Tongatapu

Tongatapu is the largest and with 70 877 (2006) inhabitants also the most populous island of the Kingdom of Tonga. 23,658 people attended the 2006 census in Nukualofa, the largest city and capital of Tongatapu Tonga, and 34 311 in the agglomeration. About the Fuaamotu international airport and the port in Nukualofa, the island can be reached.

Geography and Nature

The island is 257.03 km ² ( 260.48 km ² with a minor islands ) and rather flat, because it is constructed from coral limestone (limestone). It is covered with a thick, fertile soil, fertilized by the neighboring volcanoes with volcanic ash. While the steep coast in the south can be up to 35 m high, the island lowers the north against the sea level. The highest natural point on Tongatapu is 65 m high. It is located in the very south of the island between the villages Fuaamotu and Nakolo.

North of the island there are small isolated islands and many coral reefs, which can be up to 7 km far reaching into the sea from the shore. In the north the almost completely closed by reefs Fangauta and Fangakakau lagoons lie with a water depth of 1-6 m. The entire lagoon system of 2,835 hectares was made in 1974 under nature protection. The mangrove forests consisting mainly of mangrove trees of the Red Mangrove ( Rhizophora sp. ) Which are an important breeding ground for fish and birds.

History

People of the Lapita culture

The earliest traces of settlement Tongatapu by people of the Lapita culture can be attributed to 900-850 BC date. In the Fangauta Lagoon archaeologist David Burley found pottery shards, whose manufacture was 2000 km away, the Santa Cruz Islands of the Solomon Islands.

Tongan Empire

Although Tongatapu has always been the seat of the capital of the Tongan Empire, but in a sea which has distances up to 1000 km, which was often only a symbolic rule. From the first capital Toloa, in the area of ​​today's airport Fuaamotu about 1000 years ago, little is known. Also from the second capital Heketa on the coast in the northeast of the island has remained essentially just a stone archway ( Haamonga A Maui). Only the third capital of approximately 1220 to 1851 in the present town of Mua can come up with more traditional attractions. It can be seen more than 20 royal grave mounds, which range from simple mounds of earth to stone.

Early contacts with Europeans

The first Europeans on the island was Abel Tasman in 1643, the eintauschte goods on Tongatapu and the neighboring islands Ata and Eua. Another visitor was James Cook on his third Pacific voyage, which was received and feasted and watched there on July 5, 1777, a solar eclipse.