Tonga - An Island Monarchy Trivia Quiz

Answer: 25% (a quarter)

Tonga is an archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean and lies just to the west of the International Date Line. It is one of the first nations, thus, to celebrate New Year when it comes around. About 40 of the 170-or-so islands (or, 24%) in the archipelago are inhabited permanently by humans.

Many of the islands are either too small or too low to maintain a permanent settlement independently.

Answer: The Ring of Fire

The Pacific Ring of Fire goes in a horseshoe shape around the Pacific Ocean from the southern tip of Chile north along the South American west coast, the North American West coast, through the Aleutian Islands, south through Japan to Indonesia. There it turns east through New Guinea and around Tonga it heads south once again before culminating just to the south of New Zealand.

The Pacific tectonic plate is one of the heaviest and is responsible for much seismic activity. Mount St. Helens in the USA, Llaima Volcano in Chile and Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines are but a handful of the active volcanoes that have recently erupted in the Ring of Fire. Mount Fuji in Japan and Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Russia are a few other well-known volcanoes that are a part of this notorious chain.

Many of the islands of Tonga are volcanic in nature.

Answer: limestone

Because of the volcanic nature of the area, many of the islands of Tonga are dormant or extinct volcanoes and are made of igneous rock formed when magma erupted to the surface and cooled. However, these conditions were favourable to coral growth. Years upon years of coral growth in the area left many limestone deposits and some of these were thrust upwards and out of the water of the ocean forming limestone islands.

The abundance of coral brings with it many other marine animals, and over time, shells, bones, and other natural deposits form a calcium carbonate covering. Later, this formerly-organic deposit can form into limestone.

Answer: It has no name

The island of Kao is, in fact, the peak of a volcano. At approximately 1030 meters above sea level, it is the highest point in all of Tonga, however, the place itself has no name. The volcano itself is dormant, but, potentially active. Nevertheless, volcanic activity hasn't been seen on the island for a while. Kao itself is uninhabited primarily because of the very steep 35-degree slopes.

The lowest point in Tonga is obviously the Pacific Ocean adjacent to no particular island.

Answer: Friendly Islands

Captain James Cook was certainly not the first European explorer to reach Tonga, however, his arrival was fortuitous in that it coincided with a festival. He arrived in the middle of 'inasi', which is described as a "tribute of yams to the Tu'i Tonga by the chiefs of all of Tonga". The Tu'i Tonga was the high chief of the islands, an office held until the monarchy was established.

Captain Cook found the locals to be very friendly during these festivals. So friendly, that he decided to name Tonga the Friendly Islands. However, the locals may have been a bit too friendly...William Mariner, a British writer living in Tonga claimed that the islanders were, in fact, trying to kill James Cook, but were unable to devise a suitable plan of action. Imagine how the legacy of James Cook would have developed had he ended up as stew.

Answer: Tongatapu

Tongatapu is the home to more than two thirds of Tongan citizens, with most of them living in the capital, Nuku'alofa. The Tongan royal family traditionally has lived here on the island since the establishment of the monarchy. It is also the home to the ancient capital of Tonga, Mu'a, and the burial ground of the ancient tribal chiefs of the island, Langi.

The island was first landed on by a European in 1643 by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (after whom Tasmania, an island in Australia, is named). He called the island t' Eijlandt Amsterdam, as Europeans had a penchant for renaming everything.

Answer: Vanuatu

Tongan, one of two official languages of Tonga (the other being English), is a language from the Polynesian group of languages. Indigenous people from all over the Pacific speak derivatives of that language, and these languages are official languages of several Pacific countries. In New Zealand, for example, it's Māori, in Samoa it's Samoan, and in Fiji it's Bau Fijian.

In Vanuatu, however, the local dialect that's an official language is actually from the Creole family of languages, and, thus, not related to Tongan.

Answer: George

Siaosi (George) Tupou I, or Tāufa'āhau I, was the first monarch of the Kingdom of Tonga which was established in 1875. He was first established as the Tu'i Ha'apai to succeed his father. He got his ambition from his father who tried to become elected as high chief but was snubbed by all the other tribal chiefs. When Tāufa'āhau tried for this same position, he was thwarted when another was made high chief.

Gathering support, Tāufa'āhau made conquest after conquest through shrewd political dealings and several battles. He took control of the entire nation in 1852 and set about enacting policies like the abolition of serfdom and the establishment of Nuku'alofa as the capital (predating to 1845). In 1875 he was crowned King of Tonga and took upon himself the name "Siaosi" which is Tongan for "George".

Answer: Kava

Kava is both the plant and the beverage made from the roots of that plant. It is a traditional Oceanic drink and is used widely in many cultures of the different islands, and extensively in Tonga itself. The drink itself is non-alcoholic, however, it does have several psychoactive components that give you 'interesting' effects.

In Tonga, a club is called a "kalapu" and it's customary to go nightly. Females are usually the ones serving the beverage, and no related male may be in the kalapu - otherwise it's taboo. Customarily, kava is consumed by males only.

Answer: Rivers

'Eua is the only island in the entire kingdom to have a naturally occurring river. It was also the first island to have a bridge, although others have been constructed on other islands since the building of the ones on 'Eua. The island itself is actually not one of the volcanic ones but a limestone-based island. It was one of the first islands discovered by Europeans when Abel Tasman came with his expedition.

As for Internet, Tonga certainly has access and its own top-level domain, ".to".