It was only four days ago that I bragged and crowed that I’d recorded a website visitor from the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. Now, apparently Christmas came a little late on Twelve Mile Circle. Someone just landed here from Tonga! It wasn’t a grab-and-dash either. Our mystery visitor stuck around for three page views. It’s been months, literally months, since I’ve collected two new countries in the same week.
Tonga is an oceanic archipelago east of Fiji. The nation stretches about 800 kilometres over 169 islands, of which 36 are inhabited. There are three primary island groups, Ha’apai, Tongatapu, Vava’u. The capital city Nuku’alofa rests on the northern coast of the island of Tongatapu.
A Truly Tiny Place
It’s a small country. The total land area is only 747 square kilometers. That places it way down on the world list in 189th place. I got this from the CIA World FactBook, a resource I reference frequently because it compares nation sizes to familiar geographic areas (albeit with a U.S. slant). According to them Tonga is about four times the size of the District of Columbia. It’s so small that the United States does not even maintain an embassy there. Consular affairs are handled from Fiji instead.
That’s not much larger than the “Inside the Beltway” portion of the Washington, DC metropolitan area, i.e., the area enclosed by Interstate 495. It really puts things into perspective in my mind. That is tiny, almost inconceivably tiny for an independent nation. Wow.
Also a Kingdom
Every time I examine these first-time visitors I learn something absolutely fascinating about their nation. Maybe I’ll find some point of trivia that resonates with me although perhaps nobody else. Here I discovered that If someone ever dreamed of becoming the king of a tropical archipelago in the South Pacific, this would be the only place where it could probably happen.
Tonga has hereditary royalty and in fact the nation’s full name is the Kingdom of Tonga. It is the only Pacific island nation that retains its indigenous monarch. Tonga never fully bowed to colonial domination. Sure, it remained a British protectorate for much of the 20th Century. However it also retained a level of independence unrivaled by its neighbors. The current monarch, King George Tupou V descends directly from that long unbroken line of Tongan royalty.
Only about 120,000 people live there. Probably a similar number live abroad. They send remittances back to Tonga, a major driver of its economy. Of those who physically inhabit Tonga, about a third of them live in its capital city of Nuku’alofa
My visitor arrived from Nuku’alofa too. The CIA World FactBook estimates that there are only 8,400 Internet users in the entire nation so once again I’m surprised and impressed that a visitor made it to my humble little site. They were looking for information about New Zealand ferries. So, Mr. or Ms. Tonga Visitor, I hope you found what you needed and enjoy your holiday in New Zealand.
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