Nuku’alofa
According to thesciencetutor, Nuku’alofa is the capital of the wealthy Tonga in the South Pacific; approximately 23,000 residents (2007). The town is located on the fertile, densely populated main island of Tongatapu. It contains government buildings, royal palaces and much of the country’s business. The Tongan National Center Cultural Center is a collection of traditional Polynesian buildings with workshops, shops and scenes for local crafts, dance and singing, etc.
TONGA
The population of this small South Pacific archipelago at the 1986 census was 94,649, up to 103,000 according to a 1991 estimate; the average density is very high, equal to 138 residents / km 2. The most populated islands are the Tongatapu and the Vavau, while the volcanic islands are almost completely uninhabited. Capital and seat of all productive and commercial activities is Nuku’alofa (28,900 residents In 1986).
Agriculture constitutes – together with fishing (1889 t of fish in 1993) – the main economic resource; among the crops destined for internal consumption, cassava (150,000 q in 1992), sweet potatoes (140,000 q) and some fruit and vegetables prevail, while bananas (10,000 q) and copra (20,000 q) are mainly exported. The breeding activity is modest also due to the scarcity of the areas destined to lawn and pasture. The industrial activity, while still remaining very limited, has registered a certain impulse in recent years: alongside the traditional plants for the processing of agricultural products, today there are small mechanical factories, furniture factories, clothing industries. Recently it has been ascertained the presence of oil fields near the
A small contribution to the economy comes from tourism (38,823 visitors in 1990), for the enhancement of which upgrades of accommodation infrastructures and communication routes have been promoted. Foreign trade is in constant deficit; the main source of imports is New Zealand (29.6% of the total in 1992), while Japan is the main export market (60.2%).
History. – After independence, achieved in June 1970, King Taufa’ahau Tupou ivhe did not change his paternalistic and authoritarian attitude, favored by the Constitution in force since 1875 and never modified. According to the latter, the head of state and executive is the king, who appoints and presides over the private council (including a prime minister). Legislative power belongs to the Legislative Assembly of 30 deputies: 12 members of the private Council, 9 hereditary deputies and 9 elected for three years by universal suffrage are members. Only in 1990 was an opposition movement born, the Movement for Democracy, which launched a campaign to change the Constitution in a democratic sense. Led by Akilisi Pohiva, first elected from popular representatives in February 1990, the Movement made its appearance on the political scene in 1991, when its leader led a lively battle against the government’s practice of selling Tonga’s passports primarily to Hong Kong Chinese. In the elections of February 1993, the Movement for Democracy achieved considerable success by winning 6 of the 9 popular seats. As for foreign policy, in July 1988 Tonga signed a friendship treaty with the United States, which also provides for the freedom of transit in the territorial waters of ships carrying nuclear weapons. This decision is in line with the choice made by the government of Tonga not to adhere to the South Pacific Nuclear-free Zone Treaty (August 6, 1985), ie the Treaty of Rarotonga, which declared the South Pacific area to be nuclear-free.