Tonga - unique among
Pacific nations - never completely lost its indigenous governance. The
archipelagos of "The Friendly Islands" were united into a Polynesian
kingdom in 1845. Tonga became a constitutional monarchy in 1875 and a
British protectorate in 1900; it withdrew from the protectorate and
joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970. Tonga remains the only
monarchy in the Pacific. Tongan and
English
are spoken.