Tonga
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General Information
Introduction Tonga
Background:
 Tonga - unique among Pacific nations - never completely lost its indigenous governance. The archipelagos of "The Friendly Islands" were united into a Polynesian kingdom in 1845. Tonga became a constitutional monarchy in 1875 and a British protectorate in 1900; it withdrew from the protectorate and joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970. Tonga remains the only monarchy in the Pacific.
Geography Tonga
Location:
 Oceania, archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand
Geographic coordinates:
 20 00 S, 175 00 W
Map references:
 Oceania
Area:
 total: 748 sq km
land: 718 sq km
water: 30 sq km
Area - comparative:
 four times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries:
 0 km
Coastline:
 419 km
Maritime claims:
 territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Climate:
 tropical; modified by trade winds; warm season (December to May), cool season (May to December)
Terrain:
 most islands have limestone base formed from uplifted coral formation; others have limestone overlying volcanic base
Elevation extremes:
 lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Kao Island 1,033 m
Natural resources:
 fish, fertile soil
Land use:
 arable land: 20%
permanent crops: 14.67%
other: 65.33% (2005)
Irrigated land:
 NA
Natural hazards:
 cyclones (October to April); earthquakes and volcanic activity on Fonuafo'ou
Environment - current issues:
 deforestation results as more and more land is being cleared for agriculture and settlement; some damage to coral reefs from starfish and indiscriminate coral and shell collectors; overhunting threatens native sea turtle populations
Environment - international agreements:
 party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
 archipelago of 169 islands (36 inhabited)
People Tonga
Population:
 116,921 (July 2007 est.)
Age structure:
 0-14 years: 34.6% (male 20,624/female 19,779)
15-64 years: 61.2% (male 35,551/female 36,052)
65 years and over: 4.2% (male 2,087/female 2,828) (2007 est.)
Median age:
 total: 21.3 years
male: 20.7 years
female: 21.8 years (2007 est.)
Population growth rate:
 1.847% (2007 est.)
Birth rate:
 23.67 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate:
 5.2 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Net migration rate:
 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio:
 at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.043 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.986 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.738 male(s)/female
total population: 0.993 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
 total: 11.99 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 13.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 10.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
 total population: 70.12 years
male: 67.6 years
female: 72.76 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate:
 2.75 children born/woman (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
 NA
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
 NA
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
 NA
Nationality:
 noun: Tongan(s)
adjective: Tongan
Ethnic groups:
 Polynesian, Europeans
Religions:
 Christian (Free Wesleyan Church claims over 30,000 adherents)
Languages:
 Tongan, English
Literacy:
 definition: can read and write Tongan and/or English
total population: 98.9%
male: 98.8%
female: 99% (1999 est.)
Government Tonga
Country name:
 conventional long form: Kingdom of Tonga
conventional short form: Tonga
local long form: Pule'anga Tonga
local short form: Tonga
former: Friendly Islands
Government type:
 constitutional monarchy
Capital:
 name: Nuku'alofa
geographic coordinates: 21 08 S, 175 12 W
time difference: UTC+13 (18 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:
 3 island groups; Ha'apai, Tongatapu, Vava'u
Independence:
 4 June 1970 (from UK protectorate)
National holiday:
 Emancipation Day, 4 June (1970)
Constitution:
 4 November 1875; revised 1 January 1967
Legal system:
 based on English common law
Suffrage:
 21 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
 chief of state: King George TUPOU V (since 11 September 2006)
head of government: Prime Minister Dr. Feleti SEVELE (since 11 February 2006); Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Viliami TANGI (since 16 May 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet consists of 14 members, 10 appointed by the monarch for life; four appointed from among the elected members of the Legislative Assembly, including two each from the nobles' and peoples' representatives serving three-year terms
note: there is also a Privy Council that consists of the monarch, the cabinet, and two governors
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister and deputy prime minister appointed by the monarch
Legislative branch:
 unicameral Legislative Assembly or Fale Alea (32 seats - 14 reserved for cabinet ministers sitting ex officio, nine for nobles selected by the country's 33 nobles, and nine elected by popular vote; members serve three-year terms)
elections: last held on 21 March 2005 (next to be held in 2008)
election results: Peoples Representatives: percent of vote - HRDMT 70%, other 30%; seats - HRDMT 7, independents 2
Judicial branch:
 Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the monarch); Court of Appeal (Chief Justice and high court justices from overseas chosen and approved by Privy Council)
Political parties and leaders:
 People's Democratic Party [Tesina FUKO]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
 Human Rights and Democracy Movement Tonga or HRDMT [Rev. Simote VEA, chairman]; Public Servant's Association [Finau TUTONE]
International organization participation:
 ACP, ADB, C, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ITU, ITUC, OPCW, PIF, Sparteca, SPC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
 chief of mission: Ambassador Fekitamoeloa 'UTOIKAMANU
chancery: 250 East 51st Street, New York, NY 10022
telephone: [1] (917) 369-1025
FAX: [1] (917) 369-1024
consulate(s) general: San Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US:
 the US does not have an embassy in Tonga; the ambassador to Fiji is accredited to Tonga
Flag description:
 red with a bold red cross on a white rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner
Economy Tonga
Economy - overview:
 Tonga has a small, open, South Pacific island economy. It has a narrow export base in agricultural goods. Squash, coconuts, bananas, and vanilla beans are the main crops, and agricultural exports make up two-thirds of total exports. The country must import a high proportion of its food, mainly from New Zealand. The country remains dependent on external aid and remittances from Tongan communities overseas to offset its trade deficit. Tourism is the second-largest source of hard currency earnings following remittances. The government is emphasizing the development of the private sector, especially the encouragement of investment, and is committing increased funds for health and education. Tonga has a reasonably sound basic infrastructure and well-developed social services. High unemployment among the young, a continuing upturn in inflation, pressures for democratic reform, and rising civil service expenditures are major issues facing the government.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
 $178.5 million (2004 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
 $219 million (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
 2.4% (2005 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
 $2,200 (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
 agriculture: 23%
industry: 27%
services: 50% (FY03/04 est.)
Labor force:
 33,910 (2003)
Labor force - by occupation:
 agriculture: 65%
industry and services: 35% (1997 est.)
Unemployment rate:
 13% (FY03/04 est.)
Population below poverty line:
 24% (FY03/04)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
 lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
 11.1% (2005 est.)
Budget:
 revenues: $56.97 million
expenditures: $83.88 million (FY04/05)
Agriculture - products:
 squash, coconuts, copra, bananas, vanilla beans, cocoa, coffee, ginger, black pepper; fish
Industries:
 tourism, fishing
Industrial production growth rate:
 1% (2003 est.)
Electricity - production:
 35 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - production by source:
 fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
Electricity - consumption:
 32.55 million kWh (2005)
Electricity - exports:
 0 kWh (2005)
Electricity - imports:
 0 kWh (2005)
Oil - production:
 0 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - consumption:
 880 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - exports:
 0 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - imports:
 842.3 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - proved reserves:
 0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
Natural gas - production:
 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - exports:
 0 cu m (2005 est.)
Natural gas - imports:
 0 cu m (2005)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
 0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
Current account balance:
 $-4.321 million (FY04/05)
Exports:
 $22 million f.o.b. (2006)
Exports - commodities:
 squash, fish, vanilla beans, root crops
Exports - partners:
 US 39.7%, Japan 27.8%, NZ 8.2%, South Korea 7.6% (2006)
Imports:
 $139 million f.o.b. (2006)
Imports - commodities:
 foodstuffs, machinery and transport equipment, fuels, chemicals
Imports - partners:
 Fiji 30.3%, NZ 27.7%, US 8.2%, Australia 7.5%, France 5.7%, UK 4.7% (2006)
Economic aid - recipient:
 $31.75 million (2005)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
 $40.83 million (yearend, FY04/05)
Debt - external:
 $80.7 million (2004)
Market value of publicly traded shares:
 $NA
Currency (code):
 pa'anga (TOP)
Currency code:
 TOP
Exchange rates:
 pa'anga per US dollar - NA (2007), 2.0277 (2006), 1.96 (2005), 1.9716 (2004), 2.142 (2003)
Fiscal year:
 1 July - 30 June
Communications Tonga
Telephones - main lines in use:
 13,700 (2005)
Telephones - mobile cellular:
 29,900 (2005)
Telephone system:
 general assessment: competition between Tonga Telecommunications Corporation (TCC) and Shoreline Communications Tonga (SCT) is accelerating expansion of telecommunications; SCT recently granted authority to develop high-speed digital service for telephone, Internet, and television
domestic: combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity roughly 40 telephones per 100 persons; fully automatic switched network
international: country code - 676; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean) (2004)
Radio broadcast stations:
 AM 1, FM 4, shortwave 1 (2001)
Radios:
 61,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
 3 (2004)
Televisions:
 2,000 (1997)
Internet country code:
 .to
Internet hosts:
 18,653 (2007)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
 2 (2000)
Internet users:
 3,100 (2006)
Transportation Tonga
Airports:
 6 (2007)
Airports - with paved runways:
 total: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 (2007)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
 total: 5
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 1 (2007)
Roadways:
 total: 680 km
paved: 184 km
unpaved: 496 km (1999)
Merchant marine:
 total: 14 ships (1000 GRT or over) 58,756 GRT/67,889 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 1, cargo 9, liquefied gas 1, livestock carrier 1, passenger/cargo 1, refrigerated cargo 1
foreign-owned: 3 (Australia 1, Switzerland 1, UK 1) (2007)
Ports and terminals:
 Nuku'alofa
Military Tonga
Military branches:
 Tonga Defense Services (TDS): Land Force (Royal Guard), Naval Force (includes Royal Marines, Air Wing) (2008)
Military service age and obligation:
 18 years of age (est.) (2004)
Manpower available for military service:
 males age 18-49: 25,420
females age 18-49: 24,827 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
 males age 18-49: 19,840
females age 18-49: 21,342 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
 males age 18-49: 1,586
females age 18-49: 1,538 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
 0.9% (2006 est.)
Transnational Issues Tonga
Disputes - international:
 none
History
History of Tonga

Archaeological evidence shows that the first settlers in Tonga sailed from the Santa Cruz Islands, as part of the original Austronesian-speakers' (Lapita) migration which originated out of S.E. Asia some 6,000 years ago. Archaeological dating places Tonga as the oldest known site in Polynesia for the distinctive Lapita ceramic ware, at 2,800–2,750 years ago. The "Lapita" people lived and sailed, traded, warred, and intermarried in the islands now known as Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji for 1,000 years, before more explorers set off to the east to discover the Marquesas, Tahiti, and eventually the rest of the Pacific Ocean islands. For this reason, Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji are described by anthropologists as the cradle of Polynesian culture and civilization.

By the 12th century, Tongans, and the Tongan paramount chief, the Tu'i Tonga, were known across the Pacific, from Niue to Tikopia, sparking some historians to refer to a 'Tongan Empire'. A network of interacting navigators, chiefs, and adventurers might be a better term although the empire did have its own dynasties. It could be compared to the Scandinavian kingdoms and the Vikings. In the 15th century and again in the 17th, civil war erupted. It was in this context that the first Europeans arrived, beginning with Dutch explorers Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire in 1616, who called on the northern island of Niuatoputapu, and Abel Tasman, who visited Tongatapu and Haʻapai in 1643. Later noteworthy European visits were by Captain Cook in 1773, 1774, and 1777, the first London missionaries in 1797, and the Wesleyan Methodist Walter Lawry Buller in 1822.

Tonga was united into a Polynesian kingdom in 1845 by the ambitious young warrior, strategist, and orator Tāufaʻāhau. He held the chiefly title of Tuʻi Kanokupolu, but was baptised with the name King George. In 1875, with the help of missionary Shirley Baker, he declared Tonga a constitutional monarchy, formally adopted the western royal style, emancipated the 'serfs', enshrined a code of law, land tenure, and freedom of the press, and limited the power of the chiefs.

Tonga, alias the Friendly Islands, became a British protected state under a Treaty of Friendship on 18 May 1900, when European settlers and rival Tongan chiefs tried to oust the second king. Within the British Empire, which posted no higher permanent representative on Tonga than a British Consul (1901-1970), it was part of the British Western Pacific Territories (under a colonial High Commissioner, then residing on Fiji) from 1901 until 1952.

The Treaty of Friendship and Tonga's protectorate status ended in 1970 under arrangements established prior to her death by Queen Salote Tupou III. Tonga joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970 (atypically as an autochthonous monarchy), and the United Nations in September 1999. While exposed to colonial forces, Tonga has never lost indigenous governance, a fact that makes Tonga unique in the Pacific and gives Tongans much pride, as well as confidence in their monarchal system. As part of cost cutting measures across the British Foreign Service, the British Government closed the British High Commission in Nukuʻalofa in March 2006, transferring representation of British interests in Tonga to the UK High Commissioner in Fiji. The last resident British High Commissioner was His Excellency Mr. Paul Nessling. 

On Wednesday, July 6, 2006, two members of the Tongan Royal Family were killed in a car accident in Menlo Park, California (San Mateo County just south of San Francisco). His Royal Highness Prince Tuipelehake, 55, and his wife, Princess Kaimana, 45, as well as their driver, Vinisia Hefa, 36, were all killed in the accident. Prince Tuipelehake is the nephew of King Taufa‘ahau Tupou IV, the monarch of Tonga. The accident allegedly occured when a 1998 Ford Mustang driven by 18-year-old Edith Delgado struck the side of the red Ford Explorer that the royal couple were riding in. The Explorer lost control and rolled over several times, killing all inside. Delgado's car was reportedly speeding up to 100 miles per hour and was possibly racing other cars on the highway at the time. She was arrested at the scene.

His Royal Highness Prince Tuipelehake was dubbed the "prince of the people" by ordinary Tongans. He was a leading pro-democracy advocate within the royal family.
Culture
Culture of Tonga

The Tongan archipelago has been inhabited for perhaps 3000 years, since settlement in late Lapita times. The culture, of its inhabitants has surely changed greatly over this long time period. Before the arrival of European explorers in the late 1600s and early 1700s, the Tongans were in frequent contact with their nearest Oceanic neighbors, Fiji and Samoa. In the 1800s, with the arrival of Western traders and missionaries, Tongan culture changed dramatically. Some old beliefs and habits were thrown away, and others adopted. Some accommodations made in the 1800s and early 1900s are now being challenged by changing Western civilization. Hence Tongan culture is far from a unified or monolithic affair, and Tongans themselves may differ strongly as to what it is "Tongan" to do, or not do.

Contemporary Tongans often have strong ties to overseas lands. They may have been migrant workers in New Zealand, or have lived and traveled in New Zealand, Australia, or the United States. Many Tongans now live overseas, in a Tongan diaspora, and send home remittances to family members (often aged) who prefer to remain in Tonga. Tongans themselves often have to operate in two different contexts, which they often call anga fakatonga, the traditional Tongan way, and anga fakapãlangi, the Western way. A culturally adept Tongan learns both sets of rules and when to switch between them.

Any description of Tongan culture that limits itself to what Tongans see as anga fakatonga would give a seriously distorted view of what people actually do, in Tonga, or in diaspora, because accommodations are so often made to anga fakapãlangi. The following account tries to give both the idealized and the on-the-ground versions of Tongan culture.

Kinship
Women have greater social prestige than men, so a man's sister will outrank him socially even if he is the older sibling. Until recently it was taboo for an adult male and his sister to be in a room together. The recent introduction of television is changing this taboo however.

Life passages
Male circumcision. In pre-contact Tonga, newly pubescent males were tefe, or circumcised by cutting one slit in the foreskin, on the underside of the penis. Afterwards, the family held a feast for the new "man". Circumcision is still practiced, but it is now done informally. A boy, or a group of boys, go to the hospital, where the operation is done under sanitary conditions.

First menstruation. In pre-contact Tonga, a girl's first menstruation was celebrated by a feast. This practice continued up until the mid-1900s, at which point it fell out of favor.

Sexuality. Pre-contact Tonga. In pre-contact Tonga, female pre-marital chastity was the ideal, if not the norm.

Theoretically, a girl received suitors at a faikava, or kava-drinking gathering. She presided over the bowl, made the kava, and handed out the cups. The suitors sat in a circle around the bowl, chatting, bragging, arguing, and showing off for the demure young lady. All was done under the eye of the elders, thus protecting the maiden from any unseemly advances.

In practice, a young man would attempt to get the demure young maiden ot meet him on the beach, at night, where she might be persuaded to be maiden no longer. Any resulting pregnancy seems not to have weighed too heavily on the woman, or her child. As long as she could name a father, the child would have relatives on both sides, and the woman would of course be supported by her family, and particularly by her brothers, or classificatory brothers.

There was less tolerance of sexual mistakes on the part of high-born women, who were expected to "demonstrate" their virginity by bleeding heavily on their wedding night. The groom's aunts would display the stained barkcloth (or later, sheet), after bathing the bride to inspect her for cuts that might have been inflicted to draw blood. It is said that grooms might show their love and concern for non-bleeding brides by cutting themselves and smearing their own blood on the barkcloth or sheet.

The virginity of the bride was the guarantee for the paternity of a high-ranking child. Another way in which high-society marriages differed from those of commoners is that marriages with close kin were allowed, rather than forbidden. Rather than allow their bloodlines to be contaminated with the blood of commoners, the houʻeiki married among themselves.

After marriage, informal divorce seems to have been common and easy. An unhappy wife had only to return to her brother, who was obligated to support her. Adultery was known, as it is in every human society, but was a perilous venture, especially if the cuckolded husband was a renowned warrior.

In common with many other Polynesian societies, ancient Tonga also made room for the male homosexual, the mahū. These men wore female clothing, took on female roles, and had casual sexual liaisons with other men. There seems to have been no stigma attached to sex with a mahū.

Related, yet different was the manāʻia, the male beauty. When a boy at young age turned out to be very handsome, he would be barred from heavy work, instead he would be pampered, his skin rubbed with oils, his hair meticously taken care of, and so on. The idea was that in this way he would grow up to such a beauty that he would be irresistible to chief's daughters. Then a child of high rank would be born into the family, elevating the status of all.

Post-contact Tonga
After the arrival of the Europeans,a Christian marriage took place before the traditional rites, or was inserted between them. Mahūs kept a low profile. Commoners adopted the ideal of pre-marital virginity and the display of bloody bedclothing. Divorce theoretically became formal, and difficult, though this may have only slightly discouraged informal separations and subsequent common-law unions.

With the waning of missionary influence, urban youngsters are now experimenting with dances and dating, the later Western imports. Mahūs are now known as "fakaleiti" and are celebrated in the Miss Galaxy Pageant, which claims princess Lupepauʻu, granddaughter of the king as its patron.

There is said to be some prostitution in urban areas now, particularly areas with frequent Western visitors. Sex education is discouraged by the church; encouraged (with limited success) by the ministry of health. There are a few cases of AIDS in the kingdom, but Tonga's relative isolation has prevented the disease from becoming the scourge that it has been in other countries.

Rank and status
All Polynesian cultures are strongly stratified, ranging from somewhat less to even more. Tongan culture is no exception, and despite almost two centuries of western influence, it is, together with Haʻamoa (Sāmoa) still the most stratified culture. In former times the king (tuʻi) with the royal family was on top. Below him were the high chiefs (houʻeiki), the estate holders and warlords. Below them the lower chiefs (fototehina). Below them the working chiefs (matāpule), in fact attendants to the chiefs to which they belonged, providing services to them, like fishing, tax collection, kavamixing, undertaking and protocol keeping. Below them the ordinary people (tuʻa). Below them, or maybe more or less on the same level, the slaves, prisoners of war (popula).

In the modern context, the king is remains in this position and has the final executive power of government. The high chiefs are now limited to 33 titles and called nobles (nopele), but some nobles carry more than one title. They are still estate holders, and as such have some influence, but they are not the government (although many of them are high ranking civil servants). The lower chiefs have disappeared (and the word fototehina now means 'brothers'). The matāpule have also largely disappeared except those who keep the protocol and serve as official spokesmen for the king and nobles. And also the royal undertaker, Lauaki. Tax collection is a task for the central government only. Slavery is abolished, since the emancipation on 1875, and all other people are just the 'commoners'.

The wordly power described above can be called status. A Tongan obtains his status from his father (or sometimes uncle, but always through the male line). He inherits his (noble or matāpule) title from his father. The crownprince will succeed his father. Land ownership is only inherited through the father.

However, status as such does not place you in society; this is based on rank. A Tongan obtains his rank from his mother, and that determines his place in the social order. Within the family the rank of women is higher than that of men. Likewise the elder sister of a king, if he has one, has a higher blood rank the king himself. This was the so called Tamahā, holy child, in pre-European times.

In practice high rank and high status always go together because no high ranking woman would ever marry a commoner, and no chief would ever marry a low ranking woman. In fact when prince ʻAlaivahamamaʻo eloped with the daughter of a low chiefess Tuʻimala, he was stripped from his royal status and had to flee to Hawaiʻi. Children from that marriage, grandchildren of the king, would have obtained no significant rank. Albeit later, after a divorce, ʻAlai was reconciled with his father and married princess Alaileula from Sāmoa. He did not however become prince again and died in 2004 with only the noble title Māʻatu.)

Rank and status are fixed from birth. There is no way in Tongan society to climb up in rank. A low ranking chief will always remain the lesser of a high ranking chief, even though his lands may be bigger and richer and so forth. But he can try to marry a high ranking woman, for instance if she is interested in his rich lands, and so increase the rank of his children. Status on the other hand, although usually fixed too, can have some vertical movement. The second son of a noble, normally not in line for his father's title, may get it after all if his older brother dies prematurily. In addition to this sometimes, but very rarely, the king may elevate some person to high status.

Even more striking was the situation with Tāufaʻāhau, the later king George Tupou I. He was born in a chiefly family of lower rank, not belonging to the houʻeiki. As such he never could attend at the chiefly kava ceremonies as the equal of the high chiefs. By consequence he avoided them. Even after the battle of Velata when he had defeated the Tuʻi Tonga and had become the most powerful man of the whole archipelago, he still remained a person of inferior rank. But then he had the power to take Lupepauʻu, who had been the wife of the Tuʻi Tonga and hence the highest ranking woman at that time as wife. Thus, paradoxically, his children were born into a higher 'status' than he had. Presently his descendants, the current royal family, are the highest ranking Tongans of all.

Naming
Like in Sāmoa once a Tongan has obtained a hereditary title, be it noble or matāpule, he will be named with that title and no longer with his baptised name. Such titles are usually for life, but the holder can be stripped of it when convicted of a serious crime, and he will then return to his original name. Some titles are equal to the family name, others are not. For example when somewhere in history they were given away to another family if the original holder died without sons. In former times a woman could hold such a title, but nowadays only men. To distinguish successive holders of the same title, it is permisseable to add the original name between parenthesis. For example: Fielakepa (Siosaia Aleamotuʻa). No further prefixes such as the, mr. or sir are needed in addressing, although in writing often hon (honourable) is used. Tongans are still overawed by those of higher rank.

Crime
Violent crime is limited, but increasing, and public perception associates this with returns of ethnic Tongans who have been raised overseas. A few notable cases involve young men raised since infancy in the USA, whose family neglected to obtain citizenship for them and who were deported on involvement with the American justice system. At this moment crime increases faster than the police force and will remain a serious problem for the years to come. Increasing wealth has also increased the gap between the rich and the poor, leading to more and more burglaries.

At this moment most prisons in Tonga still abide with the old laissez-faire attitude. Usually having no fences, no iron bars and so forth, that makes it very easy for the inmates to escape. For sure with this will have to change rather sooner than later with these hardened criminals from America, but for the moment the jailors can trust on the goodwill of the inmates. Some are glad to be in prison, not to be bothered by demanding family members. There is no social stigma on being in prison (although that may change now too), but then of course it also does not serve as a deterrent against crimes.

More troublesome are the young offenders, schoolboys who want to have money to show off, and are apprehended in burglaries. As there are no juvenile prisons, they are to be locked up in the main prisons together with the hardened criminals. For a while it was tried to confine them on Tau, a small island offshore Tongatapu but that was not ideal either.

In the 1990's Chinese immigration caused resentment among the native Tongan population(especially those from Hong Kong, who bought a Tongan passport to get away before the Beijing takeover). Much violent crime nowadays is directed against these Chinese.

Traditional women's crafts
In pre-contact Tonga, women did not do the cooking (cooking in an earth oven was hard, hot work, the province of men) or work in the fields. They raised children, gathered shellfish on the reef, and made koloa, barkcloth and mats, which were a traditional form of wealth exchanged at marriages and other ceremonial occasions. An industrious woman thus raised the social status of her household. Her family also slept soundly, on the piles of mats and barkcloth that were the traditional bedding. On sunny days, these were spread on the grass to air, which prolonged their life.

Traditional men's crafts
Woodcarving. Before Western contact, many objects of daily use were made of carved wood: food bowls, head rests (kali), war clubs and spears, and cult images. Tongan craftsmen were skilled at inlaying pearl-shell and ivory in wood, and Tongan war clubs were treasured items in the neighboring archipelago of Fiji.

Canoe-building
Tongan craftsman were also adept at building canoes. Many canoes for daily use were simple popaos, dug-out canoes, shaped from a single log with fire and adze and outfitted with a single outrigger. Due to a dearth of large trees suitable for building large war canoes, these canoes were often imported from Fiji.

Traditional architecture
The tradition Tongan fale consisted of a curved roof (branches lashed with sennit rope, or kafa, thatched with woven palm leaves) resting on pillars made of tree trunks. Woven screens filled in the area between the ground and the edge of the roof. The traditional design was extremely well adapted to surviving hurricanes. If the winds threatened to shred the walls and overturn the roof, the inhabitants could chop down the pillars, so that the roof fell directly onto the ground. Because the roof was curved, like a limpet shell, the wind tended to flow over it smoothly. The inhabitants could ride out the storm in relative safety.

There are a many surviving examples of Tongan stone architecture, notably the Haʻamonga ʻa Maui and mound tombs (langi) near Lapaha, Tongatapu. And so several on other islands. Archaeologists have dated them hundreds to a thousand years old.

Tattooing
Pre-contact Tongan males were often heavily tattooed. In Captain Cook's time only the Tuʻi Tonga (king) was not: because he was too high ranked for anybody to touch him. Later it became the habit that a young Tuʻi Tonga went to Sāmoa to be tattooed there.

The practice of Tātatau disappeared under heavy missionary disapproval, but was never completely suppressed. It is still very common for men (less so, but still some for women), to be decorated with some small tattoos. Nevertheless it is more popular for youngsters nowadays, so there is a revival. Especially shoulders, wrists, ankles, legs, arms. Often a crest of the high school attended. Or the initials of one's name.

Western textile arts
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. Preachers in some Methodist sects still wear long "frock coats", a style that has not been current in the West for more than a hundred years. These coats must be tailored locally.

Tongan outfits are often assembled from used Western clothing (for the top) mixed with a length of cloth purchased locally for the tupenu. Used clothing can be found for sale at local markets, or can be purchased overseas and mailed home by relatives.

Some women have learned to sew and own sewing machines (often antique treadle machines). They do simple home-sewing of shirts, kofu, and school uniforms.

Nuku'alofa, the capital, supports at least one and possibly several (need updated info here) tailoring shops. They tailor tupenu and suitcoats for Tongan men, and matching tupenu and kofu for Tongan women. The women's outfits may be decorated with simple blockprint patterns on the hems.

There is also some local production of knit jerseys by Tongans operating imported sergers. They produce on speculation and sell at the Nuku'alofa market.

Women who attend the Wesleyan Methodist girl's school, Queen Salote College, are taught several Western handicrafts, such as embroidery and crochet. They learn to make embroidered pillowcases and bed coverings or crocheted lace tableclothes, bedcovers, and lace trim. However, Western-style handicrafts such as these have not become widely popular outside the school setting. They require expensive imported materials that can only be purchased in major towns. Village women are much more likely to turn their efforts to weaving mats or beating barkcloth, which can be done with free local material.

Painting
A few Tongan village churches are decorated with freehand murals or decorations done in house paint, which may mix crosses, flowers, and traditional barkcloth motifs. The practice is uncommon and the execution is always crude.

Coral and tortoise-shell jewelry
In the 1970s there was a small factory near Nuku'alofa that made simple jewelry from coral and tortoise-shell for sale to Western tourists. It is not clear if this factory is still operating. The government may have protected sea-turtles and corals (as has been done in most other countries) and ended this line of manufacture.

Music & dance
We know relatively little about the 'music of Tonga' as it existed before Tonga was discovered by European explorers. Early visitors, such as Captain Cook and the invaluable William Mariner, note only the singing and drumming during traditional dance performances. We can assume the existence of the lali or slit-gong, and the nose flute, as these survived to later times. Traditional songs, passed down over the generations, are still sung at chiefly ceremonies. Some ancient dances are still performed, such as ula, ʻotuhaka and meʻetuʻupaki.

Church Music
Methodists were known for their extensive use of hymns in their emotional services. True to their tradition, the early missionaries introduced hymn-singing to their congregations. These early hymns -- still sung today in some of the Methodist sects, such as the Free Church of Tonga and the Church of Tonga -- have Tongan tunes and simple, short Tongan lyrics. There is a special Tongan music notation for these, and other, musics.

Secular music
Traditional music is preserved in the set pieces performed at royal and noble weddings and funerals, and in the song sung during the traditional ceremony of apology, the lou-ifi. Radio Tonga begins each day's broadcast with a recording from Honourable Veʻehala, a nobleman and celebrated virtuoso of the nose flute. This music is NOT popular music; it is a cherished heirloom, preserved by specialists and taught as needed for special occasions.

Tongan cuisine
In pre-contact times, there was only main meal, a midday meal cooked in an earth oven. Villagers would rise, eat some leftover food from the previous day's meal, and set out to work in the fields, fishing, gathering shellfish, etc. The results of the morning's work would be cooked by the men, and served to the assembled household. The remnants would be placed in a basket suspended from a tree. This food served as an end-of-the-day snack as well as the next day's breakfast. Food past its prime was given to the pigs.

The diet consisted mainly of kalo, yams, bananas, coconuts, and fish baked in leaves; shellfish were usually served raw, as a relish. The liquid from the center of coconuts was commonly drunk, and the soft "spoon meat" of young coconuts much relished. Baked breadfruit was eaten in season. Pigs were killed and cooked only on special occasions, such as weddings, funerals, feasts honoring a visiting chief, and the like. Tongans also ate chickens, rats, and bats.

Food could be stored by feeding it to pigs. Pre-contact Tongans also built elevated storehouses for yams. Yams would keep only a few months. Hence a household's main security was generous distribution of food to relatives and neighbors, who were thus put under an obligation to share in their turn.

Many new foods were introduced in the 19th and early 20th centuries, following Western contacts and settlements. The cassava plant was one such introduction; it is called manioke in Tongan. While it lacks the prestige of the yam, it is an easy plant to grow and a common crop. Introduced watermelons became popular. They were eaten either by themselves, or pulped and mixed with coconut milk, forming a popular drink called ʻotai. Other fruits, such as oranges, lemons, and limes, became popular. Tongans also adopted onions, green onions, cabbage,carrots, tomatoes, and other common vegetables. In the last few decades, Tongan farmers with access to large tracts of land have engaged in commercial farming of pumpkins and other easily shipped vegetables as cash crops.

Women cooking topai for mournersTongans now consume large quantities of imported flour and sugar. One dish that uses both is topai, doughboys, flour and water worked into a paste and dropped into a kettle of boiling water, then served with a syrup of sugar and coconut milk. Topai are a common funeral food, being easily prepared for hundreds of mourners.

There are now bakeries in the larger cities. The most popular loaves are soft, white, and bland. There are also local soft drink bottlers, who make various local varieties of soda. A Tongan who might once have breakfasted on bits of cooked pork and yam from a hanging basket may now have white bread and soda for breakfast.

Purchased prepared foods have also made great headway, even in remote villages. Canned corned beef is a great favorite. It is eaten straight from the can, or mixed with coconut milk and onions, wrapped in leaves, and baked in the earth oven. Tongans also eat canned fish. In villages or towns with refrigeration, cheap frozen "mutton flaps" imported from New Zealand are popular. Tongans also eat the common South Pacific "ship's biscuit", hard plain crackers once a shipboard staple. These crackers are called mā pakupaku.

Tongans no longer make an earth oven every day. Most daily cooking is done by women, who cook in battered pots over open fires in the village, in wood-burning stoves in some households, and on gas or electric ranges in some of the larger towns. The meal schedule has also changed, to more Westernized breakfast, light lunch, and heavy dinner. Tongans say that the old schedule is unworkable when household members have Western-style jobs, or attend schools at some distance from home; such family members cannot come home to eat, then have a doze after a heavy mid-day meal.

As well as drinking soda, Tongans now drink tea and coffee. Usually this is of the cheapest variety, and served with tinned condensed milk.

Some men drink alcohol. Sometimes this is imported Australian or New Zealand beer; more often it is home-brew, hopi, made with water, sugar or mashed fruit, and yeast. Imported drinks are sold only to Tongans who have liquor permits, which require a visit to a government office, and limit the amount of alcohol which can be purchased. There are no such formalities with hopi. Drinking is usually done secretively; a group of men gather and drink until they are drunk. Such gatherings sometimes result in drunken quarrels and assaults.

The drinking of kava by men at kava clubs is somewhat equal to drinking beers in the bar in western cultures. However formal kava drinking is an important and intrinsic part of Tonga culture. See kava culture.

Clothing
Tongan men wear a tupenu, a cloth that is similar to a sarong, which is wrapped around the waist. It should be long enough to cover the knees or the shins of the legs. In daily life, any shirt (T-shirt, jersey, woven shirt) will do to top the tupenu. Usually shirts are used clothing imported from overseas. Some men will go shirtless working on their plantations, but it is matter of law that shirts be worn in town.

On formal occasions a taʻovala, a woven mat, is worn over the tupenu. It is wrapped around the waist and secured with a kafa rope. The tupenu may be smartly tailored and have a matching suit jacket. If a man cannot afford to have a suit tailored to fit him, he will buy a used Western jacket, or wear a threadbare jacket inherited from an older relative.

Women too wear a tupenu, but a long one which should reach to the ankles. (They sometimes wear shorter tupenu for working in the house or picking shellfish on the reef, which provokes clergymen to sermons on vanity and immodesty.) The tupenu is usually topped with a kofu, or dress. This may be sewn to order, or it may be an imported used dress. Sometimes women wear blouses or jerseys.

On formal occasions women too wear a taʻovala, or more often a kiekie, a string skirt attached to a waistband. It is lighter and cooler than a mat. Kiekie are made from many different materials, from the traditional (pandanus leaves, as used in mats) to the innovative (unspooled magnetic tape from tape cassettes).

Everyone attending a funeral should wear a mat, a taʻovala, around the waist. What kind of mat is worn depends on the relationship to the deceased. Close relatives who are "inferior", in kinship terms, or "brother's" side, wear old, coarse, torn mats, sometimes even old floor mats. These are the relatives who do the hard, dirty work of preparing the earth oven at the funeral. Relatives on the "sister's side" wear fine mats, often family heirloom mats. Those who are not related at all should wear fine mats that are faka'ahu, or smoked over a fire until they are a rich mahogany color.

Close relatives have also adopted the Western custom of wearing black or dark clothing as a sign of mourning.

The largest Methodist church holds a yearly celebration for the women of the congregation. Churches hold special church services to which women wear white clothing. All the Methodist churches have adopted the Western custom of women wearing hats to church. Only women who have been admitted to the congregation can wear hats; those denied admittance (because they are still young, or because they are considered to be living immoral lives) are only "inquirers" and go hatless.

More and more Tongan men are abandoning the traditional tupenu for trousers, at least when it comes to working in the fields. Women can be innovative in terms of color and cut within the context of the traditional kofu/tupenu combination.

Sports
Common sports played in Tonga are rugby union and soccer. Recently judo, surfing, volleyball, Australian rules football and cricket are gaining popularity. The nation has a national rugby union team which played in the 1987, 1995, 1999 and 2003 Rugby World Cups.

Religion
The king and the majority of the royal family are members of the Free Wesleyan Church (Methodist) which claims some 40 000 adherents in the country. There are four other Methodist denominations in the country, as well as a substantial Catholic and Mormon community. There is also a small Seventh-day Adventist Church group, Anglicans, some adherents of the Bahá'í faith, and there were for a time even some Tongan moslems.

Tongans are ardent church goers. Yet whatever they themselves think about it, church visit seems not to be for praying but it is more a disguished continuation of pre-European social gatherings. Singing in the church is more important than preaching. Therefore it does not matter so much to which church you go, as long as you gather. As consequence people who go to a church of another denomination are absolutely not shunned, as happens so often elsewhere.

In any case the Sunday in Tonga is celebrated as a strict sabbath, enshrined so in the constitution, and despite some voices to the opposite, the Sunday ban is not likely to be abolished soon. No trade whatsoever is allowed on Sunday, except some 'essential services', after special approval by the minister of police. Yet many little shops still do trade through the backdoor. They risk a fine or even imprisonment.

Last update on 17 March 2008
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