Tu'i Tonga Empire
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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.
The empire began to form around 950 AD after the decline of Tuʻi Manuʻa in Sāmoa and Tuʻi Pulotu in Fiji. It would have been contemporary to the Micronesian empire based in Yap.
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[edit] Beginning of the empire
Tonga was under heavy influence from the Tuʻi Pulotu and especially the Tuʻi Manuʻa who controlled large portions of Tonga. After several bloody wars, Tonga managed to free itself from foreign domination around 900 AD. Thus a dynasty under the title Tuʻi Tonga was formed. The actual independence struggle is now forgotten and has moved into the realm of myths. The first Tuʻi Tonga, ʻAhoʻeitu became the son the god Tangaloa ʻEitumatupuʻa and a mortal Tongan mother, ʻIlaheva Vaʻepopua.
The new king located his capital at Toloa on Tongatapu, but it would be moved to Heketā near Niutōua under the 9th Tuʻi Tonga.
[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 of Vanua Balavu, Fulaga, and Lakeba, and parts of Samoa. 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 Tuitātui to the best-known and prosperous capital in the Empire's history, Muʻa.
[edit] Imperial Navy
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 Mālietoa 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.
