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International Dateline Hotel
The International Dateline Hotel is a hotel in Nukuʻalofa, the capital of Tonga, often used by guests of state. It was established in 1964 with 24 rooms by Janfull International Dateline Hotel Ltd., a joint venture between Tonga and China which according to ''Pacific Islands Report'' was the first entry by China into free-market Pacific tourism. The hotel was built to house visitors to the coronation of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV and also marked the start of tourism to Tonga. It was renovated and expanded in 2001–2003 with a Chinese loan, adding a new wing and redeveloping the waterfront, and again with Chinese funding in 2006. This added 30 rooms and a convention centre whose main conference hall holds 400 people and was built for the 38th Pacific Islands Forum. Ownership was transferred to the government of Tonga in 2012 after the original hotel went into liquidation. Another renovation was begun in 2015 by the Tanoa Hotel Group with support from the government. The work was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nukuʻalofa
Nukualofa (; ) is the capital and largest city of Tonga. It is located on the north coast of the island of Tongatapu, in the country's southernmost island group. History First western records of Nukualofa On 10 June 1777, British captain James Cook wrote of his arrival at their anchorage place. His description of the place confirmed, with his map, that this was the bay of Nukualofa. Cook never used the name Nukualofa or any other spelling for the reports of this voyage, but he mentioned the island of Pangaimodoo ( Pangaimotu) which was to the east of his anchorage position. Captain Cook also wrote that he travelled by canoes to visit Mooa ( Mua) where Paulaho and other great men lived. The house that Paulaho provided was on the beach from the ship. Reference to his map shows that he must have landed and stayed in the Siesia area, the eastern part of modern Nukualofa. Cook also drafted the first map of the bay of Nukuʻalofa. The first written record for Nukuʻalofa is stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, according to Johnson's Tribune, Tonga has a population of 104,494, 70% of whom reside on the main island, Tongatapu. The country stretches approximately north-south. It is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna (France) to the northwest; Samoa to the northeast; New Caledonia (France) and Vanuatu to the west; Niue (the nearest foreign territory) to the east; and Kermadec (New Zealand) to the southwest. Tonga is about from New Zealand's North Island. First inhabited roughly 2,500 years ago by the Lapita civilization, Tonga's Polynesian settlers gradually evolved a distinct and strong ethnic identity, language, and culture as the Tongan people. They were quick to establish a powerful footing acr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the title may refer to tribal kingship. Germanic kingship is cognate with Indo-European traditions of tribal rulership (c.f. Indic '' rājan'', Gothic '' reiks'', and Old Irish ''rí'', etc.). *In the context of classical antiquity, king may translate in Latin as '' rex'' and in Greek as ''archon'' or ''basileus''. *In classical European feudalism, the title of ''king'' as the ruler of a ''kingdom'' is understood to be the highest rank in the feudal order, potentially subject, at least nominally, only to an emperor (harking back to the client kings of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire). *In a modern context, the title may refer to the ruler of one of a number of modern monarchies (either absolute or constitutional). The title of ''king' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Islands Forum
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum (SPF), and changed its name in 1999 to "Pacific Islands Forum", so as to be more inclusive of the Forum's Oceania-spanning membership of both north and south Pacific island countries, including Australia. It is a United Nations General Assembly observer. The mission of the Pacific Islands Forum is "to work in support of Forum member governments, to enhance the economic and social well-being of the people of the South Pacific by fostering cooperation between governments and between international agencies, and by representing the interests of Forum members in ways agreed by the Forum". Its decisions are implemented by the ''Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat'' (PIFS), which grew out of the ''South Pacific Bureau f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Tupou VI
Tupou VI (; born 12 July 1959) is the King of Tonga. He is the younger brother and successor of the late King George Tupou V. He was officially confirmed by his brother on 27 September 2006 as the heir presumptive to the Throne of Tonga, as his brother (a bachelor) had no legitimate children. He served as Tonga's High Commissioner to Australia, and resided in Canberra until the death of King George Tupou V on 18 March 2012, when ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho became King of Tonga, with the regnal name Tupou VI. Life He was born in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga, the third son and youngest child of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV. He was educated at The Leys School, Cambridge, from 1973 to 1977. He then attended the University of East Anglia, where he read Development Studies, from 1977 to 1980. He started his career in the military, joining the naval arm of the Tonga Defence Services in 1982 and becoming a Lieutenant-Commander in 1987. He graduated from the US Naval War Colle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ʻAkilisi Pōhiva
Samiuela ʻAkilisi Pōhiva (7 April 1941 – 12 September 2019) was a Tongan pro-democracy activist and politician. Pohiva, the leader of the Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands (DPFI), served as the Prime Minister of Tonga from 2014 to his death in 2019. He was only the fourth commoner to serve as Prime Minister (after Shirley Baker in the 1880s, Siosateki Tonga in the 1890s and Feleti Sevele in the 2000s), and the first commoner to be elected to that position by Parliament rather than appointed by the King. Personal life Pōhiva worked as a teacher and later studied at the University of the South Pacific before joining the Tongan Teacher Training Staff. He became active in Tonga's pro-democracy movement in the 1980s, and in 1981 he co-founded their monthly radio programme, "Matalafo Laukai". In 1984, he was dismissed from the civil service as punishment for his criticism of the government; he subsequently sued them successfully for unfair dismissal. He then founded th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commonwealth Observer Group
Commonwealth Observer Groups are groups formed to monitor elections in various countries around the world. Each group is usually made up of various statesmen from various countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. The job of each Group is to assess whether the elections are conducted fairly. At the end of the observation period, reports are written and submitted to the Commonwealth headquarters. The following are such groups formed to date: *Antigua and Barbuda *Bangladesh *Cameroon *Gambia *Ghana *Guyana *Fiji *Kenya *Lesotho *Malawi *Maldives *Malta *Mozambique *Nigeria *Pakistan *Papua New Guinea *Sierra Leone *South Africa *Sri Lanka *St Kitts and Nevis *Tanzania *Trinidad and Tobago *Uganda{{cite web , url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/document/176283/177357/149671/uganda.htm , title=Commonwealth Secretariat - 2006 Uganda Elections - Final Report , accessdate=2009-06-25 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605042130/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/docum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2017 Tongan General Election
General elections were held in Tonga on 16 November 2017 to elect 17 of the 26 seats to the Legislative Assembly. King Tupou VI dissolved the Assembly on 25 August 2017 on the advice of its Speaker, Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō, who claimed that Prime Minister ʻAkilisi Pohiva was attempting to claim powers held by the King and Privy Council within Cabinet. Nominations closed on 27 September, with 86 candidates contesting the 17 people's seats. The election resulted in a victory for the DPFI, with ʻAkilisi Pōhiva remaining as Prime Minister. Electoral system The Legislative Assembly of Tonga has up to 30 members, of which 17 are directly elected by first-past-the-post voting from single-member constituencies. The island of Tongatapu has ten constituencies, Vavaʻu three, Haʻapai two and ʻEua and Niuatoputapu/Niuafoʻou one each. Nine seats are held by members of the nobility who elect representatives amongst themselves. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Commonwealth
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Commonwealth Secretariat, which focuses on intergovernmental aspects, and the Commonwealth Foundation, which focuses on non-governmental relations amongst member states. Numerous organisations are associated with and operate within the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth dates back to the first half of the 20th century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was originally created as the British Commonwealth of Nations through the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference, and formalised by the United Kingdom through the Statute of Westminster in 1931. The current Commonwealth of Nations was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which modernised the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hotels In Tonga
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a refrigerator and other kitchen facilities, upholstered chairs, a flat screen television, and En-suite, en-suite bathrooms. Small, lower-priced hotels may offer only the most basic guest services and facilities. Larger, higher-priced hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a swimming pool, business centre (with computers, printers, and other office equipment), childcare, conference and event facilities, tennis or basketball courts, gymnasium, restaurants, day spa, and social function services. Hotel rooms are usually Room number, numbered (or named in some smaller hotels and Bed and breakfast, B&Bs) to allow guests to identify their room. Some boutique, high-end hotels have custom decorated rooms. Some hotels offer meals as part ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
