Place · city

Muʻa

Also known as Mu'a, Lapaha

Muʻa is a town on the shore of the lagoon of Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga. From about the 12th or 13th century its district of Lapaha was the seat of the Tuʻi Tonga, the sacred kings, and the centre of a chiefdom whose influence reached across western Polynesia. It holds the langi, large stepped royal tombs faced with cut limestone slabs, which are among the most important monuments of the Pacific.

Muʻa
Image: Langi tauʻolunga / Tauʻolunga (talk) · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Tuʻi Tonga Empire

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Muʻa. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mua-tonga
MLA
“Muʻa.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mua-tonga. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Muʻa.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mua-tonga.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Muʻa’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/mua-tonga (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻