As a Tongan its nice seeing people talk about our culture and history even though Polynesian history isn't shared alot i think lots of people like our culture
Not to mention, King Tupou 1 took the time to learn the English language, read, and write learning the white mans way of life and government. In doing so, he discovered that the power of the pen would be more powerful than the spear and figured out how they worked in the modern world undermining foreign powers from taking over. He is my 5th year grandfather and I found this out at the royal family reunion. He was beyond his time. Thank you for sharing this video! 💯
Not a bad video on Tonga’s history. Would’ve been better if you had discussed the Tongan missionary Pita Vi’s interaction with our King Taufa’hau & how the King’s test of Pita Vi lead him to be Christian. Quite misleading thinking Taufa’ahau was just openly Christian from the start.
I did say a little bit about how he was baptized, but you're right more detail is needed. Here's the basic story: In 1828, Taufa‘āhau, though not yet Christian, liked the work the missionaries were doing in educating the people in Nuku'alofa and wanted the same for Ha'apai. As such, he asked the mission to send over an English missionary. This would require approval from the wider church though, so instead they picked Pita Vi, likely the first native Tongan preacher. When Taufa‘āhau came back to Tongatapu expecting an English missionary in 1829, he was disappointed, and returned to Ha'apai without Pita Vi. On the way though, he encountered a massive storm, which he interpreted as a sign from God that he should have taken Pita Vi with him. He promptly came back to Tongatapu to get Pita Vi, who would come to be a great influence on him. Later on, on a different voyage with Pita Vi, Taufa‘āhau saw a shark. He believed it to be an incarnation of a traditional god, and so to determine this he threw a spear at it. When the spear missed, he figured it probably was a god. As a further test though, he asked Pita Vi to get the spear and swim to shore, thinking that if he could get back safely the Christian God must be real. When he did, Taufa‘āhau soon decided to convert. Thanks for the comment!
Sorry if I sounded harsh, this video was awesome. People just don’t understand how important Pita Vi’s role in changing Tonga’s future was. He’s a very famous & respected figure here in Tonga ‘Eiki. I appreciate you explaining the story though. Much thanks & Ofaz.
Currently studying John Wesley and the impact he had on transforming Britain. It’s awesome to see how one man’s legacy was also able to change an entire nation 10,000 miles away. Anyway, great video! Love this sort of content.
Great video! One thing that's hard for me to explain to Tongans is the fact that were only independent domestically. When Britain made us a protectorate, it took away our ability to enter and maintain diplomatic relations with other countries, which stripped us of our external independence (which is what matters to foreign powers). This also meant that we were not considered a State in modern international law, since the ability to establish diplomatic relationships is one of the Montevideo criteria for Statehood. This lasted until the end of the protectorate era in 1970.
With all do respect this a UA-cam video not a history class homework where you gotta write an essay on this 😂. Let me go back in time n ask king tupou the 1st what happened n I'll come back n tell y'all about it 😂😂
I'm curious, you either have Tongan acquaintances or you watch alot of Tongan related content because your pronunciations of the Tongan names are good compared to other videos I've seen. Great job!
They are heavily influenced by the British royalties though..Tonga is a poor country poor in today's world yes but us Polynesians only ever needed to live off the land. So tongan royalty suck money out of their people for their own gain..it's sad really.
Tonga is not the only kingdom is the South Pacific. The French colony of Wallis and Futuna consists of three kingdoms, Uvea, Sigave and Alo. There is also Tuvalu and New Zealand.
Tonga! the most hated in the Pacific. To see our other island families discredit us is just sickening, and at the forefront of that is many of our Samoan brothers. While all of the pacific whore out their culture and change it up to cater to the world, only Tonga WILLINGLY turned to God....When our bros and sisters gonna learn that our culture, is for us by us!
Nah I don’t think we’re the most hated. I would say Tonga may be in fact one of the most misunderstood. I would say in all my years: Samoa is the most arrogant. Not all of them. They can be very competitive and can be very insecure. Always having the need to feel like they’re on top looking over at other’s turf/territory. They have the loaf of bread and still unsatisfactory meanwhile the rest of the island nations are okay with their one slice. And it’s almost never enough. It can be very frustrating coz you wanna shake the living daylights out of them and say “You guys are perfect as you are! You’re doing great! please stop!” Something in the bloodline for them to be wired differently, could be the palangi blood in the mix. Or it could be the rooted generational trauma in fight mode constantly. Beautiful as they are and hella resilient, but a lot of the island countries would agree. They just won’t come out with it as I do.
Always bring up samoa to be little on.. Get over it.. Both cultures are cursed thats why the people in the islands have lost their minds from ego and pride. Repent and seek Jesus thats the main thing. Matthew 16:26 For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his own soul.
I am a descendent of the Tu'i Kanokupolu warriors and take great pride in the fact that my ancestors were the Veteran Elite troops that were called back from the Fiji wars and settled on the border during the Civil war . In Saying that Colonization is not a bad thing to be saved from the other Pacific peoples have benefitted greatly from the time under European rule. What Secured our sovereignty was not our military might but the Benevolence and friendship of the British in protecting us Militarily while letting us rule ourselves . If Britain had wanted too they could of easily have subjugated us but they did not and helped us modernise without exploiting us . This is the real reason and we owe thanks. The friendship between our royal families extended into this century with our own Queen Salote and The British Queen Elizabeth being great friends.
They even ruled the polynesian triangle for a long time after conquering their neighboring islands who were fierce warriors in their own rights (samoa,tuvalu,some parts of fiji) the royal lineage of Hawaii can trace back their origins to the tui tonga empire.
Hawaiian royal family tongan how? Ive only read of their samoan connection even mentioned in one book written by a Hawaiian king. And Tongan "rule" in samoa was for the reign of 1 king on 1 side of 1 island (upolu)
@@uriels4097 I never said y'all came from Tonga (which is why you can't speak tongan) what I am talking about is the royal bloodline of the hawaiians came from Tahiti and as we all know the tahitian royalties descended from tui tonga. They did not come from Tonga however you can TRACE their bloodline back to Tonga.
He used Christianity to subjugate his people and colonise their minds. Tongan culture is so intertwined with this religion that it's almost impossible to separate the two. A very smart King indeed.
Christianity has its downfalls but it is still an improvement in the older religions in Tonga it replaced alot of us raised in the west have replaced that Religion with the modern moralistic ways of thinking of Modernity which are an improvement on Christianity but also has flaws. Saying that us that think like we do should not condemn Christianity as It served as a moral compass that was the best around at that time. our modern morality is largely based on Christian values and judgemental of it is about as hypocritical of those early Tongans that accepted the Lotu condeming and hating on the practices of the old religions
Lol, 😅, fools saying Tonga wasn't colonized cause it had no value to the Western powers. Tuvalu, Uvea, Futuna, heck, even Pictairn Island, smaller dots in the middle of the pacific ocean with even less value was taken by the Western imperialists in the late 1800s. These islands were much smaller than Tonga. The real reason Tonga wasn't colonized was because it established a constitution in 1875, managed to fool Germany into a binding protection agreement in exchange for copra stations in Vavau and Ha'apai; thereby causing problems for England during the dividing up of Samoa and the rest of the South Pacific in the early 1900s. In other words, Tongans outsmarted their bigger enemies. The Tongan royal family also allied with the British Royal family at a time when monarchies were being phased out in the early 20th Century. This drew the European royals into a alliance to protect the Tongan monarchy since they were all part of a dying club. Other royal families, like Japan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia etc, have also joined the global royal alliance today. This would not have been possible for Tonga had King George I not understood the bigger world picture in the 1870s. King Kalakaua understood it too late. Samoa had no unifying royal family. There's your difference. 🙂
Unfortunately people don't understand this part of colonisation.my country too was a protectorate and didn't suffer shit during the whole time.(not justifying colonialism)
Exactly. How would Tongans have reacted to the super powers attacking them? Look at Samoa fought all the super powers till the end and kicked them out.
Thank you for this . Thank you to God our Father He kept us a kingdom with knowledge he blessed king Tupou1 with . King Tupou 1 , he was blessed cause his will was of the fathers will . I bet he went through the story of king neduchadnezzar and was bless by the Holy Spirit of how to make his country a kingdom forever . It was by the will of God . But we are slipping Tonga . Let’s come back to Him ! He’s crying out to us . Ezekiel 33:11 ! God bless everyone, his return is near 🙏 let’s praise him, rejoice . Amen
i would love it if you‘d give us your sources. that way i could use this info in academic work, it‘s pretty difficult to find good source material about this topic
Thank you. Hawaii was never a colony of another nation, and therefore was never colonized. An interesting item you mentioned is that the King claimed all land for the King. Pretty much the same thing happened in Hawaii with the King assigning 99% of the land to the Alii. Tongans are wonderful people. I had Mormon Tongan friends in Salt Lake City. It is too bad that their economy is only ~ $1billion annual GDP which is related to their isolation and independence I would assume. By comparison, Hawaii enjoys an annual GDP ~ $95billion, mostly related to their partnership and attachment to the USA.
Hawaii was Annexed by the US which is the Same thing. Tonga and Hawaii historically are of similar size with Tonga even being the more powerful of the two, but your differences in todays economies is a direct indication of the benefits of colonisation , When i was growing up in Tonga there were still horses and carts (80s) I used to get taken to town on a motorbike with a sidecar attached to it over dirt roads. Colonisation in regards of the European doing it was of huge benefit to those of us in the pacific
WRONG. Polynesians come from the Lapita people. Lapita people came from Asia. They intermixed with the Melanesians while making their way towards Polynesia, hence their skin tones.
Original Polynesians were Lapita, who came from South East Asia. Polynesians only have "black" features because of complex inter-mixing with melanesian genetics (mostly Fiji) Why is there always some nutcase claiming black on every culture?
Tonga signed away power over its foreign policy/affairs to the British Empire and became a British Protectorate in 1900. It wasn't a settler colony but it was a British colonial possession until a few decades ago. Inaccurate to say Tonga 'never lost its sovereignty'. More so that the ruling clique around the Tupous gave it away willingly in order to modernise Tonga (since their state was the first modern state to exist in the region).
Ok these narrative accurate from 2nd Dynasty during which time this civil war flared out to Eastern Polynesia,the tribal cleansing caused by succession disputes one faction invaded Savaii forced a migration to Tahiti,conflict ends on Rarotonga failed invasion of a fleet estimated to be of 20 thousand warriors ends on Niue scorched Earth to wipe out the rest fleets ,this invasion stopped by Raiatea Alliance of Avaiki Nui...as first discovery of Rarotonga made,during and under the first kingdom Papa first king,all hell broke loose after he's death ,one huge and major reasons of mass Exodus to Eastern Polynesia.....
@@originalclaymoreboy728 Scared to fight? Far from that, he was strategic. While other Pacific islands were playing checkers, King George Tupou was playing Chess. Most importantly, when you give it to God, he will do the rest.
Great job. There’s one very important event that made all of that possible and that was Tuku Fonua ‘I Pouono. ua-cam.com/video/t1W1cTfOluc/v-deo.html That is the crowning event in the history of Tonga. Ko e 'Otua mo Tonga ko hoku Tofi'a Ofa Atu
Without exception, any country that had British colonization/influence benefitted greatly. The countries with most colonial influence became the richest (and still are) and those that did not were the poorest. Did he really help Tonga in any way? Probably not.
Lol. You talking about a small island in the middle of the Pacific with a population of roughly a 100 thousand becoming rich like the other countries that were colonized is asinine. Come on man, how tf were they going to become a rich country?
I was thinking that Tonga has no natural resources, no strategic vantage points. I’m sure European powers didn’t pressure this island nation purely because they had a monarchy etc… there was no real benefit .
Tonga was never owned or occupied in history also majority of their people are full blooded polynesians unlike samoa if the king didnt do this they would of slaughtered our people and forced our woman to breed with their men like they did to the other poly island
@Tomi, Tonga (also known as Tonga Eiki) has never been a colony. Very fortunate to not lose our land & human rights to foreigners. However, Britain quickly made a treaty of friendship & protectorate with Tonga, which in turn allowed them to represent Tonga if other foreign nations approached us. There were many positives & negatives to Tonga’s relationship with the British.
@Box, Yeah for sure tokz. These are the ones I can think of right now. 1. The removal of some Tongan cultural practices & in turn, losing a part of who we were. 2, Though I know the treaty of friendship & protectorate was great, it did stop Tonga from having any external affairs with other foreign nations. It could’ve benefited us, maybe. 3, Influenza hits Tonga in 1918. Many are infected & killed. 4. Tongans are affected by Blackbirding. Captured & taken as slaves somewhere in South America. I guess it could’ve been worst, but those are the negatives I can think of since our first interaction with British people. Let me know your thoughts toko. Probably more positives than negatives?
Tonga was not colonized because it did not have what the colonizer wanted which was I.e fertile farming land, mineral resources or any other specific type of wealth for that matter. Also the climate didn't suite Europeans,not because of any military tactics or great war leaders with all due respect had it had any of the above you could bet your bottom dollar the brittish would have rocked up with there war machine and took over but never did because it was not worth the resources time or effort. It was basically a very small blip on the radar.
That's what I thought too. All that hard work done by Taufa'ahau and Pita Vi in vein? The whole purpose of keeping Tongan land for Tongan people and now the chinese on our shores?
Yes China pretty much owns parts of Tonga. China came in and offered to help Tonga with their infrastructure. Now Tonga can't repay so instead they give China land. Now China owns these lands in Tonga and are now slowly turning parts of Tonga into little China. You can see a bunch of China flags waving all over parts of Tonga. It's pretty sad. Bunch of Chinese people living there and can speak better Tongan then the natives.
Kinda sad that they couldn't keep their traditions and religion. I wonder if this Polynesian Empire that existed before could've existed until today, would be nice since the title of emperor is greater than that of king and would've unified the peoples of Polynesia more, but I don't know if they speak a mutual understandable polycentric language, so perhaps it's better it ended up like that. Anyway, that's a great video. Nice to see some history other than western ones. The first king also has a great beard btw, fr, fr, on god
Ummm we do still keep some of our traditions just not the sacrificial stuff and offerings. Those were ones of the old traditions that was done back in the days and it was stopped.
@@Alisi437 Yeah, my bad, I should've just stated the religion. AFAIK most Tongans are Christians and don't honor the old Gods anymore that are similar to the Gods of Hawaiʻi
You are living in a fantasy my friend . We live in a time vastly different from then and our lives are better off now than then by far. My ancestors are Tu'i Kanokupolu that elite class of Tongan warrior blood is in my veins and I am fiercely proud of the exploits of my ancestors especially in the huge battles in the Fijian Islands.........but the reality of things is Tongans were Brutal in the extreme to their conquered peoples and were cruel overlords . They were well known for their violence . The Samoans have many tales of anguish at their time when we ruled over them , our tu'i tonga lived there then and the Samoans rebelled against us and kicked us out of Samoa , Their war cheifs Tuna and Fata from Savai'i fought the Tongans and the Tu'i Tonga barely escaped with his life onto a retreating war canoe , The Cheeky Emperor then turned around and shouted back at the Samoans Malie Malie MalieToa. ' Bravo bravo well fought brave warrior' and that is why the Samoan Cheif line today is called 'Malie Toa'
@@asusorion4756 Not quite sure what your point is but I think you're trying to say that the Tuʻi Tonga Empire shouldn't continue because it couldn't handle the Samoans? Correct me if I'm wrong please. Anyhow, I do of course not like murder, but it shouldn't be ignored that murder can lead to good things like the uniting of a common people as seen in the case of Germany and Italy in 1871.
@@Alisi437 Ok, now I know this is late, but I think I understand your reply now. I thought you were talking about the culture and not the ethnic religion, but it seems like you were talking about anga fakatonga where people still practice the pre Abrahamic religion
Just Tonga has been small enough without any natural recourses so has not been interesting for the imperial interests of UK and US. Hawaii was much bigger but US wanted it, killed the nobility and forces he natives to vote to "become part of US"
You forgot to mention the most important factors. There was nothing of great value for the colonial powers to exploit. No deep ports, no minerals, and a small land mass not suitable for large scale plantations.
One man saved Tonga from colonization??.....you need to do your research deep into the history of Tonga!!! Colonization was already spreading to the Pacific region long before the Taufa'ahau's era. Ancient Tu'i Tonga rulers fought & kept Tonga as powerful, independent solvent & gained it's territory throughout the Pacific for many centuries!! Until the British disguised itself with their religion and converted Taufa'ahau. The French brought catholic & preached The last Tu'i Tonga so he became as their own. Their involvement created such so called "civil war" among its people of Tonga. Tonga (from per history) has never ever be & will not be colonized!! We are the Ethiopia in the Pacific from our forefathers before & beyond....& Definitely not just ONE Man!!!
There was nothing to gain from tonga really the British saw no value because even if they did the tongans would never have stood a chance against the British Empire..they would have made the hyped up tui tonga look like child's play. So the tongan king bent his bum because he did not want to fight like the rest of his poly brothers now look at tonga😂 not looking good.
You sound like a bitter hating Polynesian. Bro, just say you big mad we were never conquered. We fought everyone that came to our shore and chased them away. Those who made it on land was tossed in a pit and eaten. Don't speak on my country when you have no idea what you're talking about. We are the last Polynesian monarchy for a reason so don't down play my people.
I'm just sick of tongans claiming they had rule over all the islands😂😂 your rule was only parts of Fiji, samoa uvea. Tongas empire never went past niue😂
@@originalclaymoreboy728nigga we ruled NIUE too till they chased us out lol. In the Easter island the bottom of the moai statues are wearing “Ta’ovalas” just like we Tongans do Romo this day past down for hundreds of years 💯💯. Don’t believe me google it up CUH
@@godlordcolin it has a larger land mass and perfect climate, used mainly for sugar cane farming plantations sugar was massive business in the 1800s, and this was the main reason for mini colonisation as British pioneers didn't deem it suitable to live and farm there due to warm climate
King Tupou 1 dedicated The Kingdom of Tonga to God Jehovah… the God of Israel - Abraham, Isaac & Jacob - and that is why Tonga was and will never be Colonised by a foreign nation! 🙏🙏🙏 “KOE OTUA MO TONGA KO HOKU TOFI’A” 👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️ “GOD AND TONGA ARE MY INHERITANCE” 👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️
Polynesian history is extremely under appreciated
I've always wanted to do more research on the history of Polynesia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but sadly there's not much info out there
@@PeruvianPotatoMaori and Hawaiians have more documented history from that time period if you'd like
@@BarHawait’s kanaka Maoli not Hawaiian
@@kanoawai relax bro you know what it denotes
@@BarHawa not what we’re called boy
As a Tongan its nice seeing people talk about our culture and history even though Polynesian history isn't shared alot i think lots of people like our culture
Not to mention, King Tupou 1 took the time to learn the English language, read, and write learning the white mans way of life and government. In doing so, he discovered that the power of the pen would be more powerful than the spear and figured out how they worked in the modern world undermining foreign powers from taking over. He is my 5th year grandfather and I found this out at the royal family reunion. He was beyond his time. Thank you for sharing this video! 💯
My grandfather was Tongan, so it’s nice to see our culture taught and represented!
awe 😘😘😘
Not a bad video on Tonga’s history. Would’ve been better if you had discussed the Tongan missionary Pita Vi’s interaction with our King Taufa’hau & how the King’s test of Pita Vi lead him to be Christian. Quite misleading thinking Taufa’ahau was just openly Christian from the start.
I did say a little bit about how he was baptized, but you're right more detail is needed.
Here's the basic story:
In 1828, Taufa‘āhau, though not yet Christian, liked the work the missionaries were doing in educating the people in Nuku'alofa and wanted the same for Ha'apai. As such, he asked the mission to send over an English missionary. This would require approval from the wider church though, so instead they picked Pita Vi, likely the first native Tongan preacher. When Taufa‘āhau came back to Tongatapu expecting an English missionary in 1829, he was disappointed, and returned to Ha'apai without Pita Vi. On the way though, he encountered a massive storm, which he interpreted as a sign from God that he should have taken Pita Vi with him. He promptly came back to Tongatapu to get Pita Vi, who would come to be a great influence on him.
Later on, on a different voyage with Pita Vi, Taufa‘āhau saw a shark. He believed it to be an incarnation of a traditional god, and so to determine this he threw a spear at it. When the spear missed, he figured it probably was a god. As a further test though, he asked Pita Vi to get the spear and swim to shore, thinking that if he could get back safely the Christian God must be real. When he did, Taufa‘āhau soon decided to convert.
Thanks for the comment!
Sorry if I sounded harsh, this video was awesome. People just don’t understand how important Pita Vi’s role in changing Tonga’s future was. He’s a very famous & respected figure here in Tonga ‘Eiki. I appreciate you explaining the story though. Much thanks & Ofaz.
@@renegade9064
Most Excellent Thread ! ❤️
@@NA-ge3ll
Can you please write more on Tongan History in connection to Christianity !
Please ! Write Anything !
It’ll be Worth it !!!
@@Christian-Roots818 ua-cam.com/video/t1W1cTfOluc/v-deo.html
Currently studying John Wesley and the impact he had on transforming Britain. It’s awesome to see how one man’s legacy was also able to change an entire nation 10,000 miles away. Anyway, great video! Love this sort of content.
Interested in your studies Jonathan, of Wesley because his revival in Britain was very close to rhus time
Great video! One thing that's hard for me to explain to Tongans is the fact that were only independent domestically. When Britain made us a protectorate, it took away our ability to enter and maintain diplomatic relations with other countries, which stripped us of our external independence (which is what matters to foreign powers). This also meant that we were not considered a State in modern international law, since the ability to establish diplomatic relationships is one of the Montevideo criteria for Statehood. This lasted until the end of the protectorate era in 1970.
here we go, another know it all, what your saying is true but remeber Queen Salote removed that treaty and Tonga can deal with whomever.
With all do respect this a UA-cam video not a history class homework where you gotta write an essay on this 😂. Let me go back in time n ask king tupou the 1st what happened n I'll come back n tell y'all about it 😂😂
@@doudaddy8522 no need, just do some research as its readily available information
Here we go with the hating cuz they’re colonized today lmfao bad deals gone wrong 😂🤣💩
Nationalistic Tongans and in the comments 😂😂
I'm curious, you either have Tongan acquaintances or you watch alot of Tongan related content because your pronunciations of the Tongan names are good compared to other videos I've seen. Great job!
Good stuff man. Definitely subscribed.
Keep up this format and you’ll do great
Great video! Straight to the point and very informative.
Tonga is a beautiful country. The only kingdom in existence in the south pacific. I have blood links in Tonga too. 👍
They are heavily influenced by the British royalties though..Tonga is a poor country poor in today's world yes but us Polynesians only ever needed to live off the land. So tongan royalty suck money out of their people for their own gain..it's sad really.
Based
@@originalclaymoreboy728 L comment
Tonga is not the only kingdom is the South Pacific. The French colony of Wallis and Futuna consists of three kingdoms, Uvea, Sigave and Alo. There is also Tuvalu and New Zealand.
@@Dunsapieand NONE of them exist anymore 😂
Tonga! the most hated in the Pacific. To see our other island families discredit us is just sickening, and at the forefront of that is many of our Samoan brothers. While all of the pacific whore out their culture and change it up to cater to the world, only Tonga WILLINGLY turned to God....When our bros and sisters gonna learn that our culture, is for us by us!
Nah I don’t think we’re the most hated. I would say Tonga may be in fact one of the most misunderstood. I would say in all my years: Samoa is the most arrogant. Not all of them. They can be very competitive and can be very insecure. Always having the need to feel like they’re on top looking over at other’s turf/territory. They have the loaf of bread and still unsatisfactory meanwhile the rest of the island nations are okay with their one slice. And it’s almost never enough. It can be very frustrating coz you wanna shake the living daylights out of them and say “You guys are perfect as you are! You’re doing great! please stop!” Something in the bloodline for them to be wired differently, could be the palangi blood in the mix. Or it could be the rooted generational trauma in fight mode constantly. Beautiful as they are and hella resilient, but a lot of the island countries would agree. They just won’t come out with it as I do.
Always bring up samoa to be little on.. Get over it.. Both cultures are cursed thats why the people in the islands have lost their minds from ego and pride. Repent and seek Jesus thats the main thing.
Matthew 16:26 For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his own soul.
@@TheKingsArmor samoa is definitely more arrogant then most islands.
@@Taemahino78903 that’s why they were colonised 🤣🤣
Too much the Tongan whanau... 💯❤ peace n aroha from Aotearoa ✌❤
I am a descendent of the Tu'i Kanokupolu warriors and take great pride in the fact that my ancestors were the Veteran Elite troops that were called back from the Fiji wars and settled on the border during the Civil war . In Saying that Colonization is not a bad thing to be saved from the other Pacific peoples have benefitted greatly from the time under European rule. What Secured our sovereignty was not our military might but the Benevolence and friendship of the British in protecting us Militarily while letting us rule ourselves . If Britain had wanted too they could of easily have subjugated us but they did not and helped us modernise without exploiting us . This is the real reason and we owe thanks. The friendship between our royal families extended into this century with our own Queen Salote and The British Queen Elizabeth being great friends.
They even ruled the polynesian triangle for a long time after conquering their neighboring islands who were fierce warriors in their own rights (samoa,tuvalu,some parts of fiji) the royal lineage of Hawaii can trace back their origins to the tui tonga empire.
Stop it!
@@narutoxx2166 omg you staaaahp it.
Hawaiian royal family tongan how? Ive only read of their samoan connection even mentioned in one book written by a Hawaiian king. And Tongan "rule" in samoa was for the reign of 1 king on 1 side of 1 island (upolu)
if it was true, we will be speaking tongan, yet we don't
@@uriels4097 I never said y'all came from Tonga (which is why you can't speak tongan) what I am talking about is the royal bloodline of the hawaiians came from Tahiti and as we all know the tahitian royalties descended from tui tonga. They did not come from Tonga however you can TRACE their bloodline back to Tonga.
He used Christianity to subjugate his people and colonise their minds. Tongan culture is so intertwined with this religion that it's almost impossible to separate the two. A very smart King indeed.
Christianity has its downfalls but it is still an improvement in the older religions in Tonga it replaced alot of us raised in the west have replaced that Religion with the modern moralistic ways of thinking of Modernity which are an improvement on Christianity but also has flaws. Saying that us that think like we do should not condemn Christianity as It served as a moral compass that was the best around at that time. our modern morality is largely based on Christian values and judgemental of it is about as hypocritical of those early Tongans that accepted the Lotu condeming and hating on the practices of the old religions
Based Tonga, keep the monarchy
thousands of years of hereditary monarchy, and still no solution to the problem of what to do when the king's son is a moron
Lol, 😅, fools saying Tonga wasn't colonized cause it had no value to the Western powers. Tuvalu, Uvea, Futuna, heck, even Pictairn Island, smaller dots in the middle of the pacific ocean with even less value was taken by the Western imperialists in the late 1800s. These islands were much smaller than Tonga. The real reason Tonga wasn't colonized was because it established a constitution in 1875, managed to fool Germany into a binding protection agreement in exchange for copra stations in Vavau and Ha'apai; thereby causing problems for England during the dividing up of Samoa and the rest of the South Pacific in the early 1900s. In other words, Tongans outsmarted their bigger enemies. The Tongan royal family also allied with the British Royal family at a time when monarchies were being phased out in the early 20th Century. This drew the European royals into a alliance to protect the Tongan monarchy since they were all part of a dying club. Other royal families, like Japan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia etc, have also joined the global royal alliance today. This would not have been possible for Tonga had King George I not understood the bigger world picture in the 1870s. King Kalakaua understood it too late. Samoa had no unifying royal family. There's your difference. 🙂
AND STILL A KINGDOM 🤣😂🤣 LAST OF THE REAL u wish your king could've saved your your lil ahh dot 🤣😂🤣
Basically saved Tonga from colonization by colonizing themselves 😹😹
Se fuameeks y’all was our slaves and then the Germans, Palagis and Segas ran up in y’all that’s why y’all look like big Filipinos lol
🇹🇴 STILL A KINGDOM who holds power over your lil ASS island🤣😂🤣
Very good video, I've subscribed
great video my dude you should make more.
Tonga remained a kingdom because it accepted British protectorate.
Unfortunately people don't understand this part of colonisation.my country too was a protectorate and didn't suffer shit during the whole time.(not justifying colonialism)
Exactly. How would Tongans have reacted to the super powers attacking them? Look at Samoa fought all the super powers till the end and kicked them out.
@@wambokodavid7109tonga was never a colony
@@JP-tb8pq Tonga would of suffered like samoa but instead no palangi ever killed tongan people and owned tongan land so thanks to our king!
@@boxcuber didn't say it was.i was just trying to shed light on being a protectorate.and it's difference from a colony .
Thank you for this .
Thank you to God our Father
He kept us a kingdom with knowledge he blessed king Tupou1 with .
King Tupou 1 , he was blessed cause his will was of the fathers will .
I bet he went through the story of king neduchadnezzar and was bless by the Holy Spirit of how to make his country a kingdom forever . It was by the will of God .
But we are slipping Tonga . Let’s come back to Him ! He’s crying out to us . Ezekiel 33:11 !
God bless everyone, his return is near 🙏 let’s praise him, rejoice . Amen
Yes, the Living God saved Tonga.
Great video and not bad pronunciation either, if you don't mind me asking where are you from? Don't sound kiwi or aussie so I'm guessing american?
Yup! From New York.
i would love it if you‘d give us your sources. that way i could use this info in academic work, it‘s pretty difficult to find good source material about this topic
Very informative thanku 😊 🤙
Thanks for Your Presentations
Yeah bro, i'm Related to Shirley Baker, that's my dads Great Grandfather.
Thank you. Hawaii was never a colony of another nation, and therefore was never colonized. An interesting item you mentioned is that the King claimed all land for the King. Pretty much the same thing happened in Hawaii with the King assigning 99% of the land to the Alii. Tongans are wonderful people. I had Mormon Tongan friends in Salt Lake City. It is too bad that their economy is only ~ $1billion annual GDP which is related to their isolation and independence I would assume. By comparison, Hawaii enjoys an annual GDP ~ $95billion, mostly related to their partnership and attachment to the USA.
Hawaii was Annexed by the US which is the Same thing. Tonga and Hawaii historically are of similar size with Tonga even being the more powerful of the two, but your differences in todays economies is a direct indication of the benefits of colonisation , When i was growing up in Tonga there were still horses and carts (80s) I used to get taken to town on a motorbike with a sidecar attached to it over dirt roads. Colonisation in regards of the European doing it was of huge benefit to those of us in the pacific
Tonga still has it’s traditional culture even though it has embraced the true faith
The two are not mutually exclusive
This guy needs more subscribers
Wonderful ❤❤❤❤❤
That guy looks Fijian.
Yeah all the Pacific don t know the hiding truth about there ancient starting point come through Fijian lineage
Tongans are fijians different districts far apart from each other
Love to know more on the history about the ancient Tu'i's dynasties around the Pacific. Very interesting!
Very interesting.
Great upload
I believe Tongans and Samoans were once black like Fijians.
same but more dark brown
As can clearly see, original Polynesians were Black before mixing with Asians.
WRONG. Polynesians come from the Lapita people. Lapita people came from Asia. They intermixed with the Melanesians while making their way towards Polynesia, hence their skin tones.
Original Polynesians were Lapita, who came from South East Asia. Polynesians only have "black" features because of complex inter-mixing with melanesian genetics (mostly Fiji) Why is there always some nutcase claiming black on every culture?
Tonga signed away power over its foreign policy/affairs to the British Empire and became a British Protectorate in 1900. It wasn't a settler colony but it was a British colonial possession until a few decades ago. Inaccurate to say Tonga 'never lost its sovereignty'. More so that the ruling clique around the Tupous gave it away willingly in order to modernise Tonga (since their state was the first modern state to exist in the region).
Ok these narrative accurate from 2nd Dynasty during which time this civil war flared out to Eastern Polynesia,the tribal cleansing caused by succession disputes one faction invaded Savaii forced a migration to Tahiti,conflict ends on Rarotonga failed invasion of a fleet estimated to be of 20 thousand warriors ends on Niue scorched Earth to wipe out the rest fleets ,this invasion stopped by Raiatea Alliance of Avaiki Nui...as first discovery of Rarotonga made,during and under the first kingdom Papa first king,all hell broke loose after he's death ,one huge and major reasons of mass Exodus to Eastern Polynesia.....
Are you saying that Eastern Polynesia was settled as a result of civil war?
King Tonga, Haku brought me here!
The people of Tonga were colonizers themselves but lost most of their power in time.
Yeah and king george tupou knew what it was like to colonize so he bent his arse because he was scared to fight.
@@originalclaymoreboy728 Scared to fight? Far from that, he was strategic. While other Pacific islands were playing checkers, King George Tupou was playing Chess. Most importantly, when you give it to God, he will do the rest.
Tongan not slave to the other country
Cool place
Taufa’ahau looks like one of my cousins lol
King George Tupou I looks like a melanesian...hes a black man. More melanin than most current Tongans
Difference in diets - when the british came, they brought Jesus and flour and rice and sugar etc.
Always thought Tonga was near Hawaii
Tonga means South in many Polynesian tongues, Culturally they are close geographically they are far
Its wasn't baker. It was rev Pita Vi.
Great job. There’s one very important event that made all of that possible and that was Tuku Fonua ‘I Pouono.
ua-cam.com/video/t1W1cTfOluc/v-deo.html
That is the crowning event in the history of Tonga.
Ko e 'Otua mo Tonga ko hoku Tofi'a
Ofa Atu
Without exception, any country that had British colonization/influence benefitted greatly. The countries with most colonial influence became the richest (and still are) and those that did not were the poorest. Did he really help Tonga in any way? Probably not.
Lol. You talking about a small island in the middle of the Pacific with a population of roughly a 100 thousand becoming rich like the other countries that were colonized is asinine. Come on man, how tf were they going to become a rich country?
People forget this but what you say is the truth .
@@EcEryda Look at the differenc between Hawaii and Tonga 9.5billion and 1 billion dollar economies both the same size in the 1800s populationwize
Who really help this man is the most important man for all tongan
The British. but i know you were meaning 'Otua
Yet they praise Jesus...good one
It's Tonga time?
There hasn't been a King of England since 1707. George was King of the United Kingdom, not England.
😅😅😅😅alright, that's actually the end, 😅😅nice video, thank you,
Guys im tonga and king was killed in 18 something
King George of Great Britain.
Is it Tonga time?
I was thinking that Tonga has no natural resources, no strategic vantage points. I’m sure European powers didn’t pressure this island nation purely because they had a monarchy etc… there was no real benefit .
Tonga ☆ Samoa and Maori is from Filipino Taiwan
Wrong ma'i
fakaofa pe mautolu ia,ha hoo hoomou mea ku mau,,ikai ke tukuange kae fklele e hai?ha hono kehekehe?
thanks toko
Oh, I thought any Island with a national Flag was colonized? Hmm.
Tonga Polynesian from Filipino Taiwan
This doesn't sound like he saved Tonga from colonization....it sounds more like he implemented self-colonization, in a sense
Tonga was never owned or occupied in history also majority of their people are full blooded polynesians unlike samoa if the king didnt do this they would of slaughtered our people and forced our woman to breed with their men like they did to the other poly island
@@boxcuber Very interesting info for my research. Many thanks
@Tomi, Tonga (also known as Tonga Eiki) has never been a colony. Very fortunate to not lose our land & human rights to foreigners. However, Britain quickly made a treaty of friendship & protectorate with Tonga, which in turn allowed them to represent Tonga if other foreign nations approached us. There were many positives & negatives to Tonga’s relationship with the British.
@@renegade9064 what were the negatives toko if you dont mind explaining
@Box, Yeah for sure tokz. These are the ones I can think of right now. 1. The removal of some Tongan cultural practices & in turn, losing a part of who we were. 2, Though I know the treaty of friendship & protectorate was great, it did stop Tonga from having any external affairs with other foreign nations. It could’ve benefited us, maybe. 3, Influenza hits Tonga in 1918. Many are infected & killed. 4. Tongans are affected by Blackbirding. Captured & taken as slaves somewhere in South America.
I guess it could’ve been worst, but those are the negatives I can think of since our first interaction with British people. Let me know your thoughts toko. Probably more positives than negatives?
The Langi 🌳. Grave.
Hufunga lead me to Tonga 🙏🏽
The Fuatapu how we Accomodate George 1770.
All the same bloodline
Ofa atu❤
Tonga was not colonized because it did not have what the colonizer wanted which was I.e fertile farming land, mineral resources or any other specific type of wealth for that matter. Also the climate didn't suite Europeans,not because of any military tactics or great war leaders with all due respect had it had any of the above you could bet your bottom dollar the brittish would have rocked up with there war machine and took over but never did because it was not worth the resources time or effort. It was basically a very small blip on the radar.
Watch video tuku fonua.
Isn’t Tonga in debt to China though? Call me out if I’m wrong but I heard Tonga is financially in debt to China.
That's what I thought too. All that hard work done by Taufa'ahau and Pita Vi in vein? The whole purpose of keeping Tongan land for Tongan people and now the chinese on our shores?
@@kOt985 maybe the Monarch has a plan? I know nothing about politics in Tonga it’s just things we hear about in U.S.
Yes China pretty much owns parts of Tonga. China came in and offered to help Tonga with their infrastructure. Now Tonga can't repay so instead they give China land. Now China owns these lands in Tonga and are now slowly turning parts of Tonga into little China. You can see a bunch of China flags waving all over parts of Tonga. It's pretty sad. Bunch of Chinese people living there and can speak better Tongan then the natives.
@@kasikauvaka6845 we should start a revolution lol
@@kOt985 yeah okay 😂 just ask your king to give his land to the Buddha and their ways they may let you guys off just like the British did.
Kinda sad that they couldn't keep their traditions and religion. I wonder if this Polynesian Empire that existed before could've existed until today, would be nice since the title of emperor is greater than that of king and would've unified the peoples of Polynesia more, but I don't know if they speak a mutual understandable polycentric language, so perhaps it's better it ended up like that.
Anyway, that's a great video. Nice to see some history other than western ones.
The first king also has a great beard btw, fr, fr, on god
Ummm we do still keep some of our traditions just not the sacrificial stuff and offerings. Those were ones of the old traditions that was done back in the days and it was stopped.
@@Alisi437
Yeah, my bad, I should've just stated the religion. AFAIK most Tongans are Christians and don't honor the old Gods anymore that are similar to the Gods of Hawaiʻi
You are living in a fantasy my friend . We live in a time vastly different from then and our lives are better off now than then by far. My ancestors are Tu'i Kanokupolu that elite class of Tongan warrior blood is in my veins and I am fiercely proud of the exploits of my ancestors especially in the huge battles in the Fijian Islands.........but the reality of things is Tongans were Brutal in the extreme to their conquered peoples and were cruel overlords . They were well known for their violence . The Samoans have many tales of anguish at their time when we ruled over them , our tu'i tonga lived there then and the Samoans rebelled against us and kicked us out of Samoa , Their war cheifs Tuna and Fata from Savai'i fought the Tongans and the Tu'i Tonga barely escaped with his life onto a retreating war canoe , The Cheeky Emperor then turned around and shouted back at the Samoans Malie Malie MalieToa. ' Bravo bravo well fought brave warrior' and that is why the Samoan Cheif line today is called 'Malie Toa'
@@asusorion4756
Not quite sure what your point is but I think you're trying to say that the Tuʻi Tonga Empire shouldn't continue because it couldn't handle the Samoans? Correct me if I'm wrong please.
Anyhow, I do of course not like murder, but it shouldn't be ignored that murder can lead to good things like the uniting of a common people as seen in the case of Germany and Italy in 1871.
@@Alisi437
Ok, now I know this is late, but I think I understand your reply now. I thought you were talking about the culture and not the ethnic religion, but it seems like you were talking about anga fakatonga where people still practice the pre Abrahamic religion
God is coming back soon pls all repent of your sins
Just Tonga has been small enough without any natural recourses so has not been interesting for the imperial interests of UK and US.
Hawaii was much bigger but US wanted it, killed the nobility and forces he natives to vote to "become part of US"
Get your facts right! Never conquered Vava'u. Without the Vava'u chiefs help, he would never had become king!!!
Nope In a way it was still colonized through the church
Fakaaue lahi 🙏🏾 🇳🇺 🤎
You forgot to mention the most important factors. There was nothing of great value for the colonial powers to exploit. No deep ports, no minerals, and a small land mass not suitable for large scale plantations.
King George looks more Melanesian. So those are the pure Tongans before they intermarried with Asians and Europeans in the 1900s?!
Tonga and Samoan a black from Africa 🌍
Maybe your family,not ours lol
Is he black
No he's not maybe he has melenesian bloodline that's why he looks black
His fijian Tongan house of falefisi
One man saved Tonga from colonization??.....you need to do your research deep into the history of Tonga!!! Colonization was already spreading to the Pacific region long before the Taufa'ahau's era. Ancient Tu'i Tonga rulers fought & kept Tonga as powerful, independent solvent & gained it's territory throughout the Pacific for many centuries!! Until the British disguised itself with their religion and converted Taufa'ahau. The French brought catholic & preached The last Tu'i Tonga so he became as their own. Their involvement created such so called "civil war" among its people of Tonga. Tonga (from per history) has never ever be & will not be colonized!! We are the Ethiopia in the Pacific from our forefathers before & beyond....& Definitely not just ONE Man!!!
white washed
When did captain cook landed there
October 2nd, 1773. Thanks for watching!
About 2 weeks ago.
@@staceybloomfield3452 lol
Colonization by the missionary
Two men saved Tonga for colonialism, Shirley Baker and Siaosi Tupou 1, get it right
Why taufa hau look like a fijian?
Fijian descendant from verata tribe which colonized whole of vanualevu and eastern part up to Tonga during. 1700
There was nothing to gain from tonga really the British saw no value because even if they did the tongans would never have stood a chance against the British Empire..they would have made the hyped up tui tonga look like child's play. So the tongan king bent his bum because he did not want to fight like the rest of his poly brothers now look at tonga😂 not looking good.
Self hating coconut, not a good look
You sound like a bitter hating Polynesian. Bro, just say you big mad we were never conquered. We fought everyone that came to our shore and chased them away. Those who made it on land was tossed in a pit and eaten. Don't speak on my country when you have no idea what you're talking about. We are the last Polynesian monarchy for a reason so don't down play my people.
I'm just sick of tongans claiming they had rule over all the islands😂😂 your rule was only parts of Fiji, samoa uvea. Tongas empire never went past niue😂
@@originalclaymoreboy728nigga we ruled NIUE too till they chased us out lol. In the Easter island the bottom of the moai statues are wearing “Ta’ovalas” just like we Tongans do Romo this day past down for hundreds of years 💯💯. Don’t believe me google it up CUH
Dude Tongans survived colonization because it was of no value, if Tonga had diamonds, best believe they would be colonized
True 🙄😂 but Fiji was colonized because of gold and there natural resources
@@godlordcolin it has a larger land mass and perfect climate, used mainly for sugar cane farming plantations sugar was massive business in the 1800s, and this was the main reason for mini colonisation as British pioneers didn't deem it suitable to live and farm there due to warm climate
King Tupou 1 dedicated The Kingdom of Tonga to God Jehovah… the God of Israel - Abraham, Isaac & Jacob - and that is why Tonga was and will never be Colonised by a foreign nation!
🙏🙏🙏
“KOE OTUA MO TONGA KO HOKU TOFI’A”
👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️
“GOD AND TONGA ARE MY INHERITANCE”
👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️