How One Man Saved Tonga From Colonization

i know i said everything wrong.

"One" man is a little bit of an exaggeration, but he really was important for this. Maybe gonna upload another video focusing on Shirley Baker specifically, since in this I painted him as sort of neutral/positive, when in reality he's more mixed. Is Tonga related history content the new best unexplored niche on YoutTube!?!? No. But this was weirdly interesting anyways. Like a micro version of a lotta other historical processes. Tonga would end up as a British protectorate to avoid being conquered ouright by Germany from 1900 to 1970, but throughout this it kept its independence. Hope you enjoyed!

Picture of looters by Tau'olunga,

[xibalbalon]

Polynesian history is extremely under appreciated

[hello_there]

As a Tongan its nice seeing people talk about our culture and history even though Polynesian history isn't shared alot i think lots of people like our culture

[felicitys]

My grandfather was Tongan, so it’s nice to see our culture taught and represented!

[teti_]

Not to mention, King Tupou 1 took the time to learn the English language, read, and write learning the white mans way of life and government. In doing so, he discovered that the power of the pen would be more powerful than the spear and figured out how they worked in the modern world undermining foreign powers from taking over. He is my 5th year grandfather and I found this out at the royal family reunion. He was beyond his time. Thank you for sharing this video! 💯

[centristpatriot]

Lol, 😅, fools saying Tonga wasn't colonized cause it had no value to the Western powers. Tuvalu, Uvea, Futuna, heck, even Pictairn Island, smaller dots in the middle of the pacific ocean with even less value was taken by the Western imperialists in the late 1800s. These islands were much smaller than Tonga. The real reason Tonga wasn't colonized was because it established a constitution in 1875, managed to fool Germany into a binding protection agreement in exchange for copra stations in Vavau and Ha'apai; thereby causing problems for England during the dividing up of Samoa and the rest of the South Pacific in the early 1900s. In other words, Tongans outsmarted their bigger enemies. The Tongan royal family also allied with the British Royal family at a time when monarchies were being phased out in the early 20th Century. This drew the European royals into a alliance to protect the Tongan monarchy since they were all part of a dying club. Other royal families, like Japan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia etc, have also joined the global royal alliance today. This would not have been possible for Tonga had King George I not understood the bigger world picture in the 1870s. King Kalakaua understood it too late. Samoa had no unifying royal family. There's your difference. 🙂

[JohnAlexanderBlog]

Currently studying John Wesley and the impact he had on transforming Britain. It’s awesome to see how one man’s legacy was also able to change an entire nation 10, 000 miles away. Anyway, great video! Love this sort of content.

[mataafa]

Basically saved Tonga from colonization by colonizing themselves 😹😹

[jwatson]

Great video! One thing that's hard for me to explain to Tongans is the fact that were only independent domestically. When Britain made us a protectorate, it took away our ability to enter and maintain diplomatic relations with other countries, which stripped us of our external independence (which is what matters to foreign powers). This also meant that we were not considered a State in modern international law, since the ability to establish diplomatic relationships is one of the Montevideo criteria for Statehood. This lasted until the end of the protectorate era in 1970.

[mrisen]

Tonga! the most hated in the Pacific. To see our other island families discredit us is just sickening, and at the forefront of that is many of our Samoan brothers. While all of the pacific whore out their culture and change it up to cater to the world, only Tonga WILLINGLY turned to God....When our bros and sisters gonna learn that our culture, is for us by us!

[renegade]

Not a bad video on Tonga’s history. Would’ve been better if you had discussed the Tongan missionary Pita Vi’s interaction with our King Taufa’hau & how the King’s test of Pita Vi lead him to be Christian. Quite misleading thinking Taufa’ahau was just openly Christian from the start.

[ViridisGames]

Good stuff man. Definitely subscribed.

Keep up this format and you’ll do great <3

[zddxddyddw]

Great video! Straight to the point and very informative.

[SustainableEcoFriendlyTips]

Tonga is a beautiful country. The only kingdom in existence in the south pacific. I have blood links in Tonga too. 👍

[tonganqueenb]

He used Christianity to subjugate his people and colonise their minds. Tongan culture is so intertwined with this religion that it's almost impossible to separate the two. A very smart King indeed.

[pro-non]

They even ruled the polynesian triangle for a long time after conquering their neighboring islands who were fierce warriors in their own rights (samoa, tuvalu, some parts of fiji) the royal lineage of Hawaii can trace back their origins to the tui tonga empire.

[asusorion]

I am a descendent of the Tu'i Kanokupolu warriors and take great pride in the fact that my ancestors were the Veteran Elite troops that were called back from the Fiji wars and settled on the border during the Civil war . In Saying that Colonization is not a bad thing to be saved from the other Pacific peoples have benefitted greatly from the time under European rule. What Secured our sovereignty was not our military might but the Benevolence and friendship of the British in protecting us Militarily while letting us rule ourselves . If Britain had wanted too they could of easily have subjugated us but they did not and helped us modernise without exploiting us . This is the real reason and we owe thanks. The friendship between our royal families extended into this century with our own Queen Salote and The British Queen Elizabeth being great friends.

[jaqenhghar]

I'm curious, you either have Tongan acquaintances or you watch alot of Tongan related content because your pronunciations of the Tongan names are good compared to other videos I've seen. Great job!

[MaoriMan]

Too much the Tongan whanau... 💯❤ peace n aroha from Aotearoa ✌❤

[heerarodriguez]

As can clearly see, original Polynesians were Black before mixing with Asians.

[mastersta]

great video my dude you should make more.