Tonga commemorates 4th Centenary of Dutch visit in 1616 [1]
Friday, May 20, 2016 - 16:22. Updated on Monday, August 17, 2020 - 18:00.
400 years ago the Dutch explorers Jacob Le Maire and Willem Cornelisz Schouten became the first Europeans to put Tonga’s northern islands onto European maps, during a great circumnavigation of the world in 1616.
It was in May 1616 when the Dutch ship sighted a sailing canoe off Tafahi and interacted with Tongans.
Yesterday, the remarkable visit of the explorers on the Dutch ship, the Eendracht, four centuries ago, was commemorated in Nuku’alofa with the unveiling of an exhibition and a set of commemorative stamps, in a ceremony at the Queen Sālote College Hall.
HRH Crown Prince Tupouto’a received the presentation of a book, the Atlas of Cape of Hoorn, from HE Mr Robert Zaagman, the visiting Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Ambassador recognized that the first contact had some unfortunate consequences but today the two kingdoms enjoyed a friendly relationship.
Mr Zaagman said there is no monument to the early explorers but the exhibition is gifted to Tonga to remain in Nuku’alofa for permanent display, in a location that has yet to be confirmed. The display was produced with the assistance of the Museum of West Friesland and the Mayor of Hoorn, the city that sent the early explorers around the world. The exhibition displays digital reproductions of early 17th century paintings and maps, with four banners describing and illustrating the history of 17th century Dutch explorations and several photographs of modern-day city of Hoorn, their home city, which has preserved their heritage.
Niuas
For Tongans, perhaps the most interesting reproduction is a ‘View of Tafahi and Niuatoputapu, Tonga islands, 1616’, an engraving from the account of the expedition led by Schouten and Le Maire to reach the East Indies. It depicts the Tafahi people coming out in their canoes and Tongiaki and climbing onboard the Eendracht where they traded coconuts and root crops for iron and strings of beads.
The ship also went on to Niuatoputapu.
“This was quarter of a century before Tasman found New Zealand,” Ambassador Zaagman said. “Tasman was then the first European to visit Tongatapu, which he called Amsterdam.”
Tongan perceptions
Dr Malakai Koloamatangi from Massey University in Albany, New Zealand, gave a keynote lecture on the Tongan perceptions of first contact, said the voyage was the greatest voyage of discovery by the Dutch.
“The Niua people still retell the story of the encounter… which from a Tongan perspective opened up Tonga to the world.”
He said Le Maire had recorded 27 words, which were the earliest known record of Pacific Islands language, and had described the Tongan Tongiaki in detail.
Dr Koloamatangi said that the Niua’s people went out in their boats to meet the Dutch and a Tongan was shot and injured. He believed the encounter had given rise to Niua’s names “Tauvaka” meaning “war with boat”, and “Vakata” meaning “to hit with a boat”.
“Tongans then and now possessed an integrity that made them believe they are the equals of everyone or even better than everyone…”, he said.
Climate change
In handing over the exhibition Ambassador Zaagman said the sea is the defining factor for both countries and “both are now vulnerable to climate change.”
A quarter of the Netherlands land area is below sea level and half its population live there.
“Climate change requires urgent response and close co-operation and in the Netherlands it is one of our top priorities,” he said.
MC for the event was Mrs Petunia Tupou, Tonga's Honorary Consul to the Netherlands.