Place · island

Tongatapu

Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga, in the southern part of the kingdom, and holds most of its people and the capital, Nukuʻalofa. A low coral island around a shallow lagoon, it was the seat of the Tuʻi Tonga kings, whose royal tombs stand at Lapaha near Muʻa, and it has the trilithon of Haʻamonga ʻa Maui. George Tupou I made Nukuʻalofa his capital in the 19th century.

Tongatapu
Image: European Space Agency · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Tuʻi Tonga Empire

See also

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

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻