Timeline of Tongan history
This is a timeline of Tongan history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Tonga and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Tonga. See also the list of monarchs of Tonga and list of prime ministers of Tonga.
Before 1st century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1200 BC | The first Lapita settlers arrived in Tonga.[1]
|
1st to 10th centuries
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
200 | Explorers set out from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji to discover and settle eastern Polynesia. | |
950 | First named ruler of Tonga: 'Aho'eitu [2] |
11th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1100 | The Empire expanded under Tuʻi Tonga Momo to include Samoa and parts of Fiji. |
12th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1200 | Muʻa became the capital of the Tongan Empire.
|
13th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1250 | Samoa rebelled and cast off Tongan rule, establishing the Malietoa dynasty in Samoa and marking the beginning of the Empire's decline. | |
1300 | The Tu'itatui .
|
14th century
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (January 2012) |
15th century
Year | Date | Event |
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1470 | The Tongans were driven out of Tu'i Ha'atakalaua dynasty.
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16th century
Year | Date | Event |
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1600 | The Tuʻi Kanokupolu dynasty ascended.
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17th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1616 | April | Niuas
|
1643 | January | Abel Tasman visited Tongatapu and Haʻapai. |
1650 | Mataelehaʻamea, the Tu'i Kanokupolu, established the supremacy of his dynasty after a war against the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua , Vaea.
|
18th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1773 | Captain James Cook first visited Tonga and referred to it as the "Friendly Islands". | |
1774 | Cook returned. | |
1777 | Tu'i Kanokupolu , Tuʻihalafatai, on his third visit.
| |
1782 | Tuʻihalafatai renounced power and moved to Fiji. | |
1793 | Tu'i Kanokupolu , was overthrown by her cousin Tukuʻaho.
| |
1797 | The first Christian missionaries arrived from London. |
19th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1806 | William Mariner began a sojourn in Tonga. | |
1808 | Tu'i Kanokupolu after a nine-year interregnum.
| |
1810 | Mariner's sojourn ended. | |
1820 | Tu'i Kanokupolu amidst ongoing conflict.
| |
1826 | Wesleyan missionaries to settle on Tongatapu .
| |
1831 | Tāufaʻāhau I proclaimed himself King George Tupou I. | |
1839 | First written law in Tonga in the form of the Vavaʻu Code. Later revised in 1850[2] | |
1845 | George Tupou completed his conquest and unification of Tonga and moved the capital to Nukuʻalofa. | |
1860 | Shirley Waldemar Baker arrived in Tonga as a missionary[3] | |
1875 | serfs and guaranteed freedom of the press and the rule of law.
| |
1880 | Shirley Waldemar Baker became prime minister to George Tupou I | |
1893 | George Tupou I died and was succeeded as king by George Tupou II. | |
1900 | A Treaty of Friendship was signed under which Tonga becomes a self-governing British protectorate. | |
1900 | 13 March | Future Queen Sālote Tupou III is born.[4] |
1901 | Treaty of Friendship is ratified.[4] |
20th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1918 | George Tupou II died and was succeeded by Queen Sālote Tupou III. | |
1965 | Sālote Tupou died and was succeeded by King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV. | |
1970 | Tonga regained full sovereignty and independence from the United Kingdom and joined the Commonwealth of Nations. | |
1999 | Tonga joined the United Nations. |
21st century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
2006 | 30 March | Feleti Sevele was appointed the first non-noble Prime Minister of Tonga since Shirley Baker in the 19th century. |
11 September | Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV died and was succeeded as king by George Tupou V. | |
16 November | 2006 Nuku'alofa riots: Riots hit Nukuʻalofa, with protestors demanding a faster transition to democracy. Some rioters burned down and looted Chinese -owned shops and businesses. Eight looters died in a burning building.
| |
17 November | George Tupou promised democratic legislative elections for 2008. | |
2010 | 25 November | 2010 Tongan general election: An election produced a Parliament in which an absolute majority of representatives were elected by the people, and which had the power to select a Prime Minister. |
2012 | 18 March | George Tupou V died and was succeeded as king by Tupou VI. |
2014 | 27 November | ʻAkilisi Pohiva becomes Prime Minister. He is the first commoner to be elected Prime Minister by a predominantly elected Parliament.
|
References
- ^ "History". 2009-04-30. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
- ^ a b Runeborg, Ruth (1980). The Kingdom of Tonga: History, Culture and Communication. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023.
- ^ "Baker, Shirley Waldemar (Rev), 1836-1903". natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
- ^ ISBN 0195505190.
- Queen Salote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900-1965 (ISBN 1-86940-205-7)
- Latukefu, S. (1974), Church and State in Tonga, ANU Press, Canberra
- Campbell, Ian C; Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient and Modern, 2001, ISBN 0-908812-96-5
- "Brief history of the Kingdom of Tonga", on the website of the Tongan Parliament