Tu'i Tonga Empire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tuʻi Tonga Empire or Tongan Empire was a powerful Oceanian empire. It was centered in Tonga on the island of Tongatapu at the capital of Muʻa. At its height, the empire stretched from Niuē to Tikopia and had an even greater sphere of influence.
Over time and space, Tongan society became more settled, shaped strictly by both internal pressure and external influences. The external influences came in the form of imperial activities beginning with the Tu’i Pulotu empire in Fiji and followed by the Tu’i Manu’a empire in Samoa. In other words, Tonga was under considerable influence from the imperialism of both Fiji and Samoa. However, Tonga was able to free herself through bitter and bloody wars from the imperial domination of the Tu’i Manu’a -- which eventually led to the formation of the Tu’i Tonga empire around AD 950 in the person of ‘Aho’eitu, the first Tu’i Tonga -- whose father was a deified Samoan high chief, Tangaloa ‘Eitumâtupu’a, and mother a Tongan woman, Va’epopua, of great noble birth. This double origin entitled the Tu’i Tonga to hold both divine and secular offices. In principle, the close cultural and historical interlinkages between Fiji, Samoa and Tonga were essentially elitist, involving the intermarriage between regional aristocratic families.
Contents |
[edit] Beginning of the empire
Tongans believed that their ancestors came from a large island to the far northwest called Pulotu. In the pre-Islamic times, they held the belief their gods lived there, and that those in high rank would join them after death. Because the commoners were not believed to have souls, they would not be able to return to Pulotu.
Through a series of bloody insurgencies, a man named Aho’eitu managed to free the people of Tonga from the oppressive Tui Manu’a dynasty centered in Samoa. This is estimated to have happened around AD 950. Once lowly servants of the Samoans, the Tongans were now in control of their own destiny. They proclaimed Aho’eitu their king, thus beginning the Tu’i Tonga lineage. For several centuries the highly tabooed Tu’i Tonga controlled all affairs from his capital in the village of Niutoua on Tongatapu Island.
Around AD 1200, the 10th Tu’i Tonga, Momo, and his successor, ‘Tu’itatui, used their large war canoes to conquer a massive island empire, stretching from Tikopia in the west to Niue in the east. Their realm contained the Lau group of Fiji, Rotuma, Futuna, ‘Uvea, Tokelau, parts of Samoa, Niue, and Cook Islands, though the Tui Manu’a remained fiercely independent. To better govern the large territory, the Tu’i Tongas had their throne moved by the lagoon at Lapaha, Tongatapu. The power of the Tu’i Tonga was renowned throughout the Pacific, and many of the neighboring islands participated in the widespread trade of resources and new ideas.
This glorious era of ancient prosperity was not to last, however. In AD 1535, civil war erupted, and the current Tu’i Tonga, Takala’ua, was killed in an uprising by the islanders of Futuna. His successor, Kau’ulufonuafekai, decided to give up his civil authority to his half-brother, Mo’ungamotu’a, granting him the title of Tu’i Ha’a Takala’ua in honor of his father. From then on, the position of Tu’i Tonga was to be the nation’s spiritual leader, though he did still control the final say in the life or death of his people.
In 1610, the 6th Tu’i Ha’a Takala’ua, Moungatonga, created the position of Tu’i Kanokupolu for his son, Ngata, which divided regional rule between them, though as time went on the Tu’i Kanokupolu’s power became more and more dominant over Tonga. Things continued this way for a long time afterward. The first Europeans arrived in 1616, when the Dutch explorers Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire shot a Tongan in canoe off the coast of Niuatoputapu, and the famous Abel Tasman followed soon after. These visits were brief, however, and did not change the island much at all.
[edit] Expansion (1200 – 1500)
Under the 10th Tuʻi Tonga, Momo and his son Tuʻitātui (11th Tuʻi Tonga) the empire was expanded to include all of Fiji, including the distant Lau Islands, parts of Samoa. The Manu`a islands in Samoa couldn't be touched for the ancient Tongans considered it sacred islands. The empire continued to expand the imperial frontiers to include all of western and central Polynesia, and some parts of Melanesia and Micronesia. The empire at its height influenced over three million square kilometres of ocean. Many areas not under direct control of the Empire were forced to pay tribute. The capital was moved under the son of Tuʻitātui to the best-known and prosperous capital in the Empire's history, Muʻa.
The success of the Empire was largely based upon the Imperial Navy. The most common vessels were long-distance canoes that usually had square sails. The largest canoes could carry up to 100 men. The most notable of these were the Tongafuesia, ʻĀkiheuho, the Lomipeau, and the Takaʻipōmana. The large navy allowed for Tonga to become wealthy with large amounts of trade and tribute flowing into the Royal Treasury.
[edit] Triparte system
[edit] Decline of Tuʻi Tonga and two new dynasties
The Tuʻi Tonga decline began due to numerous wars and internal pressure. In the 13th or 14th century Sāmoa got its independence under the lead the Malietoa family. In response the falefā were created as political advisors to the Empire. The falefā were initially successful in keeping the dynasty going but pressure persisted and was followed by the assassination of several rulers. The most notable were, Havea I (19th TT), Havea II (22nd TT), and Takalaua (23rd TT), which were known for their tyrannical rule. Takalaua's son and successor Kauʻulufonua I pursued the murderers for a long time, until he finally got them on ʻUvea and he punished them severily. This led to wars on Futuna which he lost. Meanwhile at home his younger brother Moʻungāmotuʻa grabbed the power and established a new dynasty of the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua. Apparently he had not enough support to abolish the Tuʻi Tonga title altogether, but for the next century or so the Tuʻi Tongas lived as exiles in Sāmoa. When Tapuʻosi (28th TT) finally was allowed to come back, the worldly power was firmly in the hands of the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua, and the role allotted to the Tuʻi Tonga was one of a priest, only to perform religious duties. Still priests with enough power to have large tombs built for them, the still remaining langi in Muʻa much like the pyramids in old Egypt.
For more than a century the 2 dynasties ruled together in their respective fields. Then Ngata, the younger son of Moʻunga-ʻo-Tonga (6th TH), started his own dynasty, the Tuʻi Kanokupolu. It seems that for a while both his father and even his older brother, Fotofili (7th TH) did not notice that their Kanokupolu governor had become disloyal. By the time they found out, it was too late, the Tuʻi Kanokupolu had become a power on itself.
[edit] Rise of Tuʻi Kanokupolu
This new dynasty, around 1610 did not replace either of the previous dynasties but instead competed with the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua for secular control. The Tuʻi Kanokupolu was highly influenced by Sāmoan politics because the ruler's mother was the daughter of ʻAma, a Samoan high chief from Safata. For the next almost 2 centuries now the 3 dynasties tried to increase their support. In Tongan society this is done by careful selected marriages between the dynasty heirs and important, but still non-allied chiefs so that the next generation of chiefs will be obliged by blood to support that particular dynasty. The Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua declined and the Tuʻi Kanokupolu took over its worldly power, but being considered much lower ranked than the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua, this was an opportunity for the Tuʻi Tonga to try to reclaim its old glory.
[edit] The road people
By the time (1799) the last vestiges of the empire had crumbled away, even Haʻapai and Vavaʻu, and Tongatapu itself had plunged in a civil war, the Tuʻi Tonga remained a figurehead, a name in history only. Any religious power it had, it lost to Christianity. The Tuʻi Kanokupolu remained the source of whatever worldly power left. The Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua was reduced to a minor tribe, trying to associate itself with the Tuʻi Tonga again. All the time the Tuʻi Tonga people remained living on the high lands in the centre of Muʻa, Lapaha in particular, while the followers of the other dynasties had to satisfy themselves with some lands reclaimed from the shallow lagoon on the borders of Lapaha and nearby Talasiu. The dividing line between the two moieties was the old coastal road named Hala Fonua moa (dry land road). Still today the chiefs who derive their authority from the Tuʻi Tonga are named the Kau hala ʻuta (inland road people) while those from the Tuʻi Kanokupolu are known as the Kau hala lalo (low road people). Concerning the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua supporters: when this division arose, in the 15th century, they were of course the Kauhalalalo. But when the Tuʻi Kanokupolu had overtaken them they shifted their allegiance to the Kauhalaʻuta.
