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Tonga (/ ˈ t ɒ ŋ ə / TONG-ə, / ˈ t ɒ ŋ ɡ ə / ⓘ TONG-gə; [a] Tongan:), officially the Kingdom of Tonga (Tongan: Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. [1]
In 1947, with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act, New Zealand in effect became an independent nation from the United Kingdom. In 1967, New Zealand Prime Minister Keith Holyoake visited Tonga for the coronation of Tongan King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV. [1] In June 1970, Tonga ceased to be a protected state by the United Kingdom.
Tonga maintains strong regional ties in the Pacific. It is a full member of the Pacific Islands Forum, the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation, the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
The history of Tonga is recorded since the ninth century BC, when seafarers associated with the Lapita diaspora first settled the islands which now make up the Kingdom of Tonga. [1] Along with Fiji and Samoa, the area served as a gateway into the rest of the Pacific region known as Polynesia . [ 2 ]
Samoa–Tonga relations are the bilateral relations between the Independent State of Samoa and the Kingdom of Tonga. [1] They also interact in multilateral relations, with both of them belonging to the United Nations , the Commonwealth of Nations , and the Pacific Islands Forum .
Tonga is a member of the Pacific Islands Forum, of which India is an official dialogue partner. Bilateral relations received a boost following the initiation of the Forum of India-Pacific Islands Cooperation by the Narendra Modi government in 2014. [7]
The Royal Order of the Phoenix is an order of knighthood of the Kingdom of Tonga. History. The order was founded by King George Tupou V on 1 August 2010. [1] [2] [3]
Tonga is a sovereign island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. [1] Tonga comprises the Tonga Archipelago of 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited, stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 mi) in a north–south line.