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( Tonga)
The Kingdom of Tonga in the south Pacific Ocean comprises an archipelago of 171 islands, 48 of them inhabited,[2] stretching over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 miles) in a north-south line. The islands lie south of Samoa, about one-third of the way from New Zealand to Hawaii. Tonga, the only sovereign monarchy among the island nations of the Pacific Ocean, has a unique distinction as the only island nation to have avoided formal colonization. The world also knows the islands of Tonga as the Friendly Islands because of the friendly reception accorded to Captain Cook on his first visit in 1773. He happened to arrive at the time of the ?inasi festival, the yearly donation of the first fruits to the Tu'i Tonga, the islands' paramount chief, and was invited to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, in reality the chiefs had wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but had been unable to agree on a plan.[3] The word tonga means "south" in the Tongan language, an apt name for the islands as they form the southernmost group of the neighbouring Polynesian islands. Tongan-speakers pronounce the word tonga as /to?a/, but English-speakers refer to the country as /'t??g?/&_160;(helpยทinfo).
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