Tonga was once at the centre of a vast trading empire stretching 500,000 square kilometres (193,000 square miles) across the Pacific. Stone tools imported during the last 1,000 years from Fiji, Samoa, and the Society Islands reveal that the maritime empire of Tonga served as a hub through which prehistoric people exchanged products and political ideas, according to a study. From about 1200 AD, the state of Tonga integrated the archipelago under a centralised authority and emerged as a unique maritime empire which engaged in long distance economic and political commerce. Seeking to establish the extent of Tonga's maritime polity, Geoffrey Clark of the Australian National University and colleagues geochemically analysed stone tools excavated from places central to the Tongan seat of power.

Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga, a Polynesian archipelago. The Tongan capital city, Nuku‘alofa, on the north coast, is home to the waterfront Royal Palace. Indoor and outdoor stalls at the Talamahu Market sell tropical produce plus local arts and crafts. In the east of the island is the ancient capital Mu’a, now an archaeological site with centuries-old, pyramid-like royal tombs and burial mounds.

We han a great 7 days in Tonga. My advice is to get a rental car, you will see much more of this beautiful place

I do not get and understand the whole bunch of positive reviews for this island. It is the core island of a big kingdom of islands. And that’s all that there is to it. It’s dusty, dirty, people are careless and it’s really a third world country living of cheap wealth provided by Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China. Japan provides cheap second hand cars (like any other country in the Pacific area, which is nice, cause people are now motorized and can move and evolve faster). But they just don’t care about them, 99% of them being damaged and sometimes even dangerous to be on the roads. This characterizes their way of being and living, every other possession being similar to the way they take care of it. To be fair, I am impressed how they build the buildings: sturdy, strong, properly, even have double glazing windows in most of them; they build much better buildings and houses than in New Zealand, that’s for sure. But it seems they they never finish them; they don’t paint them, seal them, nothing; and over time this generates a lot of dust and dirt. But again, tongans don’t seem to care. Probably they are not the ones building them in the first place, but I haven’t study the issue in depth. They have braided wire to most fences, the windows on lower levels are grilled in most places, and police is present more often than in other island countries. I don’t even wanna know why, haven’t had the guts to ask. In general, we just felt unsafe when being away from the Town or villages, on some roads you’re just not comfortable stopping on the side of the road to take a picture. Like when you get the the end of the island, to take a picture of Abel Tasman first landing site...but a car is hidden in the bush, 5 meters away from the road. Of course you barely want to get out, wandering when and who will jump on you at any point... To whoever wants to visit this island, good for you. You will not find interesting stuff here, beside the blow holes (which, themselves, are not something totally spectacular; they are unique, but that’s kinda all about this island). For sure this is NOT an island to visit with your child. If you want to visit a nice island, start with Samoa; Cook Islands is also interesting, although similar in terms of stray dogs to Tonga (yes, if you are afraid or hate stray dogs or pigs, these are not the islands for you). New Caledonia, New Zealand, Hawaii, etc, there are much more interesting holiday destinations. I really hope this people hard work will payoff, and one day they can reach the level of Samoa in terms of education, cleanliness, safeness and resorts quality. I will not argue about having everything closed on Sunday, even first world countries, like Germany, does it. It’s just their way of life.

The main island of Tonga. It is a mixture of old world and semi-modern world. The Chinese are pumping massive amounts of money into the island but not at the benefit of the locals who seem to exist with almost nothing. The Tongans are a wonderfully happy people who never seem to be at issue with anything. The speed limit is a maximum of 70kph in a few places but the population as a whole are never in a hurry to get anywhere so it's generally around the 20 to 30kph mark. This is a wonderful part of the world and not what I was expecting.

Always be home

My stay in tonga was awsome loved it, loads of family, keeping you company. Ofa atu tonga 😘

My favorite vacation destination. Love Tonga, love everything in it, but most of all the peace and love it provides.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tonga on Tongatapu Rush Aid to Outer Islands.. Nuku’alofa Latter-day Saints donated tonnes of food, clothes, bedding, fuel and other supplies over the last 48 hours, which was loaded onto a ship on Saturday morning, bound for communities in desperate circumstances on Ha’apai and other outlying islands. A boat carrying supplies and volunteers left from Nuku’alofa Saturday, bound for Tonga’s outer islands. Church members from congregations on the main island of Tongatapu were asked to donate whatever they could to help families in the Ha’apai area, which was heavily damaged in the tsunami on 15 January. Because communication was non-existent with the outer islands for a few days, Church leader Elder Inoke Kupu learned of the extremely dire circumstances in Ha’apai only as communication improved and after a Tongan Navy vessel visited there. He asked the 15 stakes (Latter-day Saint groups of congregations) to act immediately to gather supplies for the people of Ha’apai. Members responded quickly, donating clothing, bedding, food and even their crops, to help the people there. "It is the Tongan way," said Elder Ardern of the Pacific Area Presidency. The Church, through their Humanitarian Fund, contributed to the hiring of a ship, the Maui, to take the supplies. Trucks went through the streets of each stake collecting donations from members and then delivered them to the wharf where other volunteers loaded them onto the Maui. Two volunteers from each stake helped load the boat, and then were asked to go on the ship to travel to Ha’apai to help unload the supplies there. President Sitiveni Fehoko, from the Tonga Outer Islands Mission, was aboard along with two stake presidents and the 30-40 stake volunteers. No other passengers were aboard. The Maui can hold as many as 100-150 people. It is expected that some people from Ha’apai may travel to Tongatapu on the return journey, as they no longer have homes. The ship will also bring back missionaries from the outer islands. The Maui left at 5.00am Saturday and was expected to be on the island of Nomuka by 10.00am, and the other islands in the afternoon. Lua and Sione Langi are the Church’s communications directors for Tonga and were able to contact the Church‘s Area office via satellite phone. “We know we have been blessed by our Heavenly Father by many miracles in Tonga during this disaster, and in return everyone is trying to live the law of consecration by giving whatever they can to others.” Photographs and article courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...

Haven't been to Tonga for 20 years, lots of changes but it's still Tonga! Colours of nature is/are vibrant and plenty of food! Mahu e fonua! ❤️ love my tupu'anga.

Loved it, can't wait for the next trip. Take me back to Tonga 🔥👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽

Loved 😍

People is much helpful

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