The first settlers on Tonga arrived about 3500 years ago and according to oral history the lineage of Tonga's royal family dates back to about 1100 BC.
About Tonga

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The first European contacts were Dutch navigators Le Maire in the early 1600s and Abel Tasman, in the 1640s. Serious missionary activity started 1822, and within a few decades the king and most of the population were converted to Christianity.
After a period of civil wars, the country was unified under a modern constitution by King George Tupou I in 1875, and in 1900 the country signed a Treaty of Protection with Britain. Tonga became officially independent in 1970, and is a constitutional monarchy with an elected legislature. It is a member of the British Commonwealth.
Tonga has 171 widely scattered islands in four main groups - its economic zone covers about 700,000 sq km of the South Pacific, but the total land area is under 700 sq km.
Only 36 of the islands are inhabited, with the most populous being the capital island, Tongatapu (population 70,000 - nearly three quarters of all Tongans). Most of the people are employed in subsistence agriculture though there are some cash crops - main exports include coconuts, bananas and pumpkins.
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