How powerful was the Tu'i Tonga Empire exactly?

Though I lived in Polynesia through the 1970s and visited numerous islands, including Tonga, and studied what archaeology was available, archaeologists and other specialists have learned much more since then. read more

Questions of chronology were also raised with a suggestion of a unification process of the Tongatapu polity around the 15th century. If this scenario is correct, it was only after that time that the Tu’i Tonga chiefdom could start expanding outside southern Tonga. Addison, D. J., & Sand, C. (Eds.). (2008). read more

Tui Manu’a Empire Of Samoa: It is appropriate to address the topic of the Oceania empire of the prehistoric Tui Manu’a and the extent to which this influence permeated the social-political sphere of Samoa and Tonga at that time. read more

2 The Tu’i Tonga Empire A map of the Tu’i Tonga Empire and a stone monument at Hekata on Tongatapu Once stretching more than 195,000 square miles, the Tu’i Tonga Empire once held the entire Polynesian archipelago of Tonga under its sway. read more