Stack Coleman, age 15, of Danville, I11., for her question:
WHO OWNS TONGA?
Tonga is a country made up of about 150 islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The country is located about 3,000 miles southwest of Honolulu. Tonga is the only remaining kingdom of Polynesia, one of the three main groups of the Pacific Islands.
Tonga became independent in 1970 after being a protectorate of Great Britain since 1900. It is now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The first people to settle in Tonga were Polynesians who most likely came from Samoa. Although much of Tonga's early history is based on myths, records of Tongan rulers go back to the A.D. 900s.
Early rulers held the hereditary title of Tui Tonga. The people believed the Tui Tonga were sacred representatives of the Tongan gods.
About 1470, the ruling Tui Tonga gave some governing powers to a nonsacred leader. Through the years, the Tui Tonga became only a figurehead. By 1865, after the death of the last Tui Tonga, the nonsacred king held all the ruling power.
Two Dutch navigators, William Schouten and Jakob le Maire, became the first Europeans to visit Tonga. They landed on some of the northern islands in 1616. In 1643, Abel Tasman, a Dutch sea captain, visited Tongatapu and some of the other southern islands.
During the early 1800s, Methodist missionaries from Great Britain settled in Tonga. At about the same time, civil war spread throughout Tonga. One of the most powerful chiefs was a man named Taufaahau. In 1845 he finally united the islands.
Taufaahau was crowned King George Tupou I, the first monarch of Tonga. Tupou I developed legal codes that became the basis of the Tongan Constitution, which was adopted in 1875.
After Tupou I died in 1893, his great grandson, George Tupou II, took the throne and the country became a protectorate of Great Britain in 1900.
Queen Salote succeeded Tupou II in 1918 and ruled the country until her death in 1965. The Queen had worked to improve education and health in Tonga. Her son was crowned King Tupou IV in 1967.
In 1970, when Tonga gained independence from Great Britain, the nation completed its first five year development program and began work on the second. With British aid, Tonga modernized its agriculture, built wharves and airstrips and encouraged foreign investment.
Today Tonga remains an economically underdeveloped country with few industries or skilled craftsmen. About three fourths of the workers are farmers. The government owns all of the land but every male who is 16 or over is entitled to a plot which he rents from the government.
Tonga farmers grow such crops as bananas, breadfruit, sweet potatoes, tapioca and yams. Most of their crops are exported to New Zealand and Australia, and New Zealand supplies most of Tonga's imports.
Although there are about 150 islands in the country, almost all of the people live on the three main island groups: Haapai, Tongatapu and Vavau.