Tonga, a Polynesian sovereign state and archipelago comprising 169 islands of which 36 are inhabited. About 750 square kilometres total surface area, scattered over 700,000 square kilometres of the southern Pacific Ocean. It has a population of 103,000 people of whom 70% reside on the main island of Tongatapu. In addition, Tonga stretches across approximately 800 kilometres (500 mi) in a north-south line.

Tonga became known in the West as the Friendly Islands because of the congenial reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit in 1773. He arrived at the time of the ʻinasi festival, the yearly donation of the First Fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga (the islands’ paramount chief) and so received an invitation to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, the chiefs wanted to kill Cook during the gathering but could not agree on a plan.

src: wikipedia