Tonga

Tonga, or Friendly Islands, constitutional monarchy in the South Pacific. The kingdom comprises over 150 islands of which the chief groups are Tongatapu, Háapai, and Vaváu. The climate is tropical. The capital is Nukùalofa on Tongatapu. The population is mainly Polynesian, with a small number of Europeans. The economy is agricultural, with copra, banana, and vanilla the chief exports. Promising petroleum deposits were located near Tongatapu in 1977. The islands were discovered in 1616 by the Dutch explorer Jakob Lemaire and later visited by Abel Tasman (1643), and James Cook (1773), who named them the Friendly Islands. The present kingdom was founded in 1845 by George Tupou I and became a British protectorate in 1900. It achieved independence in 1970. The present king (since 1965) is Taufaahau Tupou IV.