Tonga Flag

Description

Tonga, officially named the Kingdom of Tonga, is a Polynesian sovereign state and archipelago comprising 169 islands, of which 36 are inhabited. The total surface area is about 750 square kilometres (290 sq mi) scattered over 700,000 square kilometres (270,000 sq mi) of the southern Pacific Ocean. The state has a population of 100,651 people, of whom 70% reside on the main island of Tongatapu. Its capital is Nukuʻalofa. Tonga stretches across approximately 800 kilometres (500 mi) in a north-south line. It is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna (France) to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, Niue to the east (which is the nearest foreign territory), Kermadec (part of New Zealand) to the southwest, and New Caledonia (France) and Vanuatu to the farther west. It is about 1,800 kilometres (1,100 mi) from New Zealand’s North Island.

The flag of Tonga consists of a red field with a white canton charged with a red couped cross. Adopted in 1875 after being officially enshrined into the nation’s constitution, it has been the flag of the Kingdom of Tonga since that year. The constitution stipulates that the national flag can never be changed. The colours and symbols of the flag carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The red-couped cross alludes to Christianity, the religion practised by approximately 97% of the country’s population. The white epitomises purity, while the red evokes the sacrifice of the Blood of Christ, which he shed during his Crucifixion.