The Impact of westernisation on traditions of power in Tonga

Abstract

The Westernisation of Tonga ensured its political structure, built up the country as an industrious country, changed the ideology of the indigenous people through Christianity and education, and introduced new concepts of social life. This process (Westernisation) was prevalent in Tonga in the nineteenth century. The records of Wesleyan Missionaries have produced evidence for the process of Westernisation in Tonga. The Westernisation of Tongan society was unconditionally meant to enhance the authority of the power holders. It follows that the reorganisation of Tongan society was the consequence of the impact of the process of Westernisation. However, before the impact of Westernisation, the reorganisation of Tongan society could be interpreted by the Tongan myths and legends as the arrival and co-operation of a foreign culture. This indicates that the development/modernisation of Tonga was done by a foreign people, not by Tongans themselves. The colonisation of Tonga, as an aspect of the impact of Westernisation in Tonga, was in fact intellectual because Tonga was too small to be colonised in terms of material colonisation. Intellectual Colonisation is considered as an influential and effective part of the impact of Westernisation on traditions of power in Tonga. The penetration of Christianity into Tonga was accepted by the power holders of that time in order to preserve and enhance their powers. The Christian missionaries established formal education in order to solve the problem of miscommunication. To that extent, one of the conspicuous outcomes of the impact of Westernisation on traditions of power in Tonga is that the indigenous people started to question everything critically.