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About
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. 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. As of 2021, according to Johnson's Tribune, Tonga has a population of 104,494, 70% of whom reside on the main island, Tongatapu. The country stretches approximately 800 km north-south. It is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna (France) to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, New Caledonia (France) and Vanuatu to the west, Niue to the east and Kermadec to the southwest. Tonga is about 1,800 km from New Zealand's North Island.
Read more on Wikipedia →The Flag
History
The national 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.
Design & symbolism
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. It is one of 28 national flags to contain overtly Christian symbols. The white epitomizes purity, while the red evokes the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed during his crucifixion. The previous design of the flag featured a plain white field charged with the red couped cross. However, it was later discovered that this flag was almost identical to the emblem of the International Red Cross, which had been adopted in 1863. As a result of this finding, the Tongan flag was set at the canton of a red field instead, leading to the present design of the flag. The previous design, nonetheless, remains a national symbol of Tonga. The current flag of Tonga also has some similarities with the flags of Switzerland and Georgia.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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