Tonga is a country located in Oceania. According to AbbreviationFinder, TO is the two-letter ISO code of Tonga, and TON is the three-letter country abbreviation for Tonga.
Yearbook 1997
Tonga. During the year, it looked as if Tonga would not be the first of the island nations to meet the new century. Researchers found that the inhabited area that will only be reached by the next century is Hakepa Hill on Pitt Island east of New Zealand. According to Countryaah, the national day of Tonga is June 4. Tonga authorities were considering introducing winter time to come first, and in Kiribati some eagerness wanted to move the date line so that their day began an hour earlier. The competition for which country only reaches 2000 is based on expected tourist income.
In November 2011, Tonga co-initiated the founding of the Polynesian Leaders Group to strengthen regional cooperation in culture, language, education, trade, investment and climate change response.
The king died in March 2012 and the post was taken over by his younger brother, ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho Tupou VI.
ʻAkilisi Pohiva from the party Paati Temokalati ‘ae’ Otu Motu ‘Anga’ofa (Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands) was appointed prime minister in December 2014.
Although Tupou VI had been king since 2012, he was first crowned in July 2015.
The form of government – monarchy based in Nukualofa – is inherited from ancient times, the result of the eternal struggle between the single leader and the sub-heads; today a woman reigns, Salote. This kingdom is subject, in the form of a protectorate, to the English, whose influence is revealed above all in the administration of finances, justice, health and education.
- Shopareview: Offers climate information of Tonga in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, covering maximum and minimum temperature for each of 12 months. Also includes when is best time to visit this country.
Physically and culturally the Tongans were and are very close to the Polynesians of Samoa, with whom they, excellent sailors, were in contact for centuries, either peaceful or warlike. The main food base of the Tongans is represented by the products obtained from the plants which they cultivate in great abundance: yams, bananas, breadfruit, coconut palms; the main export product (copra) is also extracted from the latter. The diet is completed by fishing, which is very active, and by the breeding of domestic animals, mainly chickens and pigs. In the field of housing, corrugated metal huts are increasingly replacing the old rectangular huts, open on two sides, with walls covered with mats and roof covered with coconut leaves.
In clothing, cotonina is replacing the bark fabrics already in use (see step); the rich ornaments, however, retain the ancient forms. The skill and artistic sense that once distinguished the Tongans are perpetuated in certain industries: weaving thin fabrics, weaving mats, nets and baskets, and in the processing of richly decorated wooden objects. The love for music and singing, general in the Polynesian races, was also preserved among the Tongans. Christianity, introduced as early as 1797, has almost completely destroyed the ancient religious beliefs, of which few vestiges remain; today the entire population is Christian; the majority are Protestant (Wesleyan Free Church of Tonga and Free Church), the Catholic minority. Much is being done in favor of popular culture: there are more than one hundred elementary schools, there is also a very popular “Tonga college”; the intelligent and open mind of the Tongan willingly welcomes modern civilization, as it can help him, in the struggle for existence which now takes place in conditions very different from the traditional ones.