The Kingdom of Tonga — a tiny island country in the Pacific Ocean, the existence of which is not even suspected by the vast majority of the world’s population. People here live a habitual life that almost does not change over time, and even if they do not live richly, they are calm and quite happy. Nobody here cares about politics or the world economy — life here is limited to the territory of the country itself.
Interesting facts about Tonga
- The country occupies 177 islands, but most of them are uninhabited.
- Independence from the UK kingdom acquired in 1970.
- Tongan currency is called paanga. In everyday life, it is sometimes called the Tongan dollar.
- The population of the whole country — just over a hundred thousand people. About a quarter of the total population lives in the capital, the city of Nuku’alofa.
- Due to the lack of suitable stone for construction, almost all buildings in Tonga are made of wood. But the royal palace and the parliament building — made of stone, and building materials were brought here from other places.
- Only Fiji, New Zealand and Australia have flights from Tonga.
- The assortment in grocery stores in Tonga is poorer than one might expect, canned food of all kinds prevails here. Remoteness from civilization affects.
- Almost 60% of the population of Tonga lives on the largest island, Tongatapu, where the capital is located.
- English, along with Tongan, has official status in the kingdom, but in practice -English is spoken and understood by few people here.
- Most Tongans — very religious people. The official religion of the kingdom — Christianity.
- The most common cause of premature death in Tonga — falling coconut on the head. Coconut ripens all year round, and coconut palms are everywhere. You can often see warning signs.
- On Sundays, no one works in Tonga, everything is closed, everything in general. Because it’s against the law to work on Sunday.
- The crime rate in Tonga tends to zero, as in other small island countries like Niue or Kiribati (interesting facts about Kiribati).
- Tonga’s total land area — just under 750 square kilometers.
- There are only a few car rentals in the country.
- Tipping is not customary in Tongan establishments.
- The land area of the kingdom from time to time increases due to volcanic activity, as a result of which new islands rise to the surface of the ocean (interesting facts about volcanoes).
- Due to problems with fresh water, the Tongans collect rainwater for subsequent purification and use.
- Tongan soldiers took part in the First World War.
- Tongan has only one embassy. It is located in Beijing, the capital of China.
- Only about 200 kilometers of Tongan roads are covered with asphalt. In total, there are about seven hundred kilometers of roads here.
- There is no railway to Tonga, and there is only one international airport.
- Five radio stations broadcast on the territory of the kingdom.