Editing Tonga (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Tonga}}
[[File:Tasman-dagboek-a.jpg|thumb|The arrival of [[Abel Tasman]] in Tongatapu, 1643; drawing by [[Isaack Gilsemans]]]]

According to [[Tongan mythology]], the demigod [[Maui (mythology)|Maui]] drew up a group of islands from the ocean, first appearing [[Tongatapu]], the [[Ha'apai Islands]] and [[Vava'u]], integrating into what became modern-day Tonga.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://tongatime.com/mauis-fish-hook/ |title=Maui's Fish Hook |publisher=Tonga Time |date=9 April 2013 |access-date=14 March 2023 |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314010858/https://tongatime.com/mauis-fish-hook/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

An [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]]-speaking group linked to what archaeologists call the [[Lapita culture]] covered from [[Island Melanesia]] to [[Samoa]], and then on to inhabit Tonga sometime between 1500 and 1000&nbsp;BC.<ref>Kirch, Patrick Vinton (1997) ''The Lapita Peoples'', Wiley, {{ISBN|1-57718-036-4}}.</ref> Scholars still debate exactly when Tonga was first settled, but [[thorium]] dating confirms that settlers had arrived in the earliest known inhabited town, Nukuleka, by 888 BC, ± 8 years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burley |first1=David |title=High precision U/Th dating of first Polynesian settlement |journal=PLOS ONE |date=2012 |volume=7 |issue=11 |pages=e48769 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0048769|pmid=23144962 |pmc=3492438 |bibcode=2012PLoSO...748769B |doi-access=free }}</ref> Tonga's precontact history was shared via [[oral tradition|oral history]], which was passed down from generation to generation.

By the 12th century, Tongans and the Tongan monarch, the [[Tuʻi Tonga]], had acquired a reputation across the central Pacific{{snd}}from [[Niue]], [[Samoa]], [[Rotuma]], [[Wallis and Futuna]], [[New Caledonia]] to [[Tikopia]], leading some historians to speak of a Tuʻi Tonga Empire having existed during that period. Civil wars are known to have occurred in Tonga in the 15th and 17th centuries.

[[File:William Mariner (1791-1853) crop.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William Mariner (writer)|William Mariner]] was a teenaged English sailor adopted into a royal Tongan family.]]

The Tongan people first encountered Europeans in 1616, when the Dutch vessel [[Eendracht (1615 ship)|''Eendracht'']], captained by [[Willem Schouten]], made a short visit to the islands for the purpose of engaging in trade. Later, other Dutch explorers arrived, including [[Jacob Le Maire]] (who visited the northern island of [[Niuatoputapu]]); and [[Abel Tasman]] (who visited Tongatapu and [[Haʻapai]]) in 1643. Later noteworthy European visitors included James Cook, of the British Royal Navy, in 1773, 1774, and 1777; Spanish Navy explorers [[Francisco Mourelle|Francisco Mourelle de la Rúa]] in 1781; [[Alessandro Malaspina]] in 1793; the first London [[missionaries]] in 1797; and a [[Methodism|Wesleyan Methodist]] minister, Reverend Walter Lawry, in 1822.

[[Whaling]] vessels were among the earliest regular Western visitors. The first of these on record is the ''Ann and Hope'', which was reported to have been seen among the islands of Tonga in June 1799.<ref>Robert Langdon (ed.) (1984), ''Where the whalers went: an index to the Pacific ports and islands visited by American whalers (and some other ships) in the 19th century'', Canberra, Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, p. 234. {{ISBN|086784471X}}</ref> The last known whaling visitor was the ''Albatross'' in 1899. That ship arrived in Tonga seeking a resupply of water, food, and wood. The islands most regularly visited by Westerners were Ata, 'Eua, Ha'apai, Tongatapu, and Vava'u. Sometimes, Tongan men were recruited to serve as crewmen on these vessels.
The [[United States Exploring Expedition]] visited Tonga in 1840.<ref name=Stanton>{{cite book|last1=Stanton|first1=William|title=The Great United States Exploring Expedition|date=1975|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0520025578|page=[https://archive.org/details/greatunitedstate00will/page/186 186]|url=https://archive.org/details/greatunitedstate00will/page/186}}</ref>

In 1845, an ambitious young Tongan warrior, strategist, and orator named [[Tāufaʻāhau]] united Tonga into a kingdom. He held the chiefly title of [[Tuʻi Kanokupolu]], but had been baptised by [[Methodist]] missionaries with the name ''Siaosi'' ("George") in 1831. In 1875, with the help of missionary [[Shirley Waldemar 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-889064580/view?sectionId=nla.obj-890839971&searchTerm=tonga+constitution&partId=nla.obj-889098111#page/n9/mode/1up/search/tonga+constitution |title=The history of the Constitution of Tonga |work=Australian foreign affairs record |volume=51 |issue=11 |pages=416–419 |date=29 November 1980 |access-date=14 March 2023 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=14 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314013358/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-889064580/view?sectionId=nla.obj-890839971&searchTerm=tonga+constitution&partId=nla.obj-889098111#page/n9/mode/1up/search/tonga+constitution |url-status=live }}</ref>

Tonga became a [[British Protectorate|protected state]] under a Treaty of Friendship with Britain on 18 May 1900, when European settlers and rival Tongan chiefs unsuccessfully tried to oust the man who had succeeded Tāufaʻāhau as king. The treaty posted no higher permanent representative on Tonga than a British [[Consul (representative)|consul]] (1901–1970). Under the protection of Britain, Tonga maintained its sovereignty and remained the only Pacific nation to retain its monarchical government. The Tongan monarchy follows an uninterrupted succession of hereditary rulers from one family.<ref>George Woodcock, "Tonga: The Last of the Victorians." ''History Today'' (1975) 25#1 pp. 31–39.</ref>

The [[1918 flu pandemic]], brought to Tonga by a ship from New Zealand, killed 1,800 Tongans, a mortality rate of about 8%.<ref>{{Cite book|first = George C.|last = Kohn|title = Encyclopedia of plague and pestilence: from ancient times to the present|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tzRwRmb09rgC&pg=PA363|publisher = Infobase Publishing|year = 2008|page = 363|isbn = 978-0-8160-6935-4|access-date = 18 October 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160101182730/https://books.google.com/books?id=tzRwRmb09rgC&pg=PA363|archive-date = 1 January 2016|url-status = live}}</ref>

The Treaty of Friendship and Tonga's protection status ended in 1970 under arrangements that had been established by Tonga's Queen [[Salote Tupou III]] before her death in 1965. Owing to its British ties, Tonga joined the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] in 1970 (atypically as a country that had its own monarch, rather than having the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|United Kingdom's monarch]], along with [[Malaysia]], [[Brunei]], [[Lesotho]], and [[Eswatini]]). Tonga became a member of the United Nations in September 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|title=FSM welcomed Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga to UN family|url=https://www.fsmgov.org/fsmun/pr140999.htm|access-date=2021-11-03|website=www.fsmgov.org|archive-date=3 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103022201/https://www.fsmgov.org/fsmun/pr140999.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> While exposed to colonial pressures, Tonga has always governed itself, which makes it unique in the Pacific.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tonga Was Never Colonised, So Why Does It Feel So Colonised?|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/tonga-was-never-colonised-so-why-does-it-feel-so-colonised/|access-date=2021-11-03|website=Vice.com|date=20 February 2019 |language=en|archive-date=3 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103022158/https://www.vice.com/en/article/qvyzxb/tonga-was-never-colonised-so-why-does-it-feel-so-colonised|url-status=live}}</ref>

In January 2022, the [[Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai]] volcano, {{Cvt|65|km|mi nmi}} north of the main island of Tongatapu, [[2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami|erupted]], causing a [[tsunami]] which inundated parts of the archipelago, including the capital Nuku{{Okina}}alofa. The eruption affected the kingdom heavily, cutting off most communications<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tonga: Tsunami waves hit Pacific country after huge underwater volcano eruption|url=https://news.sky.com/story/tonga-tsunami-alert-as-undersea-volcano-eruption-causes-large-waves-to-hit-island-12516351|access-date=2022-01-15|website=Sky News|language=en|archive-date=15 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115213858/https://news.sky.com/story/tonga-tsunami-alert-as-undersea-volcano-eruption-causes-large-waves-to-hit-island-12516351|url-status=live}}</ref> and killing four people in Tonga.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Latu |first=Kalino |date=2022-01-30 |title=Prime Minister defends Deputy's 'no sirens' reply as tsunami death toll rises to four |url=https://www.kanivatonga.nz/2022/01/prime-minister-defends-deputys-no-sirens-reply-as-tsunami-death-toll-rises-to-four/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130100337/https://www.kanivatonga.nz/2022/01/prime-minister-defends-deputys-no-sirens-reply-as-tsunami-death-toll-rises-to-four/ |archive-date=2022-01-30 |access-date=2022-04-21 |website=Kaniva Tonga |language=en-NZ}}</ref> In [[Peru]], two women drowned due to abnormal tsunami waves.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-01-17 |title=Two women drown in Peru because of Tonga volcano |agency=Agence France-Presse |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3163606/two-women-drown-peru-due-tonga-volcanic-eruption-10000km-away |access-date=2022-04-21 |via=South China Morning Post |archive-date=21 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421175219/https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3163606/two-women-drown-peru-due-tonga-volcanic-eruption-10000km-away |url-status=live }}</ref> It took around five weeks to repair a [[Submarine communications cable|submarine fiber optic cable]] used in the [[Tonga Cable System]] for internet and telephone connectivity.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Torchinsky|first=Rina|date=2022-01-18|title=An undersea cable fault could cut Tonga from the rest of the world for weeks|language=en|work=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2022/01/18/1073863310/an-undersea-cable-fault-could-cut-tonga-from-the-rest-of-the-world-for-weeks|access-date=2022-02-24|archive-date=24 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124232215/https://www.npr.org/2022/01/18/1073863310/an-undersea-cable-fault-could-cut-tonga-from-the-rest-of-the-world-for-weeks|url-status=live}}</ref>