Tongan society is layered: the king and royal family, 33 noble titles, and commoners. Within families rank runs through the father's sister (the mehekitanga), whose status is higher than her brother's. Much of this shows in speech, with separate words for the king and nobles, and in seating at feasts and ceremonies.

Kava sits at the heart of it. The royal kava ceremony (taumafa kava) sets the order of the nation, with each noble placed by rank in a great circle. Everyday faikava is friendlier: men gather in kalapu (clubs) or at a house, a young woman may serve as tou'a, and there is singing and talk late into the night. Clubs often raise money for a church or school.

Women's wealth is cloth and mats. Ngatu, the large painted bark cloth, is beaten from mulberry bark, joined into long sheets and painted in brown and black designs; it is given at weddings, funerals and birthdays. Fine mats (kie) can be generations old and are among the most valuable things a family owns.

Life events are marked by giving and receiving on a large scale, funded partly by relatives abroad. A funeral may see piles of ngatu, mats, pigs and food exchanged over days, and black clothing is worn for long periods of mourning. Visitors may see a family's front yard filled with mats and tapa: it is a ceremony, not a market.

Humpback whales from the Antarctic feeding grounds come north each winter to mate and calve in Tonga's warm, sheltered waters, roughly from July to October. Whaling here ended by royal decree in 1978, and numbers have slowly recovered. Whale tourism started in Vava'u in the 1990s and now supports much of the island group's economy.

Tonga is one of a small number of places where swimming with humpbacks is legal. Operators need a licence, groups in the water are limited, and guides decide when to enter based on the whales' behaviour. Mothers resting with calves are the classic encounter; the males' song can be heard through the hull and in the water.

Vava'u, with its drowned valleys and dozens of islands, is also the sailing capital of the South Pacific crossing. Yachts arrive from May and anchor in the Port of Refuge at Neiafu before moving on to Fiji or New Zealand ahead of cyclone season. Sea caves such as Swallows' Cave and Mariner's Cave are within a short boat ride.

Tongans were master navigators, and the double-hulled kalia carried people and goods between Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. Today the ocean is still the main road between island groups, carried by ferries and small boats.

Until 2010 nobles and royal appointees controlled parliament. A pro-democracy movement led by 'Akilisi Pōhiva pressed for change through the 1990s and 2000s, and in November 2006 riots burned much of central Nuku'alofa. Reforms in 2010 gave the people's representatives 17 of the elected seats, and Pōhiva became the first commoner prime minister elected by parliament in 2014.

King George Tupou V, who reigned from 2006 to 2012, agreed to give up many of the crown's powers. His brother, King Tupou VI, crowned in 2015, still appoints key officials and has clashed at times with elected governments over who controls ministries.

On 15 January 2022 the undersea volcano Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai erupted with a blast heard as far away as Alaska. A tsunami struck Tongatapu, Ha'apai and 'Eua, some small islands were largely destroyed, ash covered the crops, and the one international internet cable was cut for five weeks. Rebuilding has continued since, and a second cable link has been planned.

More Tongans now live abroad, mainly in New Zealand, Australia and the US, than at home. Their remittances pay for school fees, church gifts and new houses, and the diaspora shapes the calendar: Christmas and the July Heilala Festival are when flights fill with returning families.