Every Day Is Special: Tonga

Showing posts with label Tonga. Show all posts

June 4 – Emancipation and Revolution

Posted on June 4, 2017

Both Tonga and Ghana remember important historical anniversaries today. Can you figure out which country is connected to each event?

Revolution Day is a remembrance of a popular but violent 1979 uprising. The government was guilty of corruption and "bad governance." In other words, the government didn't do what governments are meant to do: that is, to insure law and order within a country, to provide protection from other countries, to promote economic opportunities, and to safeguard human rights. The uprising occurred because people within both the military and the country, generally, were really frustrated.

Do you think that Revolution Day is celebrated in Tonga or Ghana?

Emancipation Day is a remembrance of the 1862 emancipation of "serfs." Serfs were peasants or laborers who worked in agriculture - either farmers, or ranchers, or both. But they were bound to work on the land of one particular master, or lord, and most of the profit from their labors went to that master / lord. When the king of Tonga abolished the feudal system, the people who had been serfs would be more likely to be able to purchase their own land or to choose to work for a landowner who paid better or treated workers better.

By the way, June 4 is also the date of this nation's 1970 independence from Britain. Do you think that today's double holiday - Emancipation / Independence Day - is celebrated in Tonga or Ghana?

Here are some hints:

Ghana is a nation located in West Africa.

Tonga is an island nation located in Polynesia.

The inspiration for and resulting leader of the Revolution Day uprising was named Jerry John Rawlings.

The king who "freed the serfs" on Emancipation Day was named King George Tupou I.

This is a photo of the nation with a June 4 Revolution Day:

This is a photo of the nation with a June 4 Emancipation Day:

Still hard?

Here are two more photos of the nation with a June 4 Revolution Day:

And here are two more photos of the nation with a June 4 Emancipation Day:

I bet you now realize that today is Revolution Day in Ghana, in Africa.

And it is Emancipation Day in Tonga, in the South Pacific.

Also on this date:

Old Maids Day? Yikes!

Fabulist Aesop's birthday

Audacity to Hope Day

Anniversary of Henry Ford's first test drive

Anniversary of the great auk going extinct

Drawing Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

June holidays

June birthdays

Historical anniversaries in June

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

November 4 – Constitution Day in Tonga

Posted on November 4, 2016

Wow – I really thought I had talked about all the countries in the world at LEAST once, in the seven years I've been writing this blog.

I mean, there are only 196 nations in the world, and I've written more than 2,500 posts! But I guess Tonga slipped by somehow!

Tonga is one of the smallest nations on Earth, and it's one of the many (many, many) island nations located in the South Pacific. It's made up of 169 islands, 36 of which people actually live on.

The islands were called “the Friendly Islands” by Westerners, for a while after their “discovery” by Captain James Cook in the late 1700s. That's because Cook and his men happened to arrive during a festival, a time of goodwill to all, perhaps? – and so he was invited to the festivities. However, some claim that there was a plan afoot among the Tongan leaders to kill Cook – the plan just didn't get put into action. That may or may not be true; I'm not sure what evidence has been put forward to back this idea.

Somehow Tonga escaped being colonized – it was the only South Pacific island nation to avoid being formally colonized – but it did have “protected state status” with the United Kingdom for most of the 20^th Century. It became a constitutional monarchy when it adopted a constitution on this date in 1875.

I read that Tonga is one of the most corrupt nations in the world! Apparently the royal family and the nobles have almost all of the money and own the telecommunications and satellite companies. But there is a large “non-monetary sector,” which probably means people growing their own food and making the things that they need, and trading with one another. Apparently there are moves to make Tonga richer and more diverse economically speaking, and Tongans hope to develop the tourist industry.

That shouldn't be too hard. I mean...look: