Niua is a division of the

Kingdom of Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesia, Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has List of islands and towns in Tonga, 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its tota ...

, namely the northernmost group of islands. It consists of three islands ( Niuafoʻou, Niuatoputapu and Tafahi) which together have an area of 71.69 km² and a population of 1,150. The largest village is Hihifo on Niuatoputapu. Piu'o Tafahi is the highest point with an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 560 m.

Geography

The islands lie at approximately 15° south latitude and 175° to 173° west longitude, approximately 600km north of the Tongan capital of

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 ...

, 300 - 375 km northwest of

Vavaʻu Vavau is an island group, consisting of one large island ( ʻUtu Vavaʻu) and 40 smaller ones, in Tonga. It is part of Vavaʻu District, which includes several other individual islands. According to tradition, the Maui god created both Tongata ...

, and 320 - 470 km south or southwest of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

. Niuafoʻou is geographically separated from the other islands, lying 200km to the west. The total area of the islands is .

Climate

The islands have a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

climate, with a mean temperature of and a mean annual rainfall of (Niuafoʻou) or (Niuatoputapu).

Geology

The islands are the peaks of undersea

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

es, towering from the sea. Niuatoputapu and Tafahi lie on the Tofua volcanic arc, and are not active. Niuafoʻou lies at the center of the

Niuafo'ou Plate The Niuafo'ou Plate is a small tectonic plate located west of the islands of Tonga. This plate is sandwiched between the Pacific Plate to the north, the very unstable Tonga Plate to the east and the Australian Plate The Australian Plate is a ...

and has erupted regularly since 1814. There are other volcanoes in this part of the Tofua chain which do not reach sea level, but form

seamount A seamount is a large geologic landform that rises from the ocean floor that does not reach to the water's surface (sea level), and thus is not an island, islet or cliff-rock. Seamounts are typically formed from extinct volcanoes that rise abru ...

s with between 1200 and 1500m of water above their peaks. This includes the Mata group, the

Curacoa volcano Curacoa is a submarine volcano located south of the Curacoa Reef in northern Tonga. The reef is 24fm North of Tafahi in the Niua Islands. Eruptions were observed in 1973 and 1979 from two separate vents. The 1973 eruption produced a large raft of ...

, and the large submarine caldera Niuatahi.

History

Archaeological evidence shows the Niuas were settled by the Lapita culture. It was later part of the

Tui Manu'a The title Tui Manuʻa was the title of the ruler or paramount chief of the Manuʻa Islands in present-day American Samoa. The Tuʻi Manuʻa Confederacy, or Samoan Empire, are descriptions sometimes given to Samoan expansionism and projecte ...

and Tuʻi Tonga Empires. The Niua group was first encountered by Europeans in 1616 by

Willem Schouten Willem Cornelisz Schouten ( – 1625) was a Dutch navigator for the Dutch East India Company. He was the first to sail the Cape Horn route to the Pacific Ocean. Biography Willem Cornelisz Schouten was born in c. 1567 in Hoorn, Holland, Seven ...

and Jacob Le Maire Cornelisz during their

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circ ...

Government

The islands are part of Tonga. Their people are represented in the

legislative Assembly of Tonga The Legislative Assembly of Tonga ( to, Fale Alea ʻo Tonga) is the unicameral legislature of Tonga. The assembly has 26 members in which 17 members elected by majority of the people for a 5-year term in multi-seat constituencies via the singl ...

via the

Niua 17 Niua 17 is an electoral constituency for the Legislative Assembly in the Kingdom of Tonga. It was established for the November 2010 general election, when the multi-seat regional constituencies for People's Representatives were replaced by sin ...

electoral constituency, while their nobles are represented via the

Niuas Nobles' constituency Niuas is an electoral constituency which sends one representative to the Legislative Assembly of Tonga. It covers the islands of Niuafoʻou and Niuatoputapu Niuatoputapu is a high island in the island nation of Tonga, Pacific Ocean. Its h ...

References

{{coord, 15.9594, S, 173.783, W, source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Islands of Tonga Divisions of Tonga 1616 in Tonga