45 Fun Facts About Tonga

Tonga's Fonuafo'ou, once charted as Falcon Island, is famous for doing what?

Rising from the sea and vanishing again: eruptions build the island out of ash and pumice, which the waves then wear away, so it has come and gone several times since HMS Falcon sighted the shoal in 1867.

What is the capital of Tonga?

Nuku'alofa, on the north coast of the main island Tongatapu, is Tonga's capital and largest town; its waterfront was hit by the tsunami of January 2022.

Tonga lies in which region of the Pacific?

Polynesia: Tonga sits on the region's western edge, and by about 1200 its seafaring kings held sway over islands as far away as Samoa and Fiji.

Tonga's roughly 170 islands form three main groups: Tongatapu, Ha'apai and which northern one?

Vava'u is the northern group; Spanish navigator Francisco Mourelle, short of food and water, found shelter there in 1781 and named its harbour the Port of Refuge.

Tonga became known as the 'Friendly Islands' after warmly welcoming which explorer in 1773?

James Cook was struck by the welcome and fresh supplies he was given, and came back in 1774 and 1777; William Bligh, later captain of the Bounty, sailed with him on that last visit.

The name 'Tonga' is usually traced to a word in the islands' own language meaning what?

Southwards: tonga is the Tongan word for south, usually read as a nod to the islands' position below Samoa, though the origin is not settled and one reference glosses the name as 'island'.

The first Europeans to reach Tonga, in 1616, sailed under which flag?

Dutch: the ship Eendracht, on a Dutch voyage seeking a new route to the Indies, called at Tonga's northern islands in 1616, and fellow Dutchman Abel Tasman followed in 1643, well over a century before the British.

Which warrior chief, who took the name George on becoming a Christian, united Tonga under one crown in 1845?

Taufa'ahau took the name George (Siaosi) when Methodist missionaries converted him, fought his way to power over all the island groups and reigned as King George Tupou I from 1845 to 1893.

Which Wesleyan missionary helped King George Tupou I draft Tonga's 1875 constitution?

Shirley Baker wrote the constitution with the king and later became his premier, but in 1890 the British high commissioner deported him from Tonga.

From 1900 to 1970 Tonga had what relationship with Britain?

A protected state under a Treaty of Friendship: Britain took over Tonga's foreign affairs through a consul, partly to keep Germany out, but the islands kept their own monarch and were never made a colony.

Queen Salote won hearts at Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation by doing what?

Riding through the rain in an open carriage: the other royal guests had their carriage tops closed, but she kept hers down, reportedly because Tongan custom forbids copying those you honour, and the soaked crowds loved her for it.

In the 1970s Tonga's King Tupou IV made headlines as the world's what?

Heaviest monarch: he weighed more than 200 kg in the 1970s, then fronted a national keep-fit campaign in the 1990s and lost some 70 kg.

Studies found the pressure waves from Tonga's January 2022 eruption matched those of which earlier blast?

Krakatoa in 1883: early reports called it the biggest eruption since Pinatubo in 1991, but two studies in Science found its pressure waves, which lapped the globe several times, were on the scale of Krakatoa's.

How far from Tongatapu, Tonga's main island, was the volcano that erupted in January 2022?

65 km: Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai lies that far north of Tongatapu, close enough that the blasts were heard in the capital as ash and small stones fell on the town.

Tonga's flag is red with a white canton bearing what?

A red cross: the cross stands for Christianity and the red for the blood of Christ, and the 1875 constitution declares that the flag shall never be altered.

What is Tonga's currency?

The pa'anga replaced the Tongan pound in 1967; the story goes that 'dollar' was ruled out as a name because its Tongan form, tola, also means a pig's snout.

In Tonga, which animals are considered sacred and the property of the monarchy, so they cannot be hunted?

Flying foxes: the fruit bats are regarded as sacred and royal property, so they may not be hunted, and they roost in huge, noisy colonies, most famously at Kolovai on Tongatapu.

Which drink, made from the ground root of a pepper plant, is shared from a communal bowl at Tongan ceremonies?

Kava is mixed with water, strained into a bowl and served in order of rank; village men also gather to drink it at kava clubs most evenings, much as others would meet at a bar.

What is the nickname of Tonga's national team in its most popular sport?

Sea Eagles, 'Ikale Tahi in Tongan: the team's pre-match war dance is the Sipi Tau, and at the 2003 World Cup it began while New Zealand's haka was still going, drawing the two sides to within metres of each other.

At the 2011 Rugby World Cup Tonga stunned which eventual finalist 19-14 in the pool stage?

France still edged them out for the quarter-finals on bonus points after Tonga's 41-10 opening loss to the All Blacks and a narrow defeat to Canada.

What does 'Mate Ma'a' mean in Mate Ma'a Tonga, the name Tonga's rugby league team plays under?

Die for: Mate Ma'a Tonga means 'Die for Tonga'; stars like Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita switched allegiance before the 2017 World Cup, and Tonga went on to beat New Zealand, then Great Britain and Australia in 2019.

Paea Wolfgramm won Tonga's first Olympic medal, a silver at Atlanta 1996, in which sport?

Super-heavyweight boxing: Wolfgramm lost the final on points to Wladimir Klitschko, the future world heavyweight champion, who also stopped him in one round when they met again as professionals.

Tonga's flag-bearer Pita Taufatofua went viral at Rio 2016 for appearing how?

Shirtless and oiled in a traditional ta'ovala: the taekwondo fighter's glistening entrance went viral; he then took up cross-country skiing to reach the 2018 Winter Games and carried the flag again at Tokyo.

Tonga's 13th-century stone gateway, the 'Stonehenge of the Pacific', is named as the burden of which legendary hero?

Maui: the full name, Ha'amonga 'a Maui, pictures the three great stone slabs as the carrying pole of the hero said to have fished Tonga's islands from the sea; King Tu'itatui is credited with building it.

Tonga's first settlers, who reached Nukuleka nearly 3,000 years ago, belonged to which pottery-making culture?

Lapita: a coral file its people left at Nukuleka has been dated to about 2,840 years ago, give or take eight years, which pins down the founding of the village with rare precision.

In the Tongan social system of fahu, which relative holds the highest rank in a family?

The father's sister: under fahu the father's side outranks the mother's and sisters outrank their brothers, so she stands above everyone else in the family.

What does the everyday Tongan phrase 'Malo e lelei' mean?

Hello: Malo e lelei is the standard greeting, and it trips visitors up because malo on its own means thank you.

What happens to commerce and entertainment in Tonga every Sunday?

It all stops, by constitutional law: the constitution keeps the Sabbath holy, so shops and sport shut down, hotels serve tourists only by special permit, and any contract signed on a Sunday is legally void.

Roughly one in five Tongans told the 2021 census they belong to which church, founded in the United States?

The Latter-day Saints: only the Free Wesleyan Church, with roughly 35% of Tongans, is larger, and the church's own rolls list far more members than the census finds.

Which volcanic island in the Ha'apai group is Tonga's highest point?

Kao, a steep dormant volcanic cone in the Ha'apai group, rises about 1,030 metres above the sea, the highest point in Tonga.

From 1987 Tonga found a lucrative but risky export market in Japan for which vegetable?

Squash: sales to Japan from 1987 gave Tonga's struggling economy a lift, but swings in the Japanese price left growers facing heavy losses, and many farmers grew wary of the crop.

Tonga's stamps became collectors' favourites in the 1960s for being cut into which unusual shapes?

Hearts and bananas: the craze began in 1963 with round gold-foil stamps made to look like the new gold coins they marked, and heart, bird and fruit shapes followed.

The plutonium power unit from which Apollo mission lies on the Pacific floor in or near the Tonga Trench?

Apollo 13: the crew rode home in their lunar module, so it re-entered over the Pacific with the Moon experiment's plutonium still aboard; the cask was built to survive re-entry, and surveys have found no leak.

The 1789 mutiny on HMS Bounty broke out about 30 nautical miles south of which Tongan island?

Fletcher Christian acted days after a tense stop at Nomuka. Bligh's men were attacked when they landed on Tofua and one was killed.

The steamer Talune, which brought the 1918 flu to Tonga, had begun its voyage in which port?

Auckland: flu was raging in New Zealand when the Talune sailed, and though Fiji quarantined the ship, it carried the disease on to Western Samoa, where about a fifth of the people died, and then to Tonga.

Tongan women make ngatu, patterned sheets up to 15 metres long given at great occasions, from what?

Beaten tree bark: the inner bark of the paper mulberry is pounded into thin sheets that are joined and printed with patterns, and a length of ngatu is among the most valued gifts a Tongan family can give.

An American banker who lost millions from a Tongan state fund around 2000 also held which official royal title?

Court jester: King Tupou IV had given Jesse Bogdonoff the title, apparently as a birthday joke, before the trust fund he managed was wiped out in a failed investment and Tonga sued him.

In the 2021 WorldRiskReport, where did Tonga rank among the countries at greatest risk from natural disasters?

Third: only Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands ranked higher, because the report scored Tonga as the third most exposed country to natural hazards, though only medium for how vulnerable its society is.

About how many people live in Tonga?

100,000: the 2021 census counted just over 100,000 people, slightly fewer than in 2016, because so many Tongans move abroad; some 82,000 people of Tongan descent lived in New Zealand at its 2018 census.

Land in Tonga is protected by the constitution in what way?

It cannot be sold to foreigners: outsiders may only lease, while the law promises every Tongan man a farm plot from the age of 16, a right that a growing population has made hard to honour.

Which skipper, who had just named Cape Horn after his home town, made the first European visit to Tonga in 1616?

Willem Schouten sailed the Eendracht round the cape, named it for Hoorn, and reached Tonga's northern islands in April 1616, stopping briefly to trade before pressing on west.

Tongatapu, Tonga's flat main island, is built mostly of what?

Uplifted coral limestone: Tonga's eastern islands are old reefs raised above the sea, which is why they are low and flat, while the volcanoes stand in a separate chain to the west, their ash enriching Tongatapu's soil.

Which airline from Tonga collapsed in 2004 after a costly lease on a Boeing 757?

Royal Tongan Airlines leased the jet from Royal Brunei in 2002 to fly its own international routes, but the lessor repossessed it for non-payment in April 2004 and the airline folded within weeks.

What sparked the 2006 riots that burned much of Tonga's capital?

Anger at slow democratic reform: the palace had long promised change, and when a pro-democracy rally turned into a riot, troops from Australia and New Zealand were called in to help restore order.

What did King George Tupou V announce days before his 2008 coronation?

Giving up most of his powers: he promised to be guided by the prime minister in future, and in 2010 voters elected most of parliament for the first time while he stayed on as head of state.