Tonga May Have Been a Vast Seafaring Empire

by Guest Thu Jul 24, 2014 2:42 pm

The seafaring empire of Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean once spanned more than a thousand miles, serving as the hub through which distant settlements exchanged artifacts and ideas, researchers say.
This finding could help explain the rise of monumental structures throughout the Pacific starting about 700 years ago, scientists added.
Tonga is an archipelago of about 160 Polynesian islands, with the core of the kingdom covering an area of about 195,000 square miles (500,000 square kilometers). The islands, located about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand, were first settled about 2,800 years ago by the Lapita people.

http://www.livescience.com/46954-tonga-was-seafaring-empire.html

by Lone Wolf Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:37 pm

THERE were two students from Tonga resident at the Hawkesbury Ag' college campus when I was studying at UWS...

Their fathers were Ministers in the Tongan government during that period in the late 1970s..

Those two Hawkesbury old boys are most likely warming those ministerial seats themselves, these days.

afro

by Guest Thu Jul 24, 2014 3:45 pm

Didge wrote:The seafaring empire of Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean once spanned more than a thousand miles, serving as the hub through which distant settlements exchanged artifacts and ideas, researchers say.
This finding could help explain the rise of monumental structures throughout the Pacific starting about 700 years ago, scientists added.
Tonga is an archipelago of about 160 Polynesian islands, with the core of the kingdom covering an area of about 195,000 square miles (500,000 square kilometers). The islands, located about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand, were first settled about 2,800 years ago by the Lapita people.

http://www.livescience.com/46954-tonga-was-seafaring-empire.html

Good afternoon Didge.

This a really interesting post but it just goes to show how usless my geography is because i always thought Tonga was one of the Greek islands....which makes me feel a bit embarrassed now.But either way,those guys travelled a long way under arduous conditions.

by veya_victaous Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:15 am

There is quite a lot about the polynesians we don't really know the mere fact they could navigate from Tonga and Samoa to New Zealand suggest far more knowledge than then they are given credit for.

like Easter Island heads... obviously at some point they were more powerful than when Europeans came in contact with them.
When you think about it they would have always been susceptible to a Tsunami affraid

... So an empire of pacific islands could have existed and been washed away twice over in the time we know they were inhabited.

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Tonga May Have Been a Vast Seafaring Empire

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