X-Nico

unusual facts about Tonga


Kiekie

kiekie (clothing) — an ornamental girdle around the hips, especially worn by women in Tonga.


‘Akau‘ola

'Akau'ola, (June 27, 1967 - ) also known as Mapa Faletau, is the current Noble (matāpule, or "working chief") of Taunga in Tonga.

2003 Rugby World Cup – Repechage qualification

The USA and Tonga would eventually qualify through the two positions.

2014 IRB Pacific Nations Cup

With the addition of Samoa, the 2014 title will be contested between Canada, defending champions Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the United States.

Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

The Bishop of Polynesia is currently supported by three suffragan bishops: Bishop Winston Halapua, now the new Bishop of Polynesia, formerly lead the ministry to Polynesians in New Zealand, Bishop Apimeleki Nadoki Qiliho serves Vanua Levu and Taveuni, and Bishop Gabriel Sharma serves Viti Levu West as well as the archdeacons of Suva and Ovalau, Samoa and American Samoa, and Tonga.

Aotsurugi Kenta

Aotsurugi Kenta (born December 16, 1982 as Tebita Rato Taufa) is a former professional sumo wrestler from Tongatapu, Tonga.

Asahiyama stable

During the 1970s the stable was home to six Tongan wrestlers (including Sione Vailahi and Tonga Fifita) recruited by former maegashira Futaseyama, but when he died in 1975 they were caught up in a succession dispute between former maegashira Ryūō and the man who eventually became the new head, former komusubi Wakafutase.

Blue-crowned Lorikeet

The Blue-crowned Lorikeet (Vini australis) is a parrot found throughout the Samoa and Tonga islands and Lau archipelago, including: ʻAlofi, Fotuhaʻa, Fulago, Futuna, Haʻafeva, Niuafoʻou, Moce, Niuē, Ofu, Olosega, Sāmoa, Savaiʻi, Tafahi, Taʻu, Tofua, Tonga, Tungua, ʻUiha, ʻUpolu, Varoa, Vavaʻu, and Voleva.

Bryce Robins

In 2003 he also made the New Zealand Maori team to play Tonga, England and Canada, scoring a try in his sole start playing at second five-eighth in their win against the Canadian All Stars.

Chattering Kingfisher

The species is probably closely related to the white-bellied Collared Kingfishers of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

Chinese in Tonga

There were approximately three or four thousand Chinese people living in Tonga in 2001, thus comprising 3 or 4% of the total Tongan population.

Christian Luerssen

Beitrag zur kenntniss der farnflora der Viti-, Samoa-, Tonga- und Ellice's inseln, 1871 - Contribution to the knowledge of ferns of Viti Levu, Samoa, Tonga and the Ellice Islands.

Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands

The "Friendly Islands" are a name originally given to Tonga by Captain James Cook.

Fiji during the time of Cakobau

He faced opposition, however, from local chiefs who saw him at best as first among equals, and also from the Tongan Prince Enele Ma'afu, who had established himself on the Island of Lakeba in the Lau archipelago in 1848.

Foreign relations of Tonga

Tonga's foreign policy as of January 2009 has been described by Matangi Tonga as "Look East" – namely, as establishing closer diplomatic and economic relations with Asia (which actually lies to the north-west of the Pacific kingdom).

The British explorer James Cook led expeditions to Tonga in 1773, 1774 and 1777.

Ilaisa Ma'asi

Aloisio Ilaisa Ma'asi (born 5 February 1982 in Tofoa, Tonga) is a Tongan rugby union player.

John H. Groberg

When he finally arrived in Tonga, his first assignment was on a remote isolated island called Niuatoputapu, which with neighboring Tafahi, was a place whose contact to the outside world was an occasional telegraph and visiting boat.

Kalindula

In the Southern Province of Zambia, kalindula bands compete to participate in the annual Tonga Music Festival sponsored by Chikuni Radio station.

Largemouth triplefin

The largemouth triplefin, Ucla xenogrammus, is a fish of the family Tripterygiidae and only member of the genus Ucla, found in the Pacific Ocean from Viet Nam, the Philippines, Palau and the Caroline Islands to Papua New Guinea, Australia (including Christmas Island), and the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga, east to American Samoa and Rapa, at depths of between 2 and 41 m.

Live rock

As of August 4, 2008 CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) banned the collection of live rock from Tonga, the Marshall Islands, and the Cook Islands.

Maravi

At its greatest extent, the state included territory from the Tumbuka and Tonga areas to the north to the Lower Shire in the south, and west to Luangwa and Zambezi valleys.

Monuments of Tonga

Malaʻekula became a burial ground following the death of King George Tupou I, the founder of the modern Kingdom of Tonga, in 1893.

Music of Tonga

The Minneapolis-based act consists of eight brothers and sisters whose mother and father had emigrated to the U.S. from Tonga.

Netball in Tonga

In the 1990 Oceania Netball Tournament, Tonga competed along with countries like Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands.

Ngata

The name is also occasionally found in Tonga, where it was the name of a 17th-century leader, the first Tu'i Kanokupolu.

Our Airline

Air Nauru once had a remarkably comprehensive network in the Asia-Pacific, with service to Hong Kong, Kagoshima, Taipei, Okinawa, Singapore, Guam, Saipan, Koror, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Majuro, Tarawa, Honolulu, Honiara, Port Vila, Noumea, Apia, Pago Pago, Nadi, Tonga, Kanton Island, Niue, Raratonga, Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Christmas Island.

Pacific sheath-tailed bat

The Pacific sheath-tailed bat or Polynesian sheath-tailed bat (Emballonura semicaudata) is a species of sac-winged bat in the family Emballonuridae found in American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Micronesia, Palau, Samoa (where it is called pe'a vai, tagiti or pe'ape'a vai), Tonga, and Vanuatu.

Radio Tonga

In the event of local emergencies, such as tropical cyclones, Radio Tonga has been known to stay on the air all night with constant cyclone updates from the Tonga Meteorological Service.

Religion in Tonga

According to the last official census in 1996, 41% of the population of Tonga belonged to the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, 16% to the Roman Catholic Church, 14% to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 12% to the Free Church of Tonga, 17% to other groups.

Rhizophora

The Red Mangrove is the state tree of Delta Amacuro in Venezuela; a dark brown dye can be produced from it, which is used in Tongan ngatu cloth production.

Rugby union in Tonga

Tonga has four main rugby playing islands, Vava'u which produced players like Epi Taione, Ha'apai which produced players like Jonah Lomu, Eua which produced the Vunipola family, (eight brothers who all played for the national team), and Tongatapu the major island in the Tonga island group.

Sam Wills

He has also performed at private functions for the former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and the King of Tonga George Tupou V.

Sammlung für Völkerkunde

The collection consists of approximately 17,000 items and focuses on the South Pacific with the Cook-Forster collection, containing items from Hawaii, Tahiti, Tonga, and New Zealand, and on Siberia and the polar regions with the Baron von Asch collection.

Shilluk people

The Catholic Church was historically assigned the western bank of the Nile and ran missions stations at Lul, Detwoc, Tonga and Yoynyang, while the American Inland Mission ran a mission station at Doleib Hill, located to the south of Malakal on the eastern side of the Nile, but situated on the Sobat river.

Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō

In early 2011 the Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Richard Marles visited Tonga on two occasions and was the first overseas politician to visit Tuʻivakanō since his election.

Sila Puafisi

He was called up to Tonga for the 2013 Autumn Internationals against Romania, France and Wales.

Sione Lātūkefu

"Tonga at Independence and Now", in Brij Lal & Hank Nelson (eds.), Lines Across the Sea: Colonial Inheritance in the Post Colonial Pacific, Brisbane: Pacific History Association, 1995, ISBN 0-646-24640-2; (posthum.)

Sione Sangster Saulala

He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, Politics and Business Management from the University of the South Pacific, and a Diploma in Education from the Tonga Teaching Training College.

Soviet Union–Tonga relations

Tonga's move to establish relations with the USSR immediately followed Australia's refusal to finance the modernisation and expansion of Fuaʻamotu International Airport, and was widely perceived in Australia as a means deployed by the Tongan government to pressure the West into increasing its aid to Tonga.

The Australian government thereupon announced that it would finance the airport's upgrade after all and, in 1977, increased its overall economic aid to Tonga (from A$406,000 to over A$1,000,000), before opening a High Commission in Nukuʻalofa in 1980.

Tevita Finau

Born in Hamilton, New Zealand, to Tolu and Takinima Finau, he lived in Maui until he was eight, in Tonga from years 8 to 12, and in Hawaii until he finished high school.

The Girl Guides Association of the Kingdom of Tonga

Guiding was started in Tonga at the instigation of Queen Salote in 1952, and the first companies were formed on the island of Tongatapu.

Tonga at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Tonga qualified a place in the men's singles when Bruno Banani finished in the top 38 (with a maximum of three per nation qualifying) during the 2013–14 Luge World Cup.

Tonga at the Olympics

Tonga became the smallest independent nation to have won an Olympic medal in the Summer games when Super Heavyweight Boxer Paea Wolfgramm earned silver in the 1996 Super heavyweight 91 kg championships in Atlanta.

Tonga Lea'aetoa

Lea'aetoa's parents came from Tonga, he spent his childhood in Australia in Manly, Sydney.

Vili Maumau

Born on Niuafo'ou, Tonga, he played as a defensive tackle for the University of Colorado and was a 3rd Team All Big 12 selection as a junior where he was a teammate of Chris Naeole.


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