Fatafehi Laufilitonga (24 August 1797 – 9 December 1865) was the 39th and last

Tui Tonga Tui or TUI may refer to: Places * Tui, Pontevedra, Spain * Tui, Iran, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Tui, North Khorasan, North Khorasan Province, Iran * Tui Province, Burkina Faso * Tuis District, Costa Rica * Tui railway station, New Zealand ...

, a dynasty of kings in

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 ...

during the Tui Tonga Empire.

Biography

Only little is known about Laufilitonga's life. Laufilitonga was the oldest son of king Fatafehi Fuanunu'iava and his wife Tupou Veiongo Moheofo. He succeeded his father in 1810 as head of the House of Tonga but was considered too young to become "Tui Tonga". The title had by that time also declined in power and prestige and the real power lay with the Tui Kanokupolu dynasty. Laufilitonga, however, had ambitions to restore the power of the Tui Tonga and tried to extend his role as spiritual leader into a more political one. He contested ''Tāufaāhau'' (later to be

George Tupou I George Tupou I (4 December 1797 – 18 February 1893), originally known as Tāufaʻāhau I, was the first king of modern Tonga. He adopted the name Siaosi (originally Jiaoji), the Tongan equivalent of ''George'', after King George III of the U ...

) residing in the Haapai Islands. The final resolution of this struggle was the "

Battle of Velata The Battle of Velata was fought at Tau'akipulu, Haʻapai, Tonga in September 1826, between Laufilitonga, monarch of the Tuʻi Tonga The Tuʻi Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the tenth century with the mythical ʻAhoʻeitu ...

", near Tongoleleka on

Lifuka Lifuka is an island in the Kingdom of Tonga. It is located within the Ha'apai Group, Haapai Group in the centre of the country, to northeast of the national capital of Nukuʻalofa, Nukualofa. It is the administrative centre of the Haapai group of ...

, in 1826 in which Laufilitonga was defeated. An important ally at that battle was the chief of Haafeva who had taken side against Laufilitonga. Although Laufilitonga was installed as Tui Tonga in 1827, the holder of the title no longer had either political or spiritual power. On November 7, 1851 Laufilitonga converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and was baptised with the name ''Samuelio Fatafehi Laufilitonga''. After his death in 1865 he was buried in the langi Tuofefafa i in '' Mua'' and the title Tui Tonga was abolished. His wife Sālote Lupepauʻu later married the 1st King of Tonga,

Notes

Bibliography

*I.C. Campbell; Classical Tongan kingship; 1989 *E. Bott; Tonga society at the time of Captain Cook's visit; 1982 *{{okinaO. Māhina; Images from the history and culture of Tonga; 2006 1797 births 1865 deaths Tongan monarchs Tongan Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism History of Tonga