European Impact on Tonga and Pacific islands

Author: Australian National University
Published: 2022/10/01 - Updated: 2023/01/04
Peer Reviewed Publication: Yes
Category Topic: Anthropology - Related Publications

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main

Synopsis: Australian National University study reveals Pacific island nations suffered severe depopulation from introduced diseases due to contact with European vessels. This improved understanding of the past has allowed us to show a significant population decline from 50,000-60,000 to 10,000 during a 50-year period on the main island of Tongatapu in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Defining Tonga

Tonga: Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands - of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about 750 km2 (290 sq mi), scattered over 700,000 km2 (270,000 sq mi) in the southern Pacific Ocean. From 1900 to 1970, Tonga had British protected-state status. The United Kingdom looked after Tonga's foreign affairs under a Treaty of Friendship, but Tonga never relinquished its sovereignty to any foreign power. In 2010, Tonga took a decisive step away from its traditional absolute monarchy and became a fully-functioning constitutional monarchy after legislative reforms paved the way for its first partial representative elections. The 1918 flu pandemic, brought to Tonga by a ship from New Zealand, killed 1,800 Tongans, a mortality rate of about 8%.

Introduction

Using lidar and Bayesian inference to reconstruct archaeological populations in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Pacific island nations suffered severe depopulation from introduced diseases due to contact with European vessels, a new study from The Australian National University (ANU) shows.

Main Content

The research, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, indicates population declines were a lot larger than previously thought. According to the study, the main island of Tonga had a population decline of between 70-86 per cent once Europeans made contact.

Researchers from the ANU School of Culture, History & Language, PhD candidate Phillip Parton and ARC Future Fellow Professor Geoffrey Clark, found there were between 100,000-120,000 people in Tonga prior to European contact.

Tonga Village: Part of an engraving by Louie-Auguste de Sainson depicting a residential dwelling (left) constructed on top of a mound approximately one meter tall - Image Credit: Collections of the State Library of New South Wales, Australia.

"I and my co-author used aerial laser scanning data to map residences on the main island of Tonga and then used archaeological data I collected as part of my PhD to estimate the population," Mr Parton said.

"This improved understanding of the past has allowed us to show a significant population decline from 50,000-60,000 to 10,000 during a 50-year period on the main island of Tongatapu in the Kingdom of Tonga."

"Because this number is so much larger than anything anyone had previously considered, I used shipping and missionary data to check my estimates and found they were plausible."

"Obviously, this shows a big reassessment of the impact of globalisation in the 19th century."

"As in many parts of the world, the population of Pacific islands suffered severe declines after contact when Europeans introduced new pathogens."

Attribution/Source(s): This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Australian National University and published on 2022/10/01, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.