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1200c. 1200–1600 · Lapaha (Muʻa), Tongatapu

The Tuʻi Tonga and the royal tombs of Lapaha

The terraced coral-stone walls of Paepae ʻo Teleʻa, a royal tomb at Lapaha
Photo: Tauʻolunga. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Tuʻi Tonga, Tonga's sacred kings, ruled from Lapaha on the lagoon shore of Tongatapu, where they were buried in terraced tombs called langi, faced with cut limestone slabs. Around 1200 the eleventh Tuʻi Tonga, Tuʻitātui, raised the Haʻamonga ʻa Maui trilithon. Carried by large double canoes, the dynasty's influence reached Samoa, ʻUvea and Fiji, and its descendants shaped the monarchy that kept Tonga uncolonised.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Langi of Lapaha, MuʻaStepped royal tombs faced with large slabs of cut coral limestone.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Haʻamonga ʻa Maui trilithon, NiutouaTwo limestone uprights over five metres high, capped by a lintel.Map ↗

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