In the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles east of Australia, is an archipelago country. Like Venice, Italy, this country is made up of many Islands which form one larger island because of their close proximity to one another. There are 176 islands that make up the Kingdom of Tonga, of which 36 are inhabited.
On this day May 18th, in 1900, the United Kingdom becomes a protectorate to Tonga. With a treaty of Friendship Britain came to become a protector as European settlers and other Tonga tribes tried to oust the King of Tonga. Tonga had already been nicknamed by British explorer James Cook as the Friendly Islands due to their welcoming reception of him.
Tonga became a constitutional monarchy in 2010. A constitutional monarchy is one where the government and country is headed by a monarch; however, said monarch is bound by rules (a constitution) and is often in check by parliamentary decisions. Tonga has a population (2011 census) of 102,000. Tonga is also an advocate of education, with a literacy rate of 98.9% with free and mandatory education for everyone.