A quick day and a half sail westwards from Niue, and Oso eases into a calm anchorage behind a low sandy island in Tonga. Another passage – another country!
One of the northwesternmost archipelagos in Polynesia, Tonga has been populated for more than 3000 years. In the early 1600s, noted Dutch explorers Schouten, Le Maire, and Tasman became the first European explorers to set foot on the islands, making landfalls in three of the four island groups (and even renaming the main island Amsterdam).
It took another 130 years for a repeat European visit, this time by Captain Cook on his second Pacific voyage in 1773. Cook was so enamored with the islands that he stopped again on his return voyage from New Zealand in 1774, and returned for a third visit in 1777. Impressed with the hospitality he was shown, he dubbed the archipelago the “Friendly Islands”.
His third arrival conveniently coincided with a large festival, and the locals invited Cook and his men to attend. Little did he know, behind the scenes the Tongan chief was plotting to kidnap and murder Cook in order to loot his ships. The plan was never executed, but the island’s moniker stuck and is still used in promotional material today.
Tonga is the lone country in the South Pacific that avoided colonization by any European powers, although it did become a British protectorate between 1900 and 1970. Today, about 100,000 Tongans live in the country, with 70% on the main island of Tongatapu and the rest scattered among the three other island groups, Ha’apai, Vava’u, and Niuatoputapu.
The crew is looking forward to some exploration!
