Tonga Emancipation Day or Independence Day
Tonga Emancipation Day or Independence Day is held on June 1. Can be moved to a Monday. Commemorates the abolition of serfdom in Tonga by King George Tupou in 1862, and the independence of Tonga from the British protectorate in 1970. This event in the first decade of the month June is annual.
A public holiday will be observed on June to commemorate Emancipation Day, the day Tonga’s first Christian King, Siaosi Tupou I officially abolished serfdom in Tonga in 1862.
Tonga is the only kingdom in the Pacific since Taufa'ahau (King George) in 1875 declared Tonga a constitutional monarchy, he also gave Tonga its first constitution. In 1970 the former British protectorate acquired its independence and became a sovereign nation.